Over draw symptoms?

[Rossco7002]

Recently I've begun to develop the idea that I over draw my bow before releasing. Occasionally my string will hit my nose on release and I don't have a great deal of control over my release in terms of it is quick - but I do come to a solid anchor.

If I shorten my draw by a quarter inch or so I gain much more control over the shot and have increased accuracy.

What are the indicators that you are over drawing?

[House]

I'm gonna bring this back up as I too wonder about his with my shooting.

Travis

[shortstroke 91]

I found that when I overdrew my bows I would always shoot 3 or 4 inches left. (right handed)

[dragonheart]

Left shooting arrows. RH archer.

[Pete McMiller]

Agree with the others, RH shooter may shoot left when overdrawing.  Also, I have noticed with me that my pretty smooth release really goes to hell and I get arrows kicking or corkscrewing.  The strange thing is that it always baffles me for a while - you'd think I'd learn   :rolleyes:   Sometimes a stick and a string isn't that simple.

[McDave]

I teach archery to kids once a month for our club.  The bows we provide are pretty low-poundage, even for some of the kids.  At first, I would stress getting the bow all the way back to full draw, as that seems to be the usual problem with us.  However some of the kids would take this to heart and draw the bow all the way back behind their ears!  When they overdraw to extreme, it is easy to see why the arrows fly left, because the arrow shaft ends up alongside their head, way to the right of their eyes.  Now when I teach them, I stress drawing back to an anchor, neither underdrawing nor overdrawing the bow, because they are just as likely to do one as the other.

Based on watching the kids, I would say that the important thing is to get to full draw, but not draw so much that the arrow moves away from under your eye.  Your draw should be "J" shaped.  You will be drawing the arrow straight back to a certain point, and at that point, you will have a choice.  You can either continue to haul back on the arrow, which will throw everything out of alignment and the nock will end up behind your ear someplace (if you can pull it back that far).  Or, you can complete the "J", such that the arrow doesn't move back much further, but your elbow moves around the bottom of the "J" in an arc around your spine, which you should feel in your string-side shoulder blade as that shoulder blade moves in toward your spine.

[UrbanDeerSlayer]

Originally posted by McDave:
I teach archery to kids once a month for our club.  The bows we provide are pretty low-poundage, even for some of the kids.  At first, I would stress getting the bow all the way back to full draw, as that seems to be the usual problem with us.  However some of the kids would take this to heart and draw the bow all the way back behind their ears!  When they overdraw to extreme, it is easy to see why the arrows fly left, because the arrow shaft ends up alongside their head, way to the right of their eyes.  Now when I teach them, I stress drawing back to an anchor, neither underdrawing nor overdrawing the bow, because they are just as likely to do one as the other.

Based on watching the kids, I would say that the important thing is to get to full draw, but not draw so much that the arrow moves away from under your eye.  Your draw should be "J" shaped.  You will be drawing the arrow straight back to a certain point, and at that point, you will have a choice.  You can either continue to haul back on the arrow, which will throw everything out of alignment and the nock will end up behind your ear someplace (if you can pull it back that far).  Or, you can complete the "J", such that the arrow doesn't move back much further, but your elbow moves around the bottom of the "J" in an arc around your spine, which you should feel in your string-side shoulder blade as that shoulder blade moves in toward your spine.

McDave, could you please clarify the "J".  Is the "J" shape what you would see if you were directly over top of the archer looking down? So the "J" shape is formed from the bow hand through the elbow of the string hand, then turns up to the string hand forming a "J" as if viewed from above??

[McDave]

It's the path the string elbow takes, viewed from above. Of course, when teaching the kids, I just try to get them to pull the arrow straight back to anchor and then release it, so that the bow hand is pushing directly forward and the string hand is pulling directly back. You can get to shoot really well that way in a short time, if you can avoid putting any sideways or torquing forces on the bow or arrow. But to really get to a solid anchor, get your drawing forearm aligned with the arrow, and get the arrow to go where you're looking, you need to complete the bottom of the "J."

[RC]

Good stuff Mcdave. I recently figured out my out of alignment cause and it was exactly as you described...the fix. I could draw low and come up into anchor and it worked but did not feel as fluid as your "J". Makes a much more consistent draw length and anchor and does not pull my face mask causing distraction.RC

[Killdeer]

Now THERE'S something for me to look at.  I am smaller than most of you, and I draw the heck out of a bow to make up for it. I just hate to give up an inch or two!

Killdeer

[OBXarcher]

not to high jack a thread but what are other indications of overdrawing ? My bow arm tends to fly left on release (RH shooter). I do extend pretty far on the draw.

[Greg Skinner]

This is a topic that may not get as much attention as it deserves.  I have a pretty short draw myself (about 26 1/2 in) and feel the need to compensate in one way or another.  For quite a few years I shot bows that were too heavy for me and developed some bad shooting habits.  After dropping down in poundage I discovered that my draw length increased and that I was able to get almost as much arrow speed as with the heavier bows that I drew an inch less.
 
My comfort range seemed to be in the 52# to 57# range and I could shoot them fairly well.  I recently decided to try dropping draw weight a bit in hopes of improving my form.  I've discovered that I have a real difficult time shooting the 47#-48# bows consistently, and I think part of the reason is the tendency to overdraw.  Subconsciously I think I am drawing back farther than I should - just because I can very easily with the lighter draw weight and I feel the need to get every extra bit of power from the bow.

After reading the comments on this thread I think I will re-examine the overdraw idea and how it pertains to my shooting accuracy.