Really need some more info on a good release

[DaveKS]

I know that I am supposed to be just relaxing my hand and letting the arrow slip out, and I'm doing that.  

Is there anything else to the release?  What do I need to do to really perfect this?

[Rod Jenkins]

Think BACK TENSION and forget RELEASE.

[Terry Green]

What Rod said....and don't even 'think' about the release.

[Guru]

What Rod and Terry said.....Thinking about the release will lead to the anticipation of it....think back tension and the release will just happen.....

[longbowguy]

Actually, there is a simpler image. 'Back tension' is hard, real hard, to fully understand.

But if your elbow flies back and around behind you, and your string hand ends up behind your neck, maybe touching the neck, your release will occur somewhere along the way.

Really simple: pull through, follow through.

[Pete Darby]

If you get "master's of the Barebow" and run it on 1/4 speed or so you can see what a good release looks like.  What they actually say they do is not always what they do, but what they do they all do.

[-Achilles-]

"Think BACK TENSION and forget RELEASE."...I know...sounds crazy doesnt it...but it WORKS

[vermonster13]

One way to feel what a clean release feels like is to borrow a release and shoot a few arrows, just to feel how a clean release feels. What is said above is how to mechanically do it with fingers but a mechanical release just to feel how everything goes isn't a bad thing for learning.

[BLACK WOLF]

To add to what vermonster said...stand about 5 yrds. or less from your target. Now pull your bow back with the release and an arrow nocked pointing directly at the target. Than close your eyes and continue to keep back tension as a friend hits the trigger when you are at anchor.

That's what a dynamic follow through feels like with proper back tension.

Ray    

[Rich LaBombard]

How about a "pull through" release, vs a "dead release"?
I see guys like Ron LeClair doing a dead release, and a lot of the other guys doing that "pull through touch your shoulder" release.

I try that motion, as it makes sense, but having my release hand in motion, doesn't seem to help.
Any thoughts? (or use either one, and just focus on back tension?)

[BobCo 1965]

Rich, personally, I tend to pluck more with a follow through type of release. For some reason, I just can not keep it consistant. I prefer more of a static or dead release, more like Schulz or Brunner.

But in either type of release, back tension is still a must.

[Rich LaBombard]

Thanks, Bobco.  I worked on this the other night,
with this thread in mind, and for me, I am much more consitent with a dead release.  
For me, it seems like I can more easily repeat a "lack of motion", rather than introucing movement into my shot.
Lot of ways to skin this cat, that's for sure!

[LCB]

Dead release for me, and I've been working on a deep hook grasp. I feel I can keep better backtension with the dead release, and like Rich I am more consistant with it. I think this is because with the dead release I am hitting my anchor good.

My problem is when I relax my fingers my bow arm sometimes relaxes and my arrows end up three inches to the left of my desired spot.

[TSP]

I assume you are a hunter.  If so, I've found that thinking about the release while executing the shot is the archery equivalent of the Animal House movie line, 'Whatever you do don't hit those trash cans".  Well, we all know what happens in the movie.  

If you can forget about the release and let back tension be a subconcious result of rather than a concious part of your shot, its easier to avoid problems in the field.  Put another way, if you're thinking about your release hand or your back muscles you aren't concentrating on what you're shooting at.  And you can only focus on one thing at a time.  It might work at the practice bale under practice conditions, but not so well under hunting conditions.      

For an excellent demonstration of how the focus/draw/shoot sequence looks in practice, check out the John Schulz video "Hitting'em Like Howard Hill" or some of the excellent Howard Hill shortfilms on this site.  You might want or need to tweak the steps to fit your personal needs, but they are great tutorials of how to make the release (and the rest of your form) a more or less 'automatic' part of your hunting shot.

[Roger Norris]

I use the dead release like Ron LaClair. One of the things Ron said to me about the release was "just stop holding the string"...keep a dead hand, anchored to your face...and just quit holding the string. I'm not sure if I can explain it well, my fingers just go limp, as my shoulders squeeze together. If I do anything else, I pluck the string.