Multiple questions... one thread...

[Mudd]

I have read frequently about shooters making the switch from right hand to left but I seldom read of the opposite switch being made.

1)Is this a valid observation?

2) Who has made the switch?

3) Which direction did the switch take you L/R?

OK, as I was typing this out a another question popped into my mind.

4) Why was the switch made?

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

God bless,Mudd

[buckracks7]

My guess is the majority of people are right handed to start with.

I didn't really switch, I just like to shoot left sometimes in addition to right. I wanted to balance out my muscles, it's fun to see if I can do it, and it gives me the excuse to own a couple more bows.

[Duker]

Mudd:::In the late 60's I started out shooting bows left hand(left eye dominate but do everything right hand) But switched back to right hand in 1985.Never felt comfortable shooting left handed .  

[Tim Finley]

Ive had a few cutomers that have switched from right to left . One is my friend Paul Shannon who is 84 years old he switched because of very little vision left in his right eye . Most change because of bad shoulders. One older gent even showed me a picture of a big ten point he killed last year shooting left handed after the switch. They all went down in weight to about 45# and it took them about a year to become as proficent as they were before. My wife is left handed and left eye dominate but shoots right handed and has to close her left eye after she draws the bow. I dont know anyone that went from left to right.....Tim

[McDave]

I think Buckracks is probably correct.  First of all, there probably aren't that many people who need to switch, since most people have the same dominant eye and hand. Then, of the people who need to switch, most are going to be right-handed to start with, leaving a very small group of left-handed, right eye dominant people.

I began experimenting shooting left-handed several years ago, when I had a case of tennis elbow that wouldn't go away.  Using the opposite muscles to shoot with really helped.  I shot exclusively left-handed for a while, and then switched back and forth after the tennis elbow cleared up.  Although I shoot better right-handed, I've continued to shoot left-handed regularly to keep both sides in balance.

I feel totally comfortable shooting either way.  I'm not particularly gifted athletically, but my body had it pretty well figured out within a week of shooting 25-50 arrows a day.  I tell my students in my archery classes that left-handed and right-handed bows are a misnomer; they should be called left-eyed and right-eyed bows, because there is plenty for each hand to do either way.

[nineworlds9]

I'm like Duker, I'm crossed and shoot lefty.  Prefer shooting lefty, can't beat holding the bow in your steady dominant right hand and aiming with your dominant left eye.  Been doing it that way since the beginning so the pulling muscles on that side are good to go.  I can shoot right handed too but I'm not as accurate for obvious reasons.  I stay strong and work out so I can pull the same weight bows on either side including my 90# ELB.  I don't shoot much right handed though cause i dont feel the need other than just as a novelty.  Actually I had a chuckle at the shoot I went to a few months ago.  We were all practicing and I wanted to try a new pal's 21st century longbow 53# but he was a righty and was like 'yeah but its a righty' and i was like 'no worries' I picked it up, pulled it back, aimed and hit reasonably close to my intended target.  Apparently he was wowed and said 'Dang, I'm amazed you can just grab a 53# bow and shoot on your non dom side that easy'. It was funny.  Anyway, I'm right handed left eyed and I love it.

The ease with which I switch is no doubt due to my being a big young ox firefighter  

[damascusdave]

I am right handed and used to be left eye dominant (check out the tag lines at the bottom of this post)...as a young man I shot guns left handed naturally, but since there were not many left handed guns made I decided to learn to shoot a gun right handed....in the nineties when I got into the mechanically assisted bows it just seemed natural to learn to shoot them both ways...then about 4 years ago when I saw the light I started out shooting lefty, but pretty quickly got a right handed bow as well...in that time I have grown both older and stronger and I will, as the golfers do, continue to try to shoot my age...at 61 I could shoot 61#, right and left handed, all day long without any difficulty...I fully intend to be shooting 70# both sides when I am 70...one huge advantage of being able to shoot both ways is that when I see a bow I want advertised at a good price it makes no difference which side the arrow rest is on...my lefty Robertson Fatal Styk and lefty Gharing are both great examples

DDave

[damascusdave]

Hey Chuck...just noticed we are at just about the same number of posts and was gonna race you to the 1000 mark...then I also noticed you have only been a member since last year...carry on

DDave

[Bladepeek]

I recently switched to lefty as I'm right handed but left eye dominant. It feels more physically comfortable to me right handed, but more visually comfortable left handed. I've worked my way up to where I can shoot the same mid-weight bows with either hand (50# +-). I'm not a great shot with either hand, but my groups are approximately equal with either hand. Just have to close my left eye when shooting right handed. Don't mind doing that when target shooting, but don't like to when hunting. I'm 72 and, unlike damascusdave, have no aspirations to be shooting 80# when I'm 80, or even 70# now    

Come to think of it, I'll be happy if I can still walk out into the woods with or without a bow when I'm 80  

[jcar315]

Right handed but left eye dominant. Made the switch several years ago and haven't looked back. Without a doubt it is the best thing I've done for my shooting.

Took just a little while to get usd to nocking the arrow LH but he shooting came together extremely quickly.

Would seem like Mcdave's reasoning makes sense on why not so many switch to RH shooting.

While I'm not a "one size fits all" kind of guy my encouragement to any cross dominant shooter would be to really give shooting with your dominant eye for a good while. Didn't take long and all my RH bows were on the way out.

[nineworlds9]

Originally posted by damascusdave:
Hey Chuck...just noticed we are at just about the same number of posts and was gonna race you to the 1000 mark...then I also noticed you have only been a member since last year...carry on

DDave

Haha, at my current rate ill prolly be at 2000 by July!  Obsess much? Nah, not me

Good advice from John, def give your dom eye a chance you crossed people.

[Jerry Gille]

I switched from right handed shooting to left handed shooting back in 1994 I think.  I switched because I was left eye dominant and right handed.  My left eye was also stronger than my right eye which helped me make the decision.

As a side note, you didn't ask but the switch was a piece of cake.  I got rid of all my right handed stuff in the winter, bought a left handed bow and it felt completely normal by the end of the summer.

[damascusdave]

Originally posted by Bladepeek:
I recently switched to lefty as I'm right handed but left eye dominant. It feels more physically comfortable to me right handed, but more visually comfortable left handed. I've worked my way up to where I can shoot the same mid-weight bows with either hand (50# +-). I'm not a great shot with either hand, but my groups are approximately equal with either hand. Just have to close my left eye when shooting right handed. Don't mind doing that when target shooting, but don't like to when hunting. I'm 72 and, unlike damascusdave, have no aspirations to be shooting 80# when I'm 80, or even 70# now        

Come to think of it, I'll be happy if I can still walk out into the woods with or without a bow when I'm 80      

Pretty sure that right around 70 my thinking is gonna change of course

[rluttrell]

When I took up archery they just put a bow in my right hand and said shoot.
Later on an older gentleman watched me shoot and asked if I had my checked to see what my dominant eye was. I said it has to be my right side I am right handed. He just smiled and tested me of course it’s my left eye.
When I tried shooting from my weak side it felt awkward and I didn’t have the same strength. It took about 3 months and was shooting the same from the left side. I am not a great shot but now it’s just normal.

[Bladepeek]

Funny how one's thinking does that at a certain point. Some of us just reach it a bit earlier.

An old girlfriend's dad just reached 94 and he's still living alone. Probably could have been drawing a lb/year up until a couple of years ago - just had no interest in archery.

By the way, if my wife asks, I didn't just post that, or I might be living alone. I don't know any old girlfriends.

While I do not have a clearly dominant eye and I am an ambi with a number of things. I can switch back and forth.  On another take, the part of the brain that controls the left side opperates more annilytically, while the part of the brain that runs your right side is more of a reflex responce. One of the easiet ways to fix target panic is to go the other way for a right hander. I think one can train the eyes to do what they need to adapt to left hand shooting. It is possible that left hand shooters do not develop TP as easily as right hand shooters, but then there are not as many of them.

[ron w]

I have not switched, but I'm right handed and left eye dominate. I recently got a couple of bows made that have dual shelves. Both are moderate poundage and I have been trying it both ways....just to say I can....lol! I was kind of amazed that I can do OK left handed, I need to work at it some more but it has been interesting.

[damascusdave]

Just put a longbow in motion yesterday that I will be able to shoot off my hand either right handed or left handed...I already have a 58 inch dual shelf but am going to have this one about 64 inches...it will be a bamboo backed osage self bow...sometimes simple is the best way to go

DDave