Shooting with One Good Eye

[D.A. Davis]

Anybody shooting with inly one eye.  I've lost most of the vision in my right(dominate)eye due to trauma induced Glaucoma and Iridous.  My depth perception is way off, and I have virtually no vision in low-light situations.  I can shoot a rifle with a scope right-handed, but it's difficult to see thru the scope.  Shooting left-handed would be a major undertaking, I would imagine.

[1/4 away]

I lost 90% of the vision in my right eye (dominant eye) back in 2004.  While it presents a problem shooting a rifle or shotgun it in no way hinders me shooting a handgun or traditional bow.  At first I thought of trying to make the switch to shooting left handed and even bought a left handed bow to try. That quickly became a frustration for me and I went back to shooting my bows right handed. My eye surgeon told me that the mind will quickly adapt to me only having one eye which it did. I do have some depth perception issues but at bow range (15 - 25) yards it hasn't been much of an issue .

[fmscan]

D.A. I have 20 over 400 with jumpy eye and depth perception issues. Spent 25 yrs tryin to get a buck with a bow. Never happened. Switched to lefty got 3 bucks and spike bull in 4 yrs.  I was shooting better lefty in the first day I practiced. Try it for a week. Had a friend loan me a bow(maxwell) and never regretted it. I guess I was around 50 yrs old when I switched. Good luck.

[fujimo]

yup totally blind in my left eye- i just trust my brain and my bow arm for bow hunting- but i obviously dont have much depth perception- so i struggle with the longer rifle shots-200meters plus. driving can be abit scary... for my wife that is. cant play ball games anymore, trip over and walk into stuff i didnt see- but hey, im happy. a lot of people are way WAY worse of than me, so i am just very greatful.
so cant ghelp you on the left handed thing- but just to say trust your brain and your bow arm to make the shots- when i dont- is when i screw up.
cheers
ol'1i

[calgarychef]

A good friend of mine is blind on one eye and I've never considered him handicapped in any way because of it and the daft bugger is pretty good at all sorts of things. But it's given me a reason to think about the one eye shooting stuff and here's my take:

If I shoot at a given range and shut one eye, I can still shoot like I always could because consistent form comes into play. Where it becomes problematic is distance judging.  But if I was to use a range finder and an aiming method such as string walking, gaping etc. I'd bet that I could shoot well enough to hunt.  I'd still shoot instinctively at the distance where I could get away with it though as its faster to get an arrow off.

[riverrat 2]

I am blind in my left eye. Since I was a baby. My right eye is 20/10 vision. I think I shoot better because of it actually. I shoot 3-under/gap. And I don't see anything distracting me when I get drawn. Just tunnel vision down that arrow shaft,and find my spot. It is a drag bumping into people/things on my left side all the time though.  rat'

[Bladepeek]

I have roughly equal vision in both eyes, but my left eye is my dominant eye. I'm strongly right handed and can not manage to swing a shotgun left handed. I figured it would be the same with a bow. Not so.

I'm 73 and after 2 - 3 weeks of shooting left handed it felt perfectly normal. The only difficulty was learning to nock an arrow left handed. Just switch over and go with it.

Hey Rat. I didn't realize you were blind in one eye. Next time we shoot together, you have to close your good eye and I'll bet I can stay with you then  

[riverrat 2]

 Hey Ron! How the heck are ya! Buddy,I'll tell you what. I cannot wait until we can shoot together again. This winter is just kickin my butt! My wifes truck broke down,fixed that,then my truck,fixed that,then my dad in laws,fixed that,then my plow took a deuce. Working on that right now.  Talk soon,see you at the banquet hopefully.  rat'

[Ibow]

I've had 4 detached retinas and one dislocated lens. While it's not easy, eyes/vision are very adaptable. I almost quit a couple years ago but stuck with it and I'm glad I did.

Best wishes to all who deal with some type of vision impairment and yet want to keep plugging. Keep at it.    

[fmscan]

Guys, I think it makes a BIG difference in which eye is the good one, if you are right handed and left eye is the strong eye then IMHO I would switch to left handed. If right handed and right eye is strong one then fine to shoot right handed.

The hardest thing for me when I went to left hand shooting was walking through brush with a back quiver, I had to learn to lead with the other foot and duck the other way. Shooting left handed is no big deal, I got myself a very quick and lighter, 45 at my draw, Grooves Spitfire recurve to train with. Within reasonable range, the arrow position on a deer on level ground does not change much. To learn to gap or secondary aim, I think it helps to be able to hold steady for a couple of seconds, to let the eye and brain agree on the aim.

[habujohn]

My archery mentor (Jack Skanes) lost his right eye to a prototype Grimes all aluminum bow.  He never switched to left handed and was a very good instinctive shooter.  Took a 6pt his last season on the ground, he was in his early 80's.  Still miss him 30 years later.

[BOWMARKS]

Was Loosing the vision in my dominant right eye about the same time I started shooting traditional. I fought the lousy shooting for a couple years then took the advice of a friend and purchased a dual sided shooter to give it a try

After maybe two to three months started getting the hang of doing things assbackwards I started feeling more confident and started shooting much better.
Am no where near and will never be a tack driver but can see where I am aiming now and hit it more often. It just takes practice.Am now blind in right eye I think I made the correct choice!!

[kat]

Add me to the list. I had an injury to my right eye, and now have very little sight left in that eye. I shot right handed at the time.
I quickly became left eye dominant, and decided to make the switch to left handed.
I did this at the age of 65, and it was extremely awkward at first.
But; soon I realized that I already knew how to shoot, so all I had to do is train my muscles to shoot on the other side. I took it as a good chance to start over, and work on my form as well.
I gap shoot, three under. It was a good move for me, and not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be, after the first couple of weeks.

[mike g]

I'm right handed but left eye dom....
    As mentioned above, the hardest thing about switching to lefty is nocking the arrow....
    I shot both ways for awhile with an old Lemonwood bow with no shelf on it, I got pretty good shootin both sides, it makes you stronger....
    I quit using the bow, afraid of it breaking.
But my next bow will be another Hill and will be made  with no shelf so I can shoot it both ways.

[halfseminole]

Had a stroke, basically lost the vision in my right eye.  Wear an eyepatch when shooting. I'm getting OK at shooting right handed anyway.  Arm is messed up, so can't switch to left, but determination is seeing me through.

[D.A. Davis]

Thanks for the advice guys.  I guess I need to build a light-weight left hand bow to train with.  Or, maybe a youth bow.  I'll start thinking about it.

[azhunter]

I lost most of the vision to my right eye in 1987 due to a hunting accident. I am right handed so I switched to shooting left handed. It becomes second nature after you practice for a little while.