Aiming Experiment

[Gatekeeper]

I want to share an aiming problem that I have experienced and an experiment that I did. I would like to know if anyone else has had this problem and what was done to correct it.

I have been working on an issue with my shooting and it has to do with my dominate eye.

I am a left hand shooter and left eye dominate but my shots frequently hit to the right of the spot that I aim for. The distance that my shots hit to the right can vary from 2” to 6”. The distance that I am shooting from is 15 yards.

The other night, I placed an eye patch over my right eye and shot several sets that way and found that my arrows centered themselves up on the target but my elevation was now off. I am sure the elevation went haywire because I lost my depth perception.

So I concluded, that the reason my shots are frequently hitting to the right is because of the close proximity of the bow string to my left eye. The string is, in effect, an obstruction for my left eye and this makes my right eye take over because it has an unobstructed view of the target. This in turn is causing me to frequently miss my spot of aim to the right. It seems that I have a struggle going on between my dominate and subordinate eye.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of problem or is it just in my head?

[McDave]

I'm a right-eyed, right handed shooter, and I noticed the same thing.  Without knowing it, I would turn my head in to the extent that my right eye was blocked from the target, maybe by my nose, so I was "aiming" with my left eye some of the time, which of course threw my shots off as you describe.  I found out about this when I had a cataract operation and went around for a while without any left lens in my eyeglasses, which made it real obvious when I switched from right to left eye.  Now that both eyes have been fixed, I try to be careful not to turn my head in to the extent that my right eye is blocked.

[Todd Hathaway]

It is absolutely possible that this is what is happening.

Try this: squeeze your right eye shut hard before the shot, then open it again. This will blur your vision in that eye enough to let your left eye maintain dominace, and you will still have depth perception.

Not necessarily a long term solution, but it's a tool you can use in the meantime.

[Big'n]

I do the same thing sometimes. I just never was smart enough to figure out what I was doing. Thanks, If I know what I'm doing I'm sure I can figure out a remedy. DAVE

[jhansen]

Us lefties sometimes don't have a truly dominant eye, at least not to the extent that most right handed folks do.  This can cause problems with eye-dominance switching back and forth.  I used to be baffled as to why I would shoot two distinct groups of arrows.  One would be in the center of the target and the other higher and to the left.  Both nice groups but separated by several inches.  I finally figured out that I was switching eyes without knowing it.  I wish I could say that I found a simple solution.  I found a solution for myself but it won't work for everyone.  I have to wear trifical lenses nowadays.  I learned that they make bifocal contacts so I decided to give them a try.  I had the left lens set up for distant vision and the right for medium range.  Now if the target is in focus I'm using my left eye.  (And yes, I have to keep a pair of cheaters in my pocket for reading things close up.)  Worked for me.

John