busting my lip,and sick of friends saying my wifes tougher than me

[stevewills]

but really i started shooting a 3 under tab widow tab and can shoot 4 or 5 times and bust my lip and bleed everywhere.i dont know if its the string or tab.i never had any problem with a glove..i am anchoring with my index finger on my eye tooth,and curl my thumb around my jaw bone..all i know is im accurate this way but it really hurts any thoughts....

[longbowben]

Its the tab.Go back to the glove.Leatherneck had te same problem.

[cyred4d]

I agree with longbowben. Go back to the glove or try a different tab.

[stevewills]

ok i know this is taboo but im string walking with this set up for ibo recurve unaided.should i find a different anchor,i really dont want to change anything but i will so ill quit hearing all the smack from my friends...so i need a tab that i can count stitches

[wtpops]

Have you trimmed the tab down? If you havent trim it down as far as you can and still protect your fingers.

Nothing taboo about string walking, i know some guys that do it and i sure would not want to stand in front of them at 50 yards.

[buckeye_hunter]

Have you tried the cordovan 3 under tab from Three Rivers? I really like it.

FYI: They run just a shade small in size.

[Butch Speer]

A tab that's too long can really beat up your face. I always trim mine.

[stevewills]

its trimmed maybe it could use a bit more..

[Mudd]

I had an old country Dr. I used when I was going to college.

He gave me some of the best advice I've ever gotten from anyone, ever.

Ole Doc Robinson said " If it hurts, don't do it!"...lol

I have found his advice can apply to so many different areas of my life.

It might be it can help you too?

God bless,Mudd

[YORNOC]

Another possibility besides the tab...but relates to the tab:
We were taught in FITA competition to completely relax the fingers upon release. Many people struggle with fully relaxing, and when the string breaks free of your grip, you still have tension and the fingers/tab/glove come back and slap you.
If this is the problem, shoot in front of some bales or whatever nice and close. You dont care about accuracy, just form. draw on the bale/target, dont really pick a spot but anchor and hold it, then just concentrate on complete relax of the fingers when releasing, some guys literally pointed their index finger at the target as a method and all other fingers followed.  
If your fingers are indeed slapping you, it is not good for follow through for anyone, it creates an involentary tensing when your fingers hit you, and all kinds of issues can arrise from handle torque to losing back tension.
At close range you dont notice the effect as much, but at 90 meters..it can be three feet off.    
String walking adds another variable to the mix, which is fine! But if your release insnt good, string walking will make you suffer worse.  Your release is more critical for you than most doing that...so make sure it is top notch!

[KentuckyTJ]

I just yesterday found an old tab I've had for years. Took it out and gave it a go (always used a glove). I to go slapped in the lip upon release, but man I've never had such a crisp clean release with a glove. Thanks for posting this Steve. I think I'll hack on it some today.

TJ

[PowDuck]

Originally posted by Mudd:
I had an old country Dr. I used when I was going to college. He gave me some of the best advice I've ever gotten from anyone, ever.

Ole Doc Robinson said " If it hurts, don't do it!"...lol

I have found his advice can apply to so many different areas of my life.

It might be it can help you too?

God bless,Mudd

Old country docs are a pretty smart bunch. I went to my old country doc and told him that it hurt whenever I touched my chin, my elbow, my knee, my toes, etc.


He told me my finger was broken.
   

[FerretWYO]

I switched from a glove to a tab 10 years ago. I can still from time to time catch my lip. I achor very much like you described.

As others have mentioned one thing that will help is to trim your tab. It will take your fingers a little while to get used to it but it will help.

The next thing that I would check is make sure that you are not turning your head into your bow to much. One thing that I see when people start to hook their thumb on the jaw bone is that they inadvertantly turn thier head into the bow. As if they are holding the bow back with thier head rather than the back. If this happens you will put your lip in front of the string and in the way of the tab. Hence then blood. This will happen to me if I have shot to many arrows and am starting to fatique.

[amar911]

I shoot split fingered, but other than that, the way I anchor is exactly the same as yours -- index finger on eyetooth and thumb curled around jaw bone. I shot exclusively with a glove for 50 years and then a few years ago started using a tab part of the time. For some reason I have never needed to trim a tab to make it fit. My shooting is almost identical when using a fairly thin, slick fingered glove like the 3Rivers Dura-glove or the Grizzly Wolverine "SS" glove, or a cordovan tab like the Bateman, so I switch back and forth whenever I feel like it based on what kind of shooting I will be doing. I have almost never had a problem with the string hitting my lip or face, but until about a year and a half ago, I wondered why I didn't and other people did.

The revelation came about as a result of digital cameras where people didn't have to "waste film" taking pictures of me. For the first time I saw photographs of myself shooting a bow, and I was very surprised. I look pretty weird at full draw because I tend to open my mouth slightly, pull the right side of my mouth back and actually stick my index finger inside the edge of my mouth to touch my eyetooth. I had noticed saliva on my glove, tab and/or finger before, but didn't really put together what I was doing. Because my lips are pulled back tightly with the corner of my lips behind the string, and I have my face pointed generally at the target (as Randy suggests), there is nothing for the string to catch on. I may look weird when I am shooting, but I look normal (at least to the extent I am ever capable of looking normal) after I have finished shooting, and don't have a swollen or cut lip. Here is a photo of me at full draw in Zimbabwe.

Allan

 

[leatherneck]

Been there. I shot for a very long time with a black widow tab. Pretty much my whole life(even in wheelie days). About 2 years ago this same issue happened to me. I tried everything;tab trimming,smaller/larger tabs,etc. What it was, was the string would rake acrossed my lip and cause it to chafe. Something apparently happened to my form with my head to make this happen. I too anchor in the corner of my mouth and my finger was always wet. Now I use a glove and the glove is always wet.lol But the glove holds the string away from my face more than the tab did so it works for me. I did get a smoother release from the tab but really dont have issues with the glove.

[buckster]

Ditto here Leatherneck.  I ended up going back to a glove about a year ago and although my release isn't as smooth, my lips are!  LOL