"Double Anchor"...what?

[Soilarch]

I've seen a couple references to this.  In the TradGang video (which I highly recommend...to anyone, regardless of skill) Terry talks about it.  It's escaping me what exactly the second anchor is?

Is he, or you, referring to the knuckle in the back of the jaw as a 'second' anchor to the the finger in mouth, nose-on-string, fletch-on-lip, or whatever you consider your "primary" anchor?

That's the only thing that makes sense to me, but it almost seems like you guys are talking about something you 'feel' in your elbow or shoulder?

I just want to make sure I'm not missing out on some secret zen to 'feeling' things in the string arm/shoulder.


(P.S.  I'll try to get another video tomorrow.  I'm not "flinching" anymore and arrows are actually starting to touch each others' fletching...every now and then...from a whopping 10 yards    :D   )

[deermaster1]

primary anchor, middle finger corner of mouth or something similar.  secondary is touching the feather to your nose, knuckle ear, whatever.  there is also an anchor in my back.  i can feel when i am in good line.  its hard to explain, but larry yein talks about it in masters of the barebow vol. 2.

[tradtusker]

i asked terry about this it takes some concentration to get right for me but when i do i find i shoot very well ensures im getting good alignment

to quote Terry "I drag my thumb base knuckle along side my face, and as my middle finger comes to the corner of my mouth I keep coming, and my thumb base knuckle slides in behind my jaw under my ear."

if you watch a video of terry shooting you will see this  

good job on the shooting keep at it bro

[Soilarch]

O.K.  so it is just a "second anchor" as we would call it in the compound world.  Which is funny 'cause we/they use much more than 2.

Trust me tradtusker, it's more 'then' than 'now'. But it is enough to prove to myself that it's not a fluke or pure chance.  The human body/mind....my body/mind...IS capable.  Other good news is I'm beginning to be able to "feel" when I do make a bad shot and can call it before it hits. (Don't know if you remember my post about not being able tor "feel" anything...its like groping around in the dark...not fun.)

[tradtusker]

i hear you buddy iv been at if for a few years now and often still feel like im "in the dark"        :D  gotta love it though

[Terry Green]

The 2nd anchor for me insures that I get the proper alignment and back tension.

If you just anchor in the corner of the mouth, your elbow can be pointing anywhere....by sliding my thumb base knuckle behind my jaw under my ear....I'm there...all aligned with proper back tension.  

I worked on this on the bale and grooved it in, I do not have to think about it at all, its just the way I shoot now as the arrow don't go till that 2nd anchor is obtained.  Its ingrained into my subconcious and really helps keep windage issues at bay.

Glad to hear you are improving!  

[jonsimoneau]

I use 2 anchors.  Thumb touches my ear lobe, and the back of the fletching touches my nose. The fletching touching my nose gets my allignment correct.  Works great for me.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

For me, a second anchor is how I ensure proper vertical head position. Hold your head to high and you'll hit high. Too low and you'll hit low. It's the same reason most compound shooters use a peep sight, and FITA shooters touch the tip of their nose to the string.

[Soilarch]

This is good, I need to play around with the fletching jig and nock to get my fletch on the tip of my lip.  As that was the last anchors I "found" on the compound and loved it.   I keep my thumb "up" so I need to play with finding the ear if I can.  From videos it looks like I'm just finding the sideburn hairline.

[pete Darby @ home]

For me the line between the arrow tip and my drawing hand elbow is all important.  I use what people call anchors to help achieve this.  The fingers on my cheek (2 anchors) gets my face where it belongs.  Then the thumb knuckle behind the jaw bone ensures the elbow is in place and lastly the string touching my eyebrow ensures that the bow is always at the same angle and my eye is over the shaft. Until I started the eyebrow touch I had no idea I was torquing the string from the bow hand and couldn't figure out where some of the weird flyers came from.

[Bruce Martin]

Been following this thread with interest as my shooting has been inconsistent and decided to give 2 anchors a try. Normally I would anchor tip of middle finger on my right upper canine tooth (shoot right handed with a glove) which I can feel quite well. I use a deep hook as well, which usually helps. Today I looked for a second anchor, which turned out to be the first knuckle of my thumb "hooked" in the slot behind my jaw. Finger tip is still on the tooth, but to hook into the jaw as well seems to be pulling my back and elbow into alignment. At any rate, I was shooting much better right off the mark today, and making 'kill' shots out to 25 yds consistently.

Two anchors really seems to help, so I am going to do as Terry did and try to drill this in.

[ishiwannabe]

I just got back in from bunny hunting, no bunnies, but I finally decided to try it. Index finger to the corner of my mouth and my thumb knuckle on my jaw bone. WOW. It tightened up my form quite a bit, and I was surprised at how well I was grouping.
It also helped me with a constant battle with short drawing to an extent.

[Soilarch]

Still haven't got the fletching to lip (may do that today, as I seem to "wear out" fletching much quicker, using trad) but I too tried the knuckle under jaw.  Seemed to help some, but I think the "some" part is because I found myself focusing on one anchor or the other instead of both! (Gonna take some practice.)

[snakewood3]

It helps a great deal...my son has mastered it, see the thumb placement