Totally lost, archery skills going the wrong direction

[shredder4286]

Are you double jointed in your elbow?

    No

Is the string biting you close to the wrist or closer to the elbow?

  Closer to the wrist.

Do you shoot with a wrist sling?

  Yes

Is the draw weight comfortable or do you struggle to draw it?

  It's comfortable.

Battleready and I are going to be staying with Bearpaw for a few days at the turkey opener (I think April 15th).  I could bring a bow press over and a target.  Could give a quick evaluation if you wanted to meet up.  I'll PM my phone number if you are interested in that.

I'd be much obliged if you'd help me out. I'm starting a new job that is gonna have varying shifts for the first few months, so I'll have to keep in touch with you to keep you updated.

[jgrimes]

Make sure that your bow hand is relaxed. Push your bow towards the target. May be part of reason why your getting string contact on your wrist/forearm. Wish ya the best in getting set up correctly.

[shredder4286]

Make sure that your bow hand is relaxed. Push your bow towards the target.

I guess it's hard for me to relax anything and not leg go of the bow. Maybe something you develop after shooting for a while.


What I do have on my side is utter determination. I'm too stubborn to give up. I'm gonna keep trying new things and do whatever it takes to get good.

[elk247]

I dont really hold my bow. The wrist sling does the holding. I guess i mean to say i dont grip the hand grip. My hand is actually sort of open. Do you other guys use this method? Im accurate, comfortable and its worked for years. Just wondering how you instructors teach.

[jgrimes]

http://archeryreport.com/2011/02/properly-gripping-bow/

[RadSav]

I dont really hold my bow. The wrist sling does the holding. I guess i mean to say i dont grip the hand grip. My hand is actually sort of open. Do you other guys use this method? Im accurate, comfortable and its worked for years. Just wondering how you instructors teach.

That's good! 

You should never hold the bow with your hand while shooting.  As human beings we have too many temperaments from day to day.  We grip things tight one day, loose the next and with complete anger and discontent the day after that.  You can't expect consistency that way.  Your bow hand should be thought of as a saddle.  Allow the pressure of draw to mount the bow in your saddle.  This way the bow actually grips you rather than the other way around.  And being that the bow is not a tempermental beast it will do this consistently time after time, day after day, cold weather or hot.  The bow can not get angry, it can not get lazy and it can not grip with fear or fever.

While aiming and holding the bow a wrist sling should be completely at rest.  Think of it as your saddles loose seat belt.  It plays absolutely no role at all until you are thrust forward (or in this case the bow is thrust forward).  Let this seat belt catch the bow.  Once all the violent action of the shot is complete then and only then grab the bow.  The bow will not fall to the ground because the seat belt will not allow it.

The bow should be allowed to act freely.  It should be allowed to saddle up of it's own free will and dismount of it's own free will.  It is a machine built to only do things one way.  The only thing we can hope to achieve by restricting what it was built, bred and designed for is to restrict it's success and assure our failure.

[Smossy]

I dont really hold my bow. The wrist sling does the holding. I guess i mean to say i dont grip the hand grip. My hand is actually sort of open. Do you other guys use this method? Im accurate, comfortable and its worked for years. Just wondering how you instructors teach.

That's good! 

You should never hold the bow with your hand while shooting.  As human beings we have too many temperaments from day to day.  We grip things tight one day, loose the next and with complete anger and discontent the day after that.  You can't expect consistency that way.  Your bow hand should be thought of as a saddle.  Allow the pressure of draw to mount the bow in your saddle.  This way the bow actually grips you rather than the other way around.  And being that the bow is not a tempermental beast it will do this consistently time after time, day after day, cold weather or hot.  The bow can not get angry, it can not get lazy and it can not grip with fear or fever.

While aiming and holding the bow a wrist sling should be completely at rest.  Think of it as your saddles loose seat belt.  It plays absolutely no role at all until you are thrust forward (or in this case the bow is thrust forward).  Let this seat belt catch the bow.  Once all the violent action of the shot is complete then and only then grab the bow.  The bow will not fall to the ground because the seat belt will not allow it.

The bow should be allowed to act freely.  It should be allowed to saddle up of it's own free will and dismount of it's own free will.  It is a machine built to only do things one way.  The only thing we can hope to achieve by restricting what it was built, bred and designed for is to restrict it's success and assure our failure.

Well said. That was a great way of explaining it.

[elk247]

Well put. Thanks for the reassurance. My wrist sling is made from woven leather over a decade old now. Its broken in like a pair of old boots. A guy could buy a new bow every year it seems to keep up with technogoly developments. My ultra duece still has decent speed and makes it hard to justify anything new. I guess thats a testament to Mathews quality. I bought it when i was 18 and at the time that was a pile of money for me. Looking back im glad i did. That old (now) duece kinda gives me confidence too. Confidence is a big part of bow hunting imo. Many times ive passedup shots if i wasnt feelin it. When you do somthing thousands of times you can feel confident in the outcome. Rad-sav what bow do you shoot with now?

[RadSav]

Confidence is a big part of bow hunting imo. Many times ive passedup shots if i wasnt feelin it. When you do somthing thousands of times you can feel confident in the outcome. Rad-sav what bow do you shoot with now?

You could not be more right! 

I was once a staff shooter and a field tester (back in the day when field testing wasn't just a bunch of self righteous promotion).  There were a good number of bows I was required to take into the field to evaluate that I did not have confidence in.  I believe in having a shooters "mantra" and I found my mantra got replaced with these bows to, "Oh man, Don't screw this up!"   These days with a bow I have complete confidence in my mantra speaks very loud in my head, "I am Randy Ulmer!!!"

In 2005 I retired the most ugly, magically endowed, sweetheart of a killing machine.  She gave me everything she had and then another couple years after that.  And really if I were to give her a little TLC and a make over she could probably give me another five-ten years.  But I figure that would just be selfish on my part.  Since then my bow of choice goes something like this, "Pick a card. Any card."  Perhaps my standards have now been set just too high by the old girl.  But, I just have not found that new companion I want to spend my golden years with.

The Bear in my avatar and the Sims DZ-32 seem to travel with me everywhere.  They love to shoot, but can be a little loud and demanding.  I have a Bear Dark Horse that sits in a blind with me always.  But she is too much of a beauty queen to get roughed up in the woods every day during elk season.  The new Bear Motive 7 is a complete Phat Cat!  Smooth, quiet, vibration free, mobile, consistant and not at all demanding, but her arse just doesn't fit my saddle well.  I'm having a new grip made for the Motive 7 which might bring us closer together.  But the closest thing to a love connection I've experienced over the past 5 or more years is now in the Bowtech Experience.  We haven't yet spent enough time together to be sure it's love and not simple teenage infatuation, but the outlook does seem promising.  So far I just can not find a single thing wrong with her.  Unless there is such a thing as being just too darn sexy

So sorry, I guess there isn't a clear way of me answering your question.  Maybe the day before my spring bear hunt I can give you a definite answer.

[elk247]

Choices, choices. I thought maybe you went to sleep for the night and then bam! A beautifully written poetic chapter covering 1/4 of the bows on the market. old fred bear passed on a heck a legacy. Ive always had my eye out for and old bear recurve or a st. Charles. Cool story about the old girl. That how i feel about mine. Im gonna stick with her as long as she can stil stick my dinner. The worst thing i ever did to my bow was shoot those blackdiamond carbon arrows made to look like wood. Dumb kid! They looked cool in the shop but they were loud when drawn. Not to mention almost impossiable to find on a pass thru. Good luck this spring. Where did you draw?

[shredder4286]

http://archeryreport.com/2011/02/properly-gripping-bow/

jgrimes- good video there. I had been going off of the instruction from here- http://www.buckmasters.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Print.aspx?tabid=135&tabmoduleid=643&articleId=385&moduleId=658&PortalID=0   for a while, and had a hard time repeating that grip. I like how the grip in the link you posted has a natural position, not tweaking your wrist and hand to any angle.

[shredder4286]

Radsav-

    PM/Email sent

[buckfvr]

You need to have someone stand behind you and look over your shoulder to point out things you can do to improve your shot....or if you prefer, tell you what you are doing wrong. 

Did you get your draw length changed ??

[buckfvr]

I dont really hold my bow. The wrist sling does the holding. I guess i mean to say i dont grip the hand grip. My hand is actually sort of open. Do you other guys use this method? Im accurate, comfortable and its worked for years. Just wondering how you instructors teach.

That's good! 

You should never hold the bow with your hand while shooting.  As human beings we have too many temperaments from day to day.  We grip things tight one day, loose the next and with complete anger and discontent the day after that.  You can't expect consistency that way.  Your bow hand should be thought of as a saddle.  Allow the pressure of draw to mount the bow in your saddle.  This way the bow actually grips you rather than the other way around.  And being that the bow is not a tempermental beast it will do this consistently time after time, day after day, cold weather or hot.  The bow can not get angry, it can not get lazy and it can not grip with fear or fever.

While aiming and holding the bow a wrist sling should be completely at rest.  Think of it as your saddles loose seat belt.  It plays absolutely no role at all until you are thrust forward (or in this case the bow is thrust forward).  Let this seat belt catch the bow.  Once all the violent action of the shot is complete then and only then grab the bow.  The bow will not fall to the ground because the seat belt will not allow it.

The bow should be allowed to act freely.  It should be allowed to saddle up of it's own free will and dismount of it's own free will.  It is a machine built to only do things one way.  The only thing we can hope to achieve by restricting what it was built, bred and designed for is to restrict it's success and assure our failure.

Wont hurt to have a light weight fleece glove on that saddle either.....

[shredder4286]

Did you get your draw length changed ??

Yep. It's at 28 1/2" now.