Shooting left

[Wayde Burke]

Can anyone help me out? I have my arrows spine correct. the bow set-up is good, but my point of impact at the target is left . left of the bullseye and left of my line of sight. What else can I do besides trying to train myself to hold to the right. It's not every shot and it's not extreme but the majority of my shots are to the left. Thanks for any suggestions!

[Friend]

Some left shooting contributors assuming you are shooting right handed:

1. Arrow is not directly under your eye at anchor and focusing on the spot. If you can see your arrow moving from rt to left then that is a good indicator. Slightly tilt your relaxed head once at anchor to position your eye over the arrow.

2. Shouders not pointing or square to target at full draw. It is common for many to start square then get out of alignment during the draw. Start square end square. Reference Terry's form clock

3. Having a straight bow arm. Start and draw to anchor with a slight bend and/or unlocked elbow  maintaing same bow arm position. Start right end right.

4. Collapsing at the shot - Maintain back tension completely thru the shot. How your bow behaves at the shot can reveal much about your form. The bow should initially move towards the target at release and then move left and slightly down.

5. Peeking is a another possibilty - At anchor and with your head relaxed and postioned over the arrow you should release and follow thru maintaining focus on the spot and not move your head. Be sure to reflect after each shot as to ascertain what went right or what may have gone wrong with the shot. Take your time, relax and work not to anticipate the shot.

These are not all the possibilties but a decent starting point assuming your arrow is not too stiff.

Hope this helps.

[Ric O'Shay]

Can't get any clearer reason or explanation for shooting left than what Friend just told you.

[Uncle Buck]

your are probably overspined, If you are new to traditional archery I would also check your form. Go to the shooters forum on this site and check out Terry's form clock. good luck and hand in there

[Night Wing]

I do a lot of tinkering.

I shoot right handed bows. If the arrow is properly spined and shoots slightly left for me at 20 yards with a point weight suggested by Stu Miller's DSC program, that normally indicates the arrow is slightly stiff (overspined). To make the arrow go to the right, I can add more point weight and I do this by using 5 grain brass weight washers behind my field points that 3Rivers sells in 11/32" and 5/16" sizes. I can add up to five brass weight washers behind the field point so this basically adds up to 25 more grains of point weight. Since I'm shooting 2212 aluminum arrows, I use 11/32" washers.

Another trick to make the arrow move to the right, if you like your point weight and don't want to change it, is to lower the brace height by a half turn twist (180 degrees). Then shoot about a dozen arrows at 20 yards to see if the arrow is moving over to the right. If it is, but not enough, I lower the brace height again by another half turn twist and take another dozen shots.

The rule of thumb for a stiff arrow to make it move to the right, if you don't want to add more point weight, is to raise the brace height, but that doesn't work for me with my two Blacktails. If I do that, without changing the original point weight, the arrow moves "further" to the right than when I first started.

[Cherokee Scout]

Often when a right hand person hits left, he is pulling his hand from his face/anchor as he releases. But usually, this does not happen on every shot unless the release is bad on every shot. If it happens every time, arrow spine is too stiff. Try a longer shaft, more point weight or lighter spine. Changing brace can help, but be careful not to lower it too much, do not go to extremes. Shooting a bow with a very low brace can possibly damage the bow.

[longbowhntr]

For me, If I have arrows spined right and tuned and still hit to the left of the spot I change to a softer strike plate if possible. The other thing is... I make sure I do not lock my elbow on my bow arm or I hit left of the spot with each shot.

Also not to argue with cherokee scout but if I pull my release hand away from my face on release(plucking the string) the arrow hits to the right of the spot. I got this info from taking Rick Welch's shooting school a few years ago.

Oh I shoot right handed also.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

David

Good luck and let us know how

[Wayde Burke]

Thanks Guys! this is some good info. I believe it will be very helpful.

[scedvm]

Good info above especially from Friend.  I also agree with longbowhntr plucking for me (right handed) the arrow always goes right.

[A.S.]

Definitely try the softer side plate. I have been working on the same thing with my new bow. I took off the calf hair side plate that came on it and switched to a piece ofvery soft velcro (I don't even know if I can find more of this stuff, but it's not like the usual stuff you can buy).

It moved the impact point of my arrows by 4" at 20 yards.

[A.S.]

Just and FYI...I found the side plate material that I mentioned above. It is sold by Black Widow, number 320 in their catalog.

This stuff really moved my point of impact. It's the first time in a long time that I've not had to worry about missing right (I'm left handed).

[sawtoothscream]

i shoot left consistantly for ever on my one longbow. then i switched to different arrows and changed my anchor point and its gone know.

[rluttrell]

I am learning to shot left handed and all my arrows were going right. I read this thread and tried really hard to have a solid anchor by the edge of my mouth.   I am not sure if this is right but when the string brushed my left cheek I shot on center. I was high and low but pretty close to being on center line.

[BuckyT]

I'm right handed and when I fling an arrow left, I've figured out my shoulders and form aren't square towards my target.  I get squared up and they shoot towards the center again.

[Ranger B]

Nock the arrow on the string.  Now line the string up centered on the limbs.  You can put a piece of masking tape on the lime and mark the centerline.  with the arrow nocked and the string lined up on the center of the limb now look at the tip of the arrow.  It should be about 3/4 to 1 arrow width left of the string.  If not then you are not center shot or close.  If you have a thick strike plate you may be able to reduce it.  If you have limbs that adjust you may be able to adjust them.  If you shoot a plunger then move it.  If not then you may have to have weaker spined arrows due to the fact that your bow is left of center.  This would not have been accounted for in the equation used to select the right spined arrows.  

As stated above you can play with brace height.  Be radical with it.  Go down to 7 1/2" inches and see where your impact is and then go to 9 1/2" and see.  This will tell you a lot and you can begin to find the right brace height for that bow and arrow combo.  Also, have you played with lots of point weights?  I keep points from 75 gr. all the way to 250 gr. and work with them to bracket the best combo.  Best of luck...it's often a long process to find the perfect match when shooting off the shelf.

[damascusdave]

Originally posted by rluttrell:
I am learning to shot left handed and all my arrows were going right. I read this thread and tried really hard to have a solid anchor by the edge of my mouth.   I am not sure if this is right but when the string brushed my left cheek I shot on center. I was high and low but pretty close to being on center line.

In a hunting situation you are gonna get into a lot more difficulty with right and left variation than you are high and low, such as hitting the scapula or the liver instead of the heart/lung area. Sure if you get too high you are gonna get a spine hit. Depending on the bow and the broadhead a spine hit can even be a sudden killer. In general low is good, with any hit below the vitals being not only non-lethal, but also not really much more than a big cut for the animal.

Take a look at Tim Stricklands clip on his site about establishing your aim right to left at the beginning of the day. This is just another big plus to bow hunting as I can do it in my yard, which is what I am gonna do as soon as I shut down this silly computer.

DDave

DDave

[zigman]

Good advice...I'm starting over again, and this thread has helped.

zigman

[damascusdave]

We only give good advice on here.

Just have to figure out what it is good for sometimes.

DDave

[damascusdave]

BTW my current tinkering has to do with the effects of cant on right/left point of impact. It has always been my contention that there are a lot of factors that are way more important than spine in actually determining point of impact.

We spend a lot of time on here comparing apples to oranges, resulting in needless worry.

DDave