Hitting high woes

[A Lex]

Since my main bow, my 75lb longbow, is out of service, I've been using my only other bow. This other bow an identical bow, same make, model, grip, 66" length, etc etc, a little brother to the heavy bow if you wish, except this one draws only 55lb.

I've found it has been much harder to get good back tension with the light bow. Don't know why.
It has taken some solid work, as I could never shoot it anywhere as consistantly or as well as the heavier bow, but my shooting with the 55lb'er is now usually acceptable, and my groups are good (for me and this bow)

BUT my arrows hitting high, consistently, like about 12 inches high at 15 yards. Spot on for left and right, but high.

I've shot my heavy bow for years, and it would just simply put that arrow right where I wanted, but this one is very different. I am finding it hard to come to grips with the arrow going so high.

My arrows for this bow are 70-75lb Douglas Fir, with 160 grain tips and 4x5" feathers, all up they weigh 650 grains.

These paper tune well, group well and fly well, bare shafts and fletched shafts group tight together too, so no dramas there.

I shoot split vision (I guess) I look at the spot I'm going to hit, but the arrow is there in my perifirial vision. I don't actually use it as a reference, but I do see it. Think you'd call that split vision. Works for me anyway.

So my question is:
Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do to get my arrows to impact lower down, back to where I'm looking.

Or do I simply have to re-train my brain?

I am shooting it more than well enough to hunt with, apart from that small frustrating detail of not hitting where I'm looking. Will not go hunting with it yet because of that little issue, and it's quite testing. The rabbits are calling, but I'm not confident yet.

Best
Lex

[Zradix]

well....Sounds like your form might be different shooting the 55 vs 75.....could be part of the problem.

I'm wondering if your release could be the culprit though.
Often heavy bows sorta force a smoother release.
Do you shoot split finger?
If so, I'm curious if you may be hooking your index finger on the string too much during the release (being used to a heavier bow) and that is causing your bow to pivot up.
I've had that problem before...took me a while to figure out what I was doing wrong.
Finally started pulling most (90% or so) of the weight with my middle and ring finger while consciously letting my index finger just kinda lay on the string and pulling very little weight with it.....letting it just "go along for the ride"....

[Orion]

You seem to have covered most of the bases. Might the nocking point on the lighter bow be lower/too low? If nothing else has changed from one bow to the other, that would send the arrow higher.

[Gordon Jabben]

Check to see if the shelf is cut in higher on the light bow.  The easiest way is to switch strings and see if the nocking point is higher on the light bow with the heavy bow string on it.  I have found for me, where the shelf is cut in makes a big difference on my high and low.   

[Friend]

Believe the recommendations to be very good.

[McDave]

Split vision means aiming by placing the arrow point on the spot you think it needs to be in order to hit the target.  This is different from “noticing” the arrow point, but not using it to aim, which is instinctive aiming.  In both cases, the eye is focused on the spot you want to hit, with the arrow point in your out of focus peripheral vision.  Howard Hill started out aiming instinctively, but switched to split vision in order to have more control over his shots, particularly the second shot.  If you have good consistent form and miss the first shot, high or low, and if you are aiming using split vision, you know to pick a new spot to place the arrow point for the second shot that is up or down from the first spot.

There is also a way to control the point of impact (POI) if you are shooting instinctively, and that is to move the nock point.  If you move the nock point up then the POI will move down, because if you are aiming instinctively, you will hold your bow arm in the same place, regardless of where the nock point is, and your POI will move accordingly.  Moving the nock point up may give you nock high bare shaft results, but will have minimal effect on fletched arrow flight.  I suppose if I were going to permanently change to a different bow, I would prefer to tune for perfect bare shaft flight and wait for my mental computer to reprogram, but for a temporary change, I would move the nock point.

Note that moving the nock point won't work for split vision, because the arrow point will be pointing at a lower spot and you would just raise the bow, negating any effect of moving the nock point.  But if you really aren't using the arrow point to aim, then you shouldn’t notice that it is pointing at a lower spot.

[bigbadjon]

I do not know if you are shooting withCDC a straight grip or a locator type. On a 55 lb you might be able to shoot either way anyhow. Holding your bow in a recurve or compound style grip will change the torque and usually make you shoot lower.

[Hawkeye]

You already mentioned what ended up being the answer for me...

In the first few years of my trad archery career (now some 25 years ago!), I had what I called "High-itis".  Seemed like no matter what I did my arrows hit directly centered, but 10-15" higher than I intended.  Then, one day after trying for a long time to understand what people were talking about when they mentioned "back tension", I actually felt and understood it for the first time.  I was the "ah ha!" moment that ended my target panic, changed my draw length from 28" to 29", and ENDED MY PROBLEM WITH "HIGH-ITIS"!  To this day, it remains the one thing I commit to find and feel on each shot.  Everything else then seems to take care of itself, for me.

Maybe the other suggestions are really the right answer to your newfound difficulties, but based on my experience, I'd advise getting proper back tension once again, and see if that makes the difference for you.  Good luck with it all!

Daryl

[A Lex]

Thank you all for your feedback,

Zradix: I shoot 3 under

Gordon: shelf height is the same

McDave & Orion: will experiment with the nock point.

Hawkeye: will certainly keep back tension a priority

Perhaps the main thing is maybe I simply need to keep shooting and re-train my brain.

All good though, with all the great shared knowledge here on TradGang, and my will to always try to improve, we'll get it sorted.

Again, many thanks to all.

Best
Lex

[ozy clint]

had a similar issue myself. try raising your anchor point. worked for me.

[pavan]

When i was shooting bows 80 pounds and heavier, the light weight bows really messed with my form and my head.  With heavy bows people tend to collapse into the bow more and then when they get a lighter bow in their hands, they shoot with a less collapsed and more heads up form.   Do some slow motion shooting and acknowledge the position of the arrow.