split vision.

[Cherry Tree]

Hey guys!

I was wanting to know how to do this style of shooting so if you could explain how and the dos and donts (if i were to try it) that would be great!

Thanks!

You stare hard at your mark, the steadier your focus is the easier it is to see in your peripheral vision where the arrow is.  With a little practice at pointing, not drawing or shooting necessarily, you will be able to pick where the arrow will be below your target.  You can do it with just your finger.  Stare at a spot than without looking at anything else point your finger at something else.  You will be able to see it in your side vision.  then practice doing it at your shooting yardage and pick about where you think your arrow should be with out looking at it directly, using your indirect vision.  Then do it shooting, if you shoot a foot high then drop your imaginary secondary spot the amount you missed.  After a while it becomes "conditioned instinct", that is when it becomes an asset to the hunter.  Target shooters can do analytically with very slow form and keep it rigid and mechanical. If you get to the point that you feel like you are shooting instinctive but are still acknowledging the position of the arrow to some degree you are there.

[Cherry Tree]

Do you put the tip on when your at full draw or let off?

[Pete McMiller]

Cherry Tree,

You don't actually put the tip of the arrow on anything.  I liken it to shooting a shotgun at a moving target - you don't aim the shotgun barrel but you know it's there.  You concentrate on your target but always knowing where your barrel/arrow is at all times.

In my case, my draw, bow cant, anchor reference, etc. are set up so my eye is right over the arrow so the windage is taken care of.  If I have the elevation right I will hit where I am looking.  I don't consciously stare at the arrow but I know when it isn't where it's supposed to be.

For me, It has taken a ton of practice shots to figure it out.  When it works correctly, it's a thing of beauty.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

This is the kind of thing the Bob Wesley School teaches.  Learn your gap, and practice daily with good form.

As Bob told me years ago, at first you have to think about it and then after awhile it becomes second nature as the system grooves in.
  The way Hill explained it, the whole system is doing consciously what your eye/hand coordination uses naturally.  the difference is making a conscious choice at the beginning of the the shot. I would say that to start it may very well be helpful to consciously place the point on an imaginary spot. Ferguson used stickers to place his arrow to groove in his secondary, as i seen on one of his videos. Hill also said once that one should not get so fundamental on this.  As John Schulz said he never actually taught it in a step by step procedure to him. I like John's term 'conditioned instinct'.  For example, if you know exactly what your point on distance is, that is basically secondary aiming, anything shorter than that of course your arrow will be lower in the field of view.  Do not look at the arrow, for me it is quite a distance from the mark.  For me with my middle finger just past the corner of my mouth the arrow point on deer tends to be even with their hooves.  On flat ground it stays there for a range of distances, not until it gets back a ways the the point need to be higher up. but like I said, if I get too fundamental and mechanical on a live target, because of subtle position changes and the fact that game does not hold still like a target, I consider the secondary gets me in the the same zip code, but the 'conditioned instinct' fines tunes the shot to get it to the vitals.

[Cherry Tree]

Well i tried it today not very far shots and it wasnt to bad i normally shoot instinctive and the guy that taught me told me that its a waste of time to just shoot instinctively he says its a wait hanging on your back,so now i dont know what to do i just kinda wanted to get into something a little more like its not a hope thing its more like i no its going to get there thing.

Thanks!

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

Originally posted by pavan:
As Bob told me years ago, at first you have to think about it and then after awhile it becomes second nature as the system grooves in.

I am still grooving it in, but I had a near perfect practice session today and I am only a week into it.  I moved back to a new distance and I am getting that "split vision" so I can focus on my target and am consciously aware of the tip of my arrow.  It's almost zen like when you are in the groove.

[Orion]

Cherry, I'd look for a different guy to teach you because the one who is obviously doesn't know what he's talking about.  Just about every really good shot there ever was shoots split vision, which is the method that Pavan described quite well. Howard Hill used it and the top target archers of today use it.  But becoming a good shot isn't something you pick up in a few hours, or weeks or even months.  It takes lots of hard practice.

[Butkus]

Split vision is instinctive for me. I automatically did it from the first trad shot I ever made, before I even knew what folks called it, and still do it now. It's the only thing that makes sense to me and I wonder to myself if anyone really aims any other way. There is nothing to learn about it but lots to practice as we load our memory with gap data and perfecting our form. It's as simple as looking at your spot and noticing the arrow & gap in your peripheral. To me, aiming is not the issue, it's all about form. All my challenges have been and still are about form.

[Cherry Tree]

Yeah its sounds like a very common style of shooting so it must be worth it to learn and practice.

[LEWIS VADEN]

I think Butkus nailed it.

[Northwest_Bowhunter]

I had to go to a class about aiming to have him tell me how to correct my form, I knew I had problems I just didn't know how many or how bad.

[71flh]

I use split vision, about 90/10. 90% on the target and 10% on the point. At short distance I am totally focused on the target. Form is very important, and so is concentration.

[stiknstringer]

Butkus is right.It's really not hard to aim the arrow.The arrow is like a missile and your form is the launching pad.A consistant launching pad (form) will send the "missile" to where you are aiming on a consistant basis.  

[cbCrow]

I am very much like McMiller,I know the arrow is there but my full and undivided attention is to the spot that I want the arrow to hit. I do not look at any gap or take my attention off that spot and have found it successful for me over the years. Cherry Tree, can you throw a baseball to someone else accurately?     This game is practice, practice, than more practice to become proficient. When you can think about that baseball.