Last summer I spent a lot of time measuring my rifle groups on days with my normal morning dose of caffeine and comparing to my groups without caffeine. As expected, the groups were noticeably less consistent after a morning of coffee as compared to the mornings with no coffee. Due to that, I cut out the high octane coffee on most of our hunts last year.
This summer I've been doing the same comparatives with archery. Seems even more amplified in archery than rifle. I suspect that is due to not being able to use a rest to stabilize my bow to the degree I can use a rest to stabilize a rifle. On the days with no caffeine, my 40 yard archery groups give me great confidence. On days with a jolt of caffeine, things go to hell quickly. My 40 yard groups of three arrows go from 100% in 2" groups to more like one of three arrows in the 2", with the other two averaging more like 5" groups.
I am wondering if it might be in my head, as I know what days I'm not on coffee and which days I am. As consistent as it has turned out over the last month, I have a hard time convincing myself it is just in my head. After two cups of Joe this morning and the group I just scattered across my targets, I thought I'd seek comments here.
With what I see with both archery and rifle, I think the coffee will be for the camera crew. Maybe I'll bring my decaf for the sake of my morning habit. I might be a bit of an anomaly, as with my liver situation I don't get a lot of blood to my liver, so it probably stays in my system longer than most people.
I am curious if any of you have ever done these type of comparisons, and if so, has it resulted in any difference for your accuracy. Have you experienced accuracy changes with other situations you might have tested for; dehydration, lack of rest, other?
This summer I've been doing the same comparatives with archery. Seems even more amplified in archery than rifle. I suspect that is due to not being able to use a rest to stabilize my bow to the degree I can use a rest to stabilize a rifle. On the days with no caffeine, my 40 yard archery groups give me great confidence. On days with a jolt of caffeine, things go to hell quickly. My 40 yard groups of three arrows go from 100% in 2" groups to more like one of three arrows in the 2", with the other two averaging more like 5" groups.
I am wondering if it might be in my head, as I know what days I'm not on coffee and which days I am. As consistent as it has turned out over the last month, I have a hard time convincing myself it is just in my head. After two cups of Joe this morning and the group I just scattered across my targets, I thought I'd seek comments here.
With what I see with both archery and rifle, I think the coffee will be for the camera crew. Maybe I'll bring my decaf for the sake of my morning habit. I might be a bit of an anomaly, as with my liver situation I don't get a lot of blood to my liver, so it probably stays in my system longer than most people.
I am curious if any of you have ever done these type of comparisons, and if so, has it resulted in any difference for your accuracy. Have you experienced accuracy changes with other situations you might have tested for; dehydration, lack of rest, other?
