Trad Gang
Main Boards => The Shooters FORM Board => Topic started by: Mark N on May 21, 2010, 08:33:00 PM
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Well, I have a coupla challenges. I'm RH, as explained in subject. But I'm fairly blind in Reye. Very narrow tunnel vision from a type of glaucoma I can't pronounce. I took a couple of dominant eye tests, am now L eye dominant. Should I keep shooting w/right eye? The only benefit I see from this situation is that I concentrate well on a small spot with right eye.(sardonic chuckle.) Convert to Left hand?
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It is easier than most think to change hands. the hard part for me was to learn to duck the other way with my back quiver when walking through tight brush.
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I have the same problem,right handed but going blind in right eye due to macular degeneration.I switched to left hand to shoot a bow,been shooting trad for about 4 months now.I have fallen in love with trad archery,and I do try to shoot righty on occasion,but it feels weird.Its feels like I've been a lefty all my life.It was an easy switch for me
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I have a difference as well.
I shoot left handed and everything else right.
I have found that it is just a matter of practice to get to shooting decent while shooting cross dominant.
I can, now after shooting since november of Last year, shoot better than I did right handed after 2 years of shooting with a right handed bow. there are bound to be different opinions on this, but i can tell you that if you stay the course you will get the swing of it.
ENJOY is the most important thing...
Chad
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I'm left eye dominate but right handed.
I switched from shooting right handed to shooting left handed about 10 years ago,,it took one weekend of practice to become as accurate as I had been right handed.
I did shoot well right handed but I always had to stay aware that in heat of the moment situations my left eye could very easily take over resulting in my shooting hard left of where I wanted.
It was mainly for that reason I finaly made the switch,and today I shoot better than I ever have.
The actual switch was very easy, but I will admit that I'm a lot more adaptable to diffrent situations and to change than most people would seem to be.
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Im right handed and i shot for along time right handed but then i found out that im left eye dominate and i did the switch and im alot better so i would say.Yes make the switch!
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Learn to do it right. You'll never be sorry.
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I have a brother-in-law that is an orthopedic surgeon. He is right handed in all things, including scalpel, writing, batting, basketball, etc. He tried shooting a bow right-handed but didn't feel comfortable. He tried shooting left-handed and shoots a bow much better left-handed.
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I'm the same R-handed, L-eyed. Couldn't get comfortable on the right side, but as soon as I tried lefty, felt great. Well not totally. The hardest part for me was getting an arrow out of the quiver and nocked. It's tough to do those little things with a non dominant hand. But once the arrow is on there, it's really good. I didn't do it quite right, but soon will. Get a lighter wt. bow to start, that will make the switch easier. Seems a lot to learn after so much time on the other side. The little things come with practice. Nock an arrow 1000 times and it starts to feel OK. After less than a year I can't even think about pulling righty.
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I agree with the above posts. The switch to LH is not difficult at all. The hardest part, as Hopewell Tom describes, is getting the arrow out of the quiver and nocked. But, after a little practice it becomes as natural as your RH technique.
Good Shooting
Ross
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Just as Hopewell Tom and AxTBH just said, it's really not that difficult to switch (and I can't even use a fork left handed). The only tough part is getting the dexterity down in you left hand to nock the arrow.
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Jonathan's right. You feel about as coordinated as if you were wearing boxing gloves trying to nock an arrow for a while, but that too passes.
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I am trying to switch to lefty as well. It does feel better shooting until the string hits my arm. any advice? I have a brace on but the string hits on the elbow. From what I've been reading, I should go to a lower weight bow to I get the proper form and strength. Jeff
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I going to have my son try to switch to left handed. He always had a issues w/ shooting to the left. Then recently he was showing a friend how to determine eye, as I watched, I saw him four times in a row pull his hand to his left eye as he held his hand in a diamond shape.
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gilbarbarian - I was having string slap on occasion and I adjusted my bow hand and - gone. Maybe that will help, I forget what made me start looking at my bow grip, but just studying my placement and fooling around until the bow felt better. The first 3 shot group shrunk noticeably and that's my new grip. No string slap either.
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I am a lefty. I was also cross eye dominant, but I trained myself to be left eye. It can be done.
And it made sense. A few thousand dollars worth of left handed bows and even more thousands of dollars invested in guns... all left handed. Plus I only had to change one thing, my eye dominance, rather than relearn to shoot guns and bows.
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"I am a lefty. I was also cross eye dominant, but I trained myself to be left eye. It can be done."
If you don't mind my asking, how would one go about changing from one dominant eye to the other? I too am left-eye dominant and right-handed.
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I can shoot both, but left eye dominant, with my right eye I have to be more aware of where I am pointing my arrow.
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I'm right handed but left eye dominant. Was taught to shoot left handed from the beginning and never looked back. BUT my left eye-dominance is marginal: I see 2 almost equal arrows, I had to learn to discard the left arrow image and pay attention to the right one or I'll shoot hard right of target. Sometimes barely squinting with my right eye is necessary.
Marco
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I am right handed and left eye dominant....shoot with both eyes open and do fairly well....I have thought about trying to shoot lefty, but keep chickening out....
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Originally posted by ammobooger:
"I am a lefty. I was also cross eye dominant, but I trained myself to be left eye. It can be done."
If you don't mind my asking, how would one go about changing from one dominant eye to the other? I too am left-eye dominant and right-handed.
I can only tell you what worked for me.
I started by working with a shotgun. I took a small piece of scotch tape and put it on the right lens of my shooting glasses. That helped me ingore what I saw thru my right eye and get used to using my left.
Then I started doing the dominant eye test (look at a distant object, raise your arm with finger pointed up) and concentrated on identifying the predominant image with my left eye.
Kind of hard to explain that last bit. But I think it more a mental exercise than anything.
After some time, my left eye just took over.
I know that's probably not the best explanation, so if you have specific questions just ask here or PM me.
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Mark,
Do you shoot purely instinctive or do you use a gap/point of aim type system? If you shoot instinctive you should be fine staying with your current setup (right-handed bow). If you shoot gap/point of aim style you can do it right-handed with a left dominant eye, however, if the transition is not too difficult I think you might be better off switching sides.
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M son is the most messed up child ever. I believe he's supposed to be left handed. In elementary school, he wrote with both hands. Now, he writes lefty
He started baseball at age 5, and like an idiot I didn't encourage him to bat left and throw right, so he played baseball for 13+ years throws right and bats right. Starting infielder on back to back state champion teams in his Jr. and Sr. year of HS.
He shoots a gun left handed, because when he first picked one up that's how he pointed it. I checked him and he's left eye dominant, so I made him keep shooting guns lefty. He is an excellent shot with a gun. He can shoot a bow righty, but he hasn't shot one much with all the sports he's been into, so I plan to buy him a LH recurve to play with now that his ball days are done.
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I am right handed but left eye dominant and shoot everything but a handgun left handed. Thankfully, my Dad picked up on this when I was very young and I never had to switch. I have always been a very good wingshot and shooting a trad bow was pretty natural for me.
It seems to me that having my "strong" arm hold the bow helped me shoot better - it makes me focus on drawing with my back. If you ever feel funny, remember that Papa Bear shot from the "wrong" side of the riser too :)
The only rpoblem I have ever had was growing up shooting right handed guns. I love over and unders & single shots - semi autos throw powder in my right eye. Thankfully that is not a problem with my LB or 'curves!
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I'm left handed and left eye dominant. But, when I had to teach a bunch of boy scouts, I did what was done with me. I said, "do what I do, but do it backward."
That didn't work well for all the right handed kids. They'd never been subjected to that before (lucky them). So, I switched, and closed my left eye. It was easy and felt natural and didn't take but a few shots to "get it." I wouldn't stick with that because the advantage of two eyes is pretty great, and that's an advantage which is done away with when you close an eye. Even an eye that doesn't do well is better than a closed eye.