shooting the bow

[stickandastring]

Why does this work? When I bought the bow I took some pointers from the builder and have been trying to shoot that way. Bow verticle, index finder to corner of dom eye, gap shooting, i guess. Today, (its friggin cold boys, im shooting in my living room about 7-8 yards)I canted the bow, anchored middle finger to corner of my mouth and put arrows in the target, fletchings touching, I was just trying some different things and that worked best, felt natural too. Do a lot of you cant the bow? Im not looking to enter any comps, just learning for purpose of hunting....

[drewsbow]

yep , canting is the best for me , gets the arrow under the eye better and if it feels good to you stay with it.

[R H Clark]

I cant my bow a little.The best advice I have is to do what works best for you.No problem trying something new.It won't take you long to learn what works and what doesn't.There some basic form issues but some things work for some while others don't.

[Matty]

I don't Cant unless i need to, (limbs/ Obstructions) because of obstructions, it does put the arrow more directly under your eye But the bow does shoot a bit differently because of the arrow deflection, It's good to know how to shoot both ways.

[Leon.R]

I cant my bow as well but not much, I also lean on my front foot, find I shoot more consistant that way.

[Scott J. Williams]

Back in the twenties, there was a movement, or let's call it a style called, "Power Archery".  It was taught a lot in the schools and was fairly common in target archery until the late thirties and forties.  

Basicly it was feet placed perpendicular, not sure about the spelling? Shoulders erect, bow vertical, placing the archer in a very bolt upright position.  It was called Power Archery, and there were a few people who were very good at it.  Like so many things in archery, not everything fits everybody.

Other coaches, and archers decided that a more natural way of shooting a bow might work better.  While the vertical bow is still the perfered method in target circles, it does not hold a strangle hold over the way hunting archers shoot, at least not in the traditional arena.

I believe it natural to cant,  in fact, if you ask any number of people to point at an object, they will use the index finger and rotate the hand slightly left or right depending if they are left or right handed.  Most common is left rotation for the right hand, and right rotation for the left.

Couple this with the tendency to want to see the object we are shooting at as unobstructed as possible and you can see why you might like the cant.

I have had hunting shots where I could not cant, and had to shoot a vertical bow, I practice this so I can(at very close ranges)but the way I hunt, most often it is the other way around, I can't shoot with a vertical.  

It really just comes down to what you feel more comfortable with.  The short time I mess around with a gap, I used the vertical bow.  When I gravitated to an instinctive style of shooting, I went to the canted bow, and have been there since.

[straitera]

A slight cant feels easy and natural to me now exactly as Scott described above. My shot window is less encumbered also. I had real trouble finding the right technique after converting from compounds about 25 years ago (vertical vs cant thing, sights, letoff, etc). Time, practice, and confidence will trust your shot to second nature. Sounds to me like you're off to a good start with your in-house groupings.

[longbowguy]

Yer bowyer favors one of the many odd individual ways to shoot a bow. You have begun to discover the more natural and comfortable way to do it. Most of us cant the bow and most of us anchor with the middle finger somewhere around the corner of the mouth. You need to read a book or two about this method. Byron Ferguson's 'Be the Arrow' or something like that and John Schultz's 'Hitting Like Howard Hill' are the standards. A fellow named Asbell has a couple out with more eccentric style that some admire. Your public library can probably borrow copies for you to read. - lbg