How do you shoot your traditional bow?

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I don't know all of the technical terms for archery any more but I can describe what I see and what I do in 500 words or less most of the time.

There's the old English method of shooting a longbow with the spraddllegged stance and the elbow cocked out to the side, string to the cheek and release.

Then there's the modern long bow method with the hand held a bit higher, I guess.

And then there's the ARMJr method that looks actually more like someone shooting a ni.... er, uh, slingshot than a bow. I like to have one fluid motion from draw to release and a follow through of sorts. I actually hunch forward when shooting rather than rocking back on my heels and I am facing about 3/4 onto the target rather than at a 90 degree angel to the plane of the bow. I guess I'm a passable shot though a bit out of practice.

I also cull my arrows. From a dozen I'll get 6 that consistently shoot in the same teacup and I practice with only them.

Alan

[GF.]

It's a step-wise deal.....

For learning, I'd recommend the standard, Olympic-style form - body facing 90 degrees off target, standing up straight, bow vertical, solid & consistent anchor, and pulling through the release. Like Fred Asbell says, it's like learning to shoot free-throws.

That's fairly important even if what you gain mostly is a good clean release - if you're not somewhat consistent in that, you're pretty well hosed, because (among other complications) you'll never know if you're spined & tuned correctly. Shooting this way, sighting down the arrow, no tennis ball was ever safe from me inside of 50-60 yards....:D

Asbell's book (first one) is a pretty good primer after that.

I cant my bow a little so I don't have to look through the string, and I don't use the highly upright posture that I do with the compound - more of Fred's 'natural athlete' form. Nor do I think in terms of setting a solid anchor before i pull through it (unless I'm having a really off day and need to revisit the fundamentals. Best way to get a fluid draw & release with a good pull-through is moving targets - you can't hit a bouncing tennis ball or a running rabbit when you shoot like a target archer, but you can drill the snot out of a stationary target when you shoot like a rabbit hunter.

[Hi Ball]

I can tell you right now, that if your goal is hunting in the woods and fields etc. You best forget about the "OLYMPIC STANCE" you check out the way Fred Bear shot his bow and a fellow long before him he is in the record books and killed everything on the face of this earth with a long bow. He also played in several of those old English Robin Hood films wtih Alan Hale. Now you look up that mistery charactor because he was the best there ever was with a long bow period.

[ncboman]

cough cough, that would be your opinion there Hi Ball.

[swamp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDfbHMyo-NA

How about like howard hill?

[ncboman]

Swamp,

it's a well known fact that legends can't be beat and what's the purpose anyway?

You've had/have guys right here on HA that might very well have outshot Hill.

Wonder where they are and why they're not posting to this ... sad. I'd post a smiley but the image choices suck.

I stink; therefore, Siam.

[swamp]

Swamp,

it's a well known fact that legends can't be beat and what's the purpose anyway?

You've had/have guys right here on HA that might very well have outshot Hill.

Wonder where they are and why they're not posting to this ... sad. I'd post a smiley but the image choices suck.

I stink; therefore, Siam.

http://www.howardhillarchery.com/the-legends-story-4.html

[GF.]

Sad to see that they make such a big deal of his elephants, considering at least one of 'em was chained & staked to the ground....

While it's true that Hill probably wasn't hunting in anything like the glorified petting zoos we have catering to the horn-seekers today, I always look at the lifetime list of kills on somebody like that and wonder... Geeze... If I had the kind of time & money to put into hunting that some of these guys do/did, a person might conclude that I was a hell of a lot better at this game than I really am.... Which would be really good marketing, if I were in the business of selling a hunting-related product.

As it is, I'm just hoping that I'm a better hunter than this year's results would seem to indicate. 'Cuz if I'm not, it's time to take some lessons or just quit :(

But honestly, I never know what to make of trick-shooters. Sure, they can do things that I can't do, but then, I have practiced that same shot a thousand times or more. And what about the hunting ethics of the day? If Hill was not above chaining an elephant to the ground so he could shoot it on-camera, then what kind of ****py hits was he willing to make in order to rack up all o' those kills?


Speaking of good shots, though... I wonder what happened to Squatch?

[ncboman]

I don't know all of the technical terms for archery any more but I can describe what I see and what I do in 500 words or less most of the time.

There's the old English method of shooting a longbow with the spraddllegged stance and the elbow cocked out to the side, string to the cheek and release.

Then there's the modern long bow method with the hand held a bit higher, I guess.

And then there's the ARMJr method that looks actually more like someone shooting a ni.... er, uh, slingshot than a bow. I like to have one fluid motion from draw to release and a follow through of sorts. I actually hunch forward when shooting rather than rocking back on my heels and I am facing about 3/4 onto the target rather than at a 90 degree angel to the plane of the bow. I guess I'm a passable shot though a bit out of practice.

I also cull my arrows. From a dozen I'll get 6 that consistently shoot in the same teacup and I practice with only them.

Alan

cheating I know, but I use a pin and a mech release. I shoot with the same form I use shooting a compound, being careful to hold the bow perfectly vertical.

Works for me since I don't have time to practice every day.

[GF.]

I've had half a mind to experiment with the release on my recurves, but I guess I'd have to put on a string loop first.... A clean, consistent release makes a big difference, but wouldn't you (likely) have to re-tune the bow to get good arrow flight?

I do have to do a full-on tuning anyway, though... One of the boys removed the catwhiskers from the Bighorn, and with the beaver balls on there, it just makes a helluva racket. Plus, I totally lost track of my brace height and my broadhead flight is nowhere near ready for prime time... I was thinking to let go of the carbons and tune it up for woodies, so I can't really complain...

[vashper]

Why herous in Avatar have they bows in right hand?

[GF.]

Maybe they're all left-handed?

Probably just typical Hollywood ignorance......

[nodakker]

I'd guess Hollywood ignorance on the righthanded bow carrying too.

My recurve shooting style is based on Fred Asbell's first book. Facing 3/4 to the target, leaning in toward it, knees bent, bow canted, low wrist, and as soon as I hit anchor the arrow is gone. If I must hold while the critter steps behind a tree, I stop at less than full draw. It's worked well enough for me so far. Three weeks to the day after my Black Widow arrived in the mail, my first arrow hit the bullseye at 20 yards, the second missed small, and the third went inside the first for a Robin Hood. I stopped shooting for groups and at known yardages that day.

[vashper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yorHswhzrU

[Dwayne]

I've had half a mind to experiment with the release on my recurves, but I guess I'd have to put on a string loop first.... A clean, consistent release makes a big difference, but wouldn't you (likely) have to re-tune the bow to get good arrow flight?

I do have to do a full-on tuning anyway, though... One of the boys removed the catwhiskers from the Bighorn, and with the beaver balls on there, it just makes a helluva racket. Plus, I totally lost track of my brace height and my broadhead flight is nowhere near ready for prime time... I was thinking to let go of the carbons and tune it up for woodies, so I can't really complain...

Why not use a release. . .that is what we did in the 70's. And you don't necessarily have to have a D-loop either. The only basic difference between shooting a compound and a non-compound is the releasing with fingers. Your form is/can be the same form. There is nothing wrong with sticking a pin sight on it either. . .that was also done in the 70's. I used a "hot-shot" back then. It is a thumb triggered release with a large D-loop. the loop went around the string and hooked on to a metal dowel on the release. You pressed a trigger with your thumb and presto. . .

Dwayne

[Rattus58]

How is releasing a compound with fingers different again from fingers with a traditional or non-compound? You can't be saying people didn't shoot off the shelf with a compound or didn't shoot with fingers are you... or with wood arrows?

Aloha... :cool:

[ncboman]

How is releasing a compound with fingers different again from fingers with a traditional or non-compound? You can't be saying people didn't shoot off the shelf with a compound or didn't shoot with fingers are you... or with wood arrows?

Aloha... :cool:

Modern compounds are far shorter than recurves and longbows.

Finger pinch is so extreme, obtaining the proper 'roll' is nearly impossible.