Please explain Split vision

[frassettor]

Can someone please explain this method to me. I’ve tried reading what I could but I’m not grasping the idea of this method.

[moebow]

Try this experiment.  Stand in front of somebody, look at their nose and without looking away, point your finger at their belt buckle.  You are aware of where your finger is pointing by seeing it in your peripheral vision.  Same with shooting.  Look only at the target but you are aware of the arrow orientation to the target without looking directly at it.  = split vision.

Arne

[frassettor]

Try this experiment.  Stand in front of somebody, look at their nose and without looking away, point your finger at their belt buckle.  You are aware of where your finger is pointing by seeing it in your peripheral vision.  Same with shooting.  Look only at the target but you are aware of the arrow orientation to the target without looking directly at it.  = split vision.

Arne

Then you use the arrow tip with conjunction with target, isn’t that gap shooting? Do you need to know your gap? How do you hit the target ?

[moebow]

Yes, little different from gap.  A rose by any other name...  Yes, best learned by gap shooting and knowing what your gaps are. As you get more accustomed to it, peripheral vision will do the job.  When I learned this from Bob Wesley, we started by finding my "gap" at distances from 5 to 60 yards (my point on distance), writing them down for each 5 yards then learning to estimate distance so I knew which gap to use.  With practice, you learn to just sense the gap and shoot while maintaining visual focus on the target.  No magic in any aiming system, just study, thought and practice. There is NO shortcut!

Arne

[moebow]

Let me add this thought, many will have a coronary about this one. All aiming in archery really boils down to a way to set the gap.  If you are using sights, that's just a mechanical way to set the gap.  Many with sights never look at the arrow point to see what it's relation to the target is but the gap is set.  Point of aim, placing a mark on the ground usually is the same. By placing your arrow tip on the mark, you are setting a gap. the arrow point is somewhere below the target usually.  string walking is a technique that  tries to keep the gap constant ( arrow tip on the target) by changing the elevation relationship of the arrow nock to the eye.

So my irreverent statement is that what ever aiming technique you use, there is a gap involved.  Everyone perceives things differently but in the end, it revolves around where the arrow tip ends up in relation to the target.

Arne

[frassettor]

Thanks Arnie, always appreciate your wisdom and input

[McDave]

I generally agree with what Arne said, but have a slightly different take on several things.  He is of course welcome to disagree with me if he doesn’t think what I’m saying is correct.

First, in order to give some meaning to the term Spilt Vision other than as simply a synonym for gap, I’ll refer back to Howard Hill, who I believe coined the term, and his discussion of split vision in his book, Hunting the Hard Way.  Howard was well aware of the Gap aiming method, and was a straightforward, direct sort of person.  I’m sure that if what he was describing was the Gap aiming method, he would have called it Gap.  He considered the Gap aiming method to be the method where gaps are mechanically calculated and used to set the gap at known or estimated distances, as discussed by Arne above.  I use the capitalized Gap to refer to the aiming method, and the non-capitalized gap to refer to the perceived distance between the aiming point and the point of the arrow, solely to make a distinction between the two. 

He used split vision to describe an improvement to instinctive shooting (I’m sure there are those who don’t believe it is an improvement to instinctive shooting, and they are entitled to their opinion).  The reason he felt that it was an improvement to instinctive shooting is that if you missed the first shot, you could increase or decrease the gap on the second shot and have a better chance of hitting what you were shooting at.  His split vision method does not require that gaps be calculated, simply that they are noticed.  When he discusses learning split vision, he does not describe a pathway going first through the Gap aiming method and over time evolving into split vision, anymore than it is necessary to evolve from Gap to instinctive, although if a person happens to first learns Gap and then evolves into split vision, I’m sure that would be fine with Howard too. 

I believe (strictly my opinion here) that when Howard made his famous comment about a person needing to decide whether to hunt or shoot targets, he was thinking about the difference between Gap and split vision.  If a person is going to shoot targets at known distances, there is no doubt in my mind that the Gap aiming method is superior to split vision.   If you know you are at 50 yards, knowing that you need to put the tip of the arrow 24” above the point you want to hit has got to be more accurate than putting the tip of the arrow where “you think it ought to be.”  OTOH, if you are drawing down on a deer, putting your arrow point “where you think it ought to be” without even worrying about the distance is likely to be at least as accurate, and certainly a lot less distracting, than estimating the distance and the gap.

For me, Gap shooting is where you are estimating distances and calculating gaps.  Split vision is where you are noticing gaps and placing the arrow point where you think it ought to be, based on experience.  Instinctive shooting is neither Gap shooting nor split vision, because gaps are not being used to aim the arrow.  Just because the gaps are there doesn’t mean that a shooter is using them, anymore than he would be driving in 4 wheel drive in a vehicle if the 4 wheel drive isn’t engaged.

[moebow]

  :biglaugh:Don't disagree at all Dave!!  You are just willing to type more than I am.  For me, split vision is just an evolution of gap but however it's perceived it does the same thing. IMO

Arne

[JC Jr]

[reddogge]

Since I started shooting back in the 50s the term split vision was referred to frequently in printed literature. I never heard the term gap shooting until much, much later. But to me, split vision is just gap shooting, the only difference being establishing your gap but concentrating equally on the target and the spot the arrow in on vs concentrating on the target with the gap in your peripheral. I used to think I was shooting instinctively all my early archery life and as it turns out I was really gap shooting but not taking the time to work out the gaps in a more measured way.

[McDave]

Since I started shooting back in the 50s the term split vision was referred to frequently in printed literature. I never heard the term gap shooting until much, much later.

In the 1958 edition of The Archery Handbook, by G. Howard Gillelan and William Stump, on page 36, gap shooting is mentioned by name and described in essentially the same terms as used today: as a calculated method of determining where to hold the point of the arrow while focusing on the point the archer wants to hit.  Hunting the Hard Way was published in 1953.  While I don’t have anything in my library that was published before 1953 that proves that the term gap shooting was in general use before Howard’s book was published, the method is described In The Archery Handbook as generally being in use and not something that was new in 1958.  So my “assumption” that Howard named his method split vision as an alternative to gap and not a synonym for gap stands until I or someone else can come up with something more definitive.

[Orion]

I pretty much agree with McDave.  I consider myself a split vision shooter, and I never used a conscious gap system to transition to split vision.  And, I don't consciously use the tip of my arrow in the aiming process.  However, I do see/feel the orientation of the arrow in relation to the target in my peripheral/split vision.

Are there specific, measureable gaps between the point of the arrow and the target?  Of course, but I've never measured them and don't know what they are. 

[Stagmitis]

Hello Mcdave,

I wanted to add a couple of comments to your excellent post. Yes, Howard Hill was the first archer in history to describe and coin the term "Split Vision". However the term "Gap shooting" was first coined by Byron Ferguson in his book "Become the Arrow" which he noted that his method(Gap shooting) were one in the same with Hills.  Since then the term "Gap" has evolved into something else. Now, unless someone is referring to Split Vison or Fergusons term of gap , distance to the target and a calculated gap between the arrow and target must be known.

Prior to and during Hills time the other method target archers used was "Point of aim" (Not to be confused with "Point on" . This required a known distance to the target. The arrow was placed at a measured distance on a spot  below the target. The archer focused on the arrow tip below NOT on the target itself.

[Lori]

Get Jerry Hill's book, I believe accessible on his Facebook.  Remember, if you are right handed and shoot with your head slightly tilted, you will see two arrows, the right eye sees the slightly higher left arrow.  Your eyes actually see two arrows in focus, the human eye has too short a focal length to do otherwise, but they may appear indistinct.  Whether you are left eye or right eye dominant will make no difference with time. Howard Hill did not aim with his left eye, even though he was left eye dominant, but he could see his shot with his right eye in conjunction to the arrow like anyone else. For close ranges one can acknowledge it all in practice, but it will become an instinctive response at your common shooting distance. If you take lots of point on to near point on shots, the arrow placement will be easier to use, but even that will become more of an instinctive response in short order.