Gripping the Bow

[BuckyT]

I've found through my recent learning curve into trad archery, that I've actually adopted the way I've always held my compound.  Basically, I'm not gripping my recurve.  I simply let the back pressure of drawing the bow pull the the grip into the pocket of my hand between my thumb and first finger.

I was scared the bow would simply fly out of my hand at the shot, because I don't have a wrist loop on my recurve.  Well..  It doesn't.  I always hold on to it after the shot.

Very pleasantly surprised!

I never liked gripping any bow all the way.  Felt like I was setting myself up for torquing the bow left to right by doing that.

Curious how other folks hold on to their bows while shooting.  

I don't plan on changing a thing with how I shoot.

[Stumpkiller]

I like a medium to high grip and usually only keep the thumb and first two fingers even barely tight on the grip.  

Like a sword or a small bird: loose enough it won't suffocate and tight enough it won't fly away.

[snakebit40]

I hold my about the same way to do. I curl my pinky, ring finger, and middle finger. Then as light as a can "hold" my bow so it won't fly out after the shot. Still working on it but its getting better. What do you do with your other three fingers? I've seen people hold them straight out but that requires muscle tension I would think? I'm still new and try to learn something new everyday. So I'm on tradgang as much as possible.

[Stumpkiller]

Interesting.  Here is a still from a video taken last week.  It looks like I relax my index finger and pinky and keep the middle and ring fingers on the grip.  It's a high-grip riser cut-out and I do hold it "lightly", as I do all my bows.  Probably why I didn't get too fond of my longbow.  

 

[Ranger B]

This is from a practice session a couple of days ago.  I use a finger sling and let the bow jump into it.  Like you I try and feel the back pressure into the lifeline in my hand.  For hunting you can touch the index finger to the thumb but keep it loose or use a wrist sling over your glove. The last sequence of shots in the video lets you see the bow jump to target.

 

[BuckyT]

Originally posted by snakebit40:
I hold my about the same way to do. I curl my pinky, ring finger, and middle finger. Then as light as a can "hold" my bow so it won't fly out after the shot. Still working on it but its getting better. What do you do with your other three fingers? I've seen people hold them straight out but that requires muscle tension I would think? I'm still new and try to learn something new everyday. So I'm on tradgang as much as possible.

My other 3 fingers just fall down limp out in front of the grip.  I grab the bow out of instinct after the shot.

Before I ever got my bow I was watching the 3rivers archery video that had Fred Eichler in it and that's how he holds his bow.  He said, you'll just instinctively grab the bow before it falls out of your hand after the shot.  He was right.

With my compound, I never grabbed it, just let it fall forward after the shot and the wrist loop would catch it.

I don't even think about the bow falling out of my hand.  Haven't dropped it yet.  lol!

[zigman]

My tendency is to keep my relaxed grip from my days on the dark side, but my Howatt Hunter has a much larger grip that does not settle into the web of my bow hand like my training wheel bow.  Hence the consideration of a custom to fit my short draw length and short stubby fingers.

zigman

[snakebit40]

My main bow has Schafer Silvertip limbs and a homemade riser. I had a guy in town make the riser and it was his first attempt. He did an awesome job! I would like to try shooting bows with different grip positions to find the one that suits me. Is my best bet to go to one of the archery shows? Here in northwest KS we don't have any trad archery shows (or any within 500 miles it seems like).