right handed left eye dominant

[J-KID]

When I shoot left handed with sights I close my right eye in order to have any chance of selecting a sight pin that is something other than an illusion. There is a limit to how well I am going to be able to shoot that way. So what, it is still enjoyable. The main reason that I am shooting that way at all has to do with my archery coaching role as a teacher.

As long as it's enjoyable all is well.  I also can identify with the concessions you make to enhance your teaching.  I spend at least 50% of my shooting time experimenting.  That's how we test ideas and gain insights.  It hurts my overall accuracy in the back yard but it makes me a better teacher.  Actually, when it comes to shooting game I go into a different mode and typically hit what I'm looking at.

[excelpoint]

I'm left eye dominant right handed. i shoot split vision and still shoot right handed. What i do do is very slightly squint my left eye. I have shot competion shotgun skeet and sporting clays with good results the same way.

[elmbow]

Everyone, I'll butt in here with a few comments. I'm just returning to the bow after a self imposed hiatus of several years. I'm 60 years next month and naturally left handed but grew up poor and learned to do some athletic things right handed when hand me down equipment dictated so, golf,and  baseball (all right handed gloves, for example. Picked up the bow as a Boy Scout in the days of Fred Bear and naturally shor left handed and instinctively, there was no other way that I was aware of. Well fast forward a decade to getting serious about longarms and discovered that I'm right eye dominant. Even then it took another decade before some wisenheimer expert told me I needed to switch to pulling a right handed bow. I've since worried, read and pondered all the arguments pro and con and here's my final thinking: 1. I agree that the naturally stronger, more coordinated body side should take preference over the eye dominance for reasons stated above. My left bicep is a full incher bigger than my right, balance, stance, everything the body puts into shooting a bow comes naturally to my left side. Why would i fight that? 2. Consider that shooting a bow instinctively is a classic exercise in hand eye coordination, like shooting hoops or throwing a baseball, not so? When you shoot your bow, are you not looking straight ahead (mostly) with both eyes open? If you are a sight shooter, pin or peep, yes, most definitely use your dominant eye and let the weaker eye perform its function of determining field of view and depth of field. But instinctive shooting? The change that i eventually made to become more consistent left to right on target was also mentioned above, I cant my bow, lean my head over the bow and anchor on the corner of my mouth. Beyond that, keeping my arrows in tight groups at ever increasing distances is a function of correct practice and lots of it. Hope that hhelps a wee bit.

[Humming]

I am right handed and left eye dominant,the only problem I ever had was before I realized.Now I shoot instinctive with both eyes open looking at the spot,my only bad shots come from era in my form.Pluck release, drop bow hand,look away lose focus.Not trying to brag,but I am one of the top competitive shooters.

[damascusdave]

Gonna try to revive this thread instead of starting a new one.

Instead of buying an old double shelf bow I am going to build a new one from a blank.

DDave

[kevshin21]

I am in the same boat as you, right handed and left eyed so I shoot left handed.

[David Yukon]

I'm right hande, left eyed. I have shot right handed instinctive for ever.. that said I tend to hit left on the targe on some ocasions but never right!?!? I'm not convince that I could make the switch, it feel so weird to pull with my left hand and so unnatural... I'm realy puzuled about what to do, I would lie to get a new bow for my 40th BD and don't know what to do!! This winter at the indoor club, I will try to borrow a light # lefty to try and see what hapen!?

I switch back and forth, I sometimes find that I am out guesing myself when I hold for a long time or think about my draw length etc., then I can get left right misses a bit.  To fix it, I shot right handed until recently, I have a pair of dark sunglasses with the left lens taken out.  This reaffirms the dominance of the eye over the arrow.  Lately I have been shooting only left handed and when doing the simple eye dominance test, my left eye is dominant.  Earlier when doing a lot of back and forth shooting, I got mixed results with which eye was dominant.  I could control it if I thought about it, but would revert back to the right eye if I just let it happen.  It usually takes me a few shots when I switch, to get things squared away.  The hardest part was learning which way to duck when trying to get my back quiver full of arrows through the brush.

[damascusdave]

Count me in, sort of.

I most definitely used to be that way.

Now you might say I am right handed and both eye submissive.

To complicate things even further I shoot both ways on a regular basis. I was within a hair yesterday of ordering a bow blank designed for a double shelf bow. Then I ended up ordering another right handed bow so I still do not have a bow I can shoot off the shelf left handed. My current left handed bow is designed to be shot off a rest.
DDave

Before I bought a custom left hand longbow I made a pignut hickory with two arrow rests.  The bow had been dunked and then redried with no finish and then reworked.  Problem is, it shoots great and is about as fast as a longbow I had of same poundage and deadly quiet, it is a shame that I did not know how could it would be after I got it dried and reworked.  It makes a great bow for changing hands to shoot at deer when they come from the wrong side.  I find that to keep on line with a both sides bow when shooting, I need to cant the bow more.  The thing that takes a couple of shots though, is the stepping into the shot the same when switching.  I believe that being fluid when hunting is more important than eye dominence.  If one were to make a switch and find themselves with stiff unnatural form, even though they may have tighter groups on a target, they may have been better off not messing with it, when it comes to hunting shots.

[Will Taylor]

I thought I was the only one with this issue.I shoot long gun left handed,pistol right.Yesterday my son and me were playing around in the back yard,me with a right hand recurve,then I went to my self bow that is either hand.Shot left handed,everything went to "poo",but I did good right handed,never shot right before,I dunno.(both eyes open on right)

[sffar]

I'm a righty, but left eye dominant. I decided to practice archery left handed so I wouldn't have to think about compensating. And, I figured I'm not that young so why not put a little exercise/wear 'n tear on my left side and do something lefty. It's worked out fine, though I think I could get along alright shooting righty.

[-Achilles-]

Right handed left eye doninant.I switched to lefty.I know 1 thing for sure.If I had perfect eye sight in my right eye I would be 1 hell of a good shot as I shot right all my life.

Until TP took your form down or your fingers started giving you trouble, like myself.  I cannot shoot coins out of the air left as well as right, but the switch is keeping me shooting.  Sometimes we just gotta do what we need to do to get by.  At least it is good to know there are options.

[Spinealigner]

right handed everything, left eye dominant.  Anything that can be shot is done so on the left side.  Cannot even comprehend shooting something on the right side.  Been that way since I was a kid.

One thing, doc, if one switches back and forth there is less strain on the dorsal/cervical connection. Don Fowley, who I conned into buying a recurve,  from Cresco was very good at that adjustment, not all chiropractors can make that one stick very easily.

[Spinealigner]

Very true pavan.

[kansas stik man]

i learned how to shoot a right handed compound left handed and was very accurate with it too.  but then i stared shooting trad gear and it was way harder so i started shooting right handed letting my vision cross the arrow and meet at the target. i can shoot well enough to hit a target or a few fish that way but when i switched to shooting a left hand recurve i could really stack some arrows on top of each other.  but i still practice my abillity to shoot right handed as well. the way i see it is how will it hurt if i ever loose my ability to shoot on left side i can always switch.

[eddings220]

I am left eye dominant and shoot right hand, does not seem to matter to me. However, after reading some threads, I would like to try shooting left hand, just to see if it makes a different.

[Encino Man]

Another one here. Left eye dominant, right hand shooter.

The only real difference I see is when I lay off for a while and go back to shooting, I have to think about which eye I'm focusing with. When I focus on the spot with the wrong eye I miss by 8" or so at 15 yards.

Shooting left hand there is no thought conversion. I just shoot.