Question for you long draw length shooters

[Gump21Bravo]

Morning everyone,

I am experimenting with lengthening my draw length. Really getting those back muscles involved and expanding. For this to work I got to find a consistent anchor and just wondering where some of you anchor so I can try a multitude of things and tweak to my style.

Thanks for any and all responses and I look forward to having a healthy discussions on my findings.

Craig

[McDave]

Back of feather to end of nose is a good anchor that is adjustable for draw length based on where you glue the arrow to the shaft.  I have modified that somewhat by making the point of contact my mustache (or you could use your lip) right underneath my nose, which allows the feather to be mounted a little further back toward the nock than the nose anchor does.  

I also like to feel the bowstring contact the bone right over my eye, and to be aware of the string blur in my peripheral vision.  This is also convenient when shooting bare shafts to have some confidence that I'm using the same draw length as for fletched arrows.

A drooping head can effect draw length with the feather/nose anchor, but combining it with the string touching my eye bone helps me to keep my head in the same position for each shot.

[alaninoz]

I use the index finger touching the canine tooth - for me that's more stable than corner of the mouth.

Drooping head is a problem for me too. Not so much with it changing the draw length, but I start spraying left and right.

[RedShaft]

I go finger deep in corner of mouth, And thumb behind jaw. You need to be careful  though.. You don't want to stretch yourself out too much. ESP if you hunt there in Hawaii. In the winter in my basement I shot 5 yards working on nothing but form all winter, this was 4 months. My draw used to be 27 inches. Then i got a biw i could handle well and I though my draw was 28. I now draw 29 inches from expanding and working on form alone! Too many crunch up when shooting traditional and the main cause I believe is being over bowed. Too much poundage. The reason I say about to be careful is you can go to far and try to over do it. You need to work on form first. And what ever your draw is naturally with proper form, leave it at that. Work that blind bale and form and you will see you draw length grow, I promis.

[moebow]

Craig,

If you came to me with that question, we'd approach it a little differently.  Just picking a reference (or several references) on your face is just an arbitrary decision that may or may not give you the draw you want.

What we would do is get your draw figured out, THEN find the references that will be a RESULT of the draw and NOT a target of the draw.

If you just pick out some references, you will find many ways to draw and "hit" those references. This will probably not give you the consistency you are looking for.

I really doesn't matter if you are a "long" draw or a "short" draw shooter, the anchor should be a result of your draw and NOT a target of the draw.

Arne

[flacker]

I use my thumb knuckle and pin it behind the corner of my jaw bone (where it starts to angle up).  This gives me good alignment and a pretty consistent anchor, and although the hold is further down from the eye, I've gotten pretty used to it.
Recurve DL - 31"
Longbow DL- 30"

[Sarah]

I do exactly the same thing as Flacker, if I recall it added an inch or two to my draw length at the time that I started doing it.

[Gundog68]

Originally posted by moebow:
Craig,

If you came to me with that question, we'd approach it a little differently.  Just picking a reference (or several references) on your face is just an arbitrary decision that may or may not give you the draw you want.

What we would do is get your draw figured out, THEN find the references that will be a RESULT of the draw and NOT a target of the draw.

If you just pick out some references, you will find many ways to draw and "hit" those references. This will probably not give you the consistency you are looking for.

I really doesn't matter if you are a "long" draw or a "short" draw shooter, the anchor should be a result of your draw and NOT a target of the draw.

Arne

During my learning to shot with really back tension my draw length increases from 29.5 to 31" now. I shot over 10 years without really back tension. But searching for good rigid reference points is not easy for me so i have the same problem as the OP.

[Paul WA]

What McDave said per instruction from Joel Turner.