Don't Stop the Practice

[Becky]

  my bow wanted to remind me it's been a little bit since I've practiced...

[hrd2fnd]

OUCH

[Special T]

Im guessing you locked your arm... Because it was tired???

[Becky]

Im guessing you locked your arm... Because it was tired???

It's still instinct for me to lock my arm out, and Smossy says I think too much when I shoot so I'm working on trying to be more fluid. That was a quick reminder lol. 

[sakoshooter]

My wife and I have invited you two to shoot with us but 'oh no, we don't have time', LOL. See what ya get.

[Becky]

My wife and I have invited you two to shoot with us but 'oh no, we don't have time', LOL. See what ya get.

Well it was honest, lol.

[Jellymon]

IMO the biggest cause of raspberries is improper grip. The grip should rest only on your thumb pad and not cross your lifeline at all. Using the correct grip rotates your arm much further from the string. It may feel uncomfortable at first but it will become natural with a little practice. Use this grip and don't lock your arm and the bruises will be a thing of the past.

[hntrspud]

ouch! The fun things of learning to shoot 

[h2ofowlr]

Nice one.  At least you know when your holding the now poorly.  It corrects you quickly.

[jackmaster]

Ouch,probably wont let that happen to many times

[Johnb317]

ow ow ow!  Don't do that!
  Luckily I have a secluded back yard.... only 20 yards but it works. 
  Maybe a 10 yard indoor range is in store?

[sakoshooter]

My wife and I have invited you two to shoot with us but 'oh no, we don't have time', LOL. See what ya get.

Well it was honest, lol.

The offer is still open. Holler at us some time.

[RadSav]

IMO the biggest cause of raspberries is improper grip. The grip should rest only on your thumb pad and not cross your lifeline at all. Using the correct grip rotates your arm much further from the string. It may feel uncomfortable at first but it will become natural with a little practice. Use this grip and don't lock your arm and the bruises will be a thing of the past.

Good post! 

However, I don't rate improper grip as the biggest cause of raspberries unless brace height is ridiculously low.  Number one in my book is being too closed to the target.  Either by stance, excessive draw length or a combination of both.

Now if you have a bad grip and are closed to the target both.  Man! are you in for a world of hurt    Every time I go to the local archery shop it just sends shivers up my spine watching all the heavy handed grips and improper stances.  Reminds me of some extremely painful moments from my youth

[Bean Counter]

I haven't had much of formal training in archery shooting but have managed to avoid the string slap in five years of shooting. Phew.

[boneaddict]

It doesnt hurt as bad when there is a record book buck standing in front of you.

[Skyvalhunter]

 

[Special T]

It doesnt hurt as bad when there is a record book buck standing in front of you.

Only if you miss!

[Todd_ID]

Draw length and stance is much more critical for ladies than men for the simple reason that our joints are built different.  I'd bet that your elbow at full draw is locked with an almost inverted angle and the inside of your elbow turned up.  Men's elbows don't bend that way for some reason.  I see it all the time in the NASP program; only the girls hit their arm with the string, as a rule.  Sometimes it's draw weight, length or stance, and sometimes it's just their joints.  Most times turning down the draw weight is the right answer for those girls with the most pronounced deflection of the elbow.

[RadSav]

Draw length and stance is much more critical for ladies than men for the simple reason that our joints are built different.  I'd bet that your elbow at full draw is locked with an almost inverted angle and the inside of your elbow turned up.  Men's elbows don't bend that way for some reason.  I see it all the time in the NASP program; only the girls hit their arm with the string, as a rule.  Sometimes it's draw weight, length or stance, and sometimes it's just their joints.  Most times turning down the draw weight is the right answer for those girls with the most pronounced deflection of the elbow.

I've noticed that most women have loose joints in their elbows compared to the average man.  So when they do lock that elbow it actually goes past straight and into the line of the string.  However, that usually produces raspberries closer to the elbow than the forearm. 

In SG's case I think the bow was embracing the tattoo and wanted to give her a little love kiss

[Becky]

IMO the biggest cause of raspberries is improper grip. The grip should rest only on your thumb pad and not cross your lifeline at all. Using the correct grip rotates your arm much further from the string. It may feel uncomfortable at first but it will become natural with a little practice. Use this grip and don't lock your arm and the bruises will be a thing of the past.

Good post! 

However, I don't rate improper grip as the biggest cause of raspberries unless brace height is ridiculously low. Number one in my book is being too closed to the target.  Either by stance, excessive draw length or a combination of both.

That's might be it?... I've never gotten string slapped before. We were shooting at 10 yards to "french tune" my sight and once that was vertically centered then we did it again at 20 yards to get the arrow rest centered. I believe I'm holding it right for the grip - open grip, thumb pad resting, visually similar to the picture Jellymon posted.

I just noticed when I lock my arm my elbow turns inwards as Todd_ID pointed out.

In SG's case I think the bow was embracing the tattoo and wanted to give her a little love kiss

  possibly. It's a handwritten quote my Nana wrote me while she was going through chemo so I got her handwriting replicated in a tattoo... so that would be the perfect one for it to "love" on haha.

[Becky]

It doesnt hurt as bad when there is a record book buck standing in front of you.

  ... it was a delayed reaction, I knew it slapped me but it was in the evening and I was cold. Then like 15 seconds later I felt my arm tingly and it started stinging then a wave of pain flowed out and I had to grab it and squeeze. Then continued with our practice/tuning, then I half-slapped the same spot again then finally stopped being stupid with my elbow for the rest of practice lol. It was a weird huge circle welt with another circle welt in the center, looked like a wasp sting or something but bigger.

ow ow ow!  Don't do that!
  Luckily I have a secluded back yard.... only 20 yards but it works. 
  Maybe a 10 yard indoor range is in store?

My front yard is where we practice, 60-ish yards it'll go out to. I just hadn't picked up the bow in a month  lots of family/work issues.

[Becky]

Small retribution.. only @ 30 yards though, working my way up.

[elk247]

Nice shot B. 

[sakoshooter]

Nice