plucking the string

[flyflinger]

Recently I seem to have developed the habit of plucking the string. It is causing my shot to be much more noisy although it seems to have had little effect on my accuracy. It doesnt occur constantly and I cant seem to figure out why or how I am doing it! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[McDave]

Plucking the string can be caused by not coming to full draw, where your drawing forearm is in line with the arrow as viewed from above, or by losing back tension at full draw, where your drawing hand creeps forward at full draw.  You should feel like you're always pulling during the draw, even when you're at full draw and the arrow is not moving anymore.  Your hand should move backward after releasing the arrow.

A Formaster is useful in helping you to gain and maintain back tension throughout the shot.

Sometimes, a deep hook on the string will lead to plucking.  If you can keep control of the arrow without cupping your hand, you might try moving the string out to where it is between the tip and first joint of your fingers.

[marshall brown]

Keep proper alignment and pull through the shot. Good luck.

[30coupe]

Originally posted by flyflinger:
...It is causing my shot to be much more noisy although it seems to have had little effect on my accuracy...

I wish I could say that. When I pluck, my shot goes high right (I'm a righty). Lots of work on the blank bale at close range is the best way I know of reducing (I haven't totally cured it yet) string pluck.

[sdpeb1]

I like a deep hook,it keeps my hand and arms more tension free. Make sure your hand is straight and not cupped. Here is a drill. Stand close to your target and close your eyes and "let" the arrow/string release, do this with 24 shots. Then at the same distance open your eyes but just look at your arrow rest while letting the arrow go(24shots)  if you move back 5yrds but either cover your target with a peice of cardboard(blank bale) so you are not aiming at any spot and shoot another 24 arrows. As you are doing this make sure you consciously have your string hand fall back on you chest/shoulder. This may seem a little mechanical at first but it will soon become natural.- Steve

[Don Stokes]

I have more tendency to release poorly if I don't use a deep hook. A deep hook allows you to relax your hand better. Tension in the drawing hand makes for poor releases.

[flyflinger]

I too use a deep hook, 1st joint, this gives me a more confident draw and consistant release. But its just recently that I have begun to notice the plucking. I use a glove with cordovan tips,very slick but still lots of noise. Haven't changed anything on bow or arrows, glove- nothing. Very frustrating, especially with our deer season opening Oct 1st! Appreciate the feedback guys!

[xtrema312]

I would think it you pluck you would have an off shot.  Is it just the noise that is making you think you are plucking?  I know when I start to torque my bow hand a little on my LB I pick up noise.  It took me a little while to figure out what was doing it.

[Terry Green]

Could be that you are not totally committing to the release....and you have tension remaining in your hand and fingers as the string leave causing the string to 'go around' your finger tips instead of 'sliding by'.

[gilf]

Interesting because I seemed to have developed the same problem recently. As suggested about the solution for me is to release while maintaining back tension, problem now is there is so much more power there.

As 30coupe says as a righty I'm going off to the right and a little high.

[LongStick64]

Make sure you are not rolling the string to your finger tips as you reach full draw. Maintain the hook to your anchor.

[cavscout]

I used to pluck and shoot high right til i started using a double anchor , middle finger in corner of mouth and thumb under jaw. Then i would shoot left because i wasnt using the form clock method and staying in line. Now i use back tension and good alighnment with a smooth release only moving my relese hand back a little when letting go and start with a stiff bow arm, that does not move til the arrow hits the target and my eyes stay fixed on the spot ti the arrow gets there.ALL this was accomplished by reading and practicing TERRY and others posts on here without ever having to ask a question myself THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR THE GREAT LESSONS .

[turkeyslayer]

in my experience,when i so call pluck the string it is caused from my bow arm collapsing & it also causes me to shoot high right.if your bow arm or back tension collapses your hand will fly out away from your face upon release.

[primitivebow]

I have the same problem, I pluck 1 out of 6 shots and they go high and right (RH shooter).  I have found a remedy that works for me and that is using the rest of my hand to anchor on my face and under my jaw.  This way when I release I will not pull my hand back to pluck the string, rather my hand will stay in the same position as my fingers release.  I regularly shoot a 70# HH bow which I had to send to repair and only had a 50# bow to shoot with for a month.  This exagerated my release/plucking problem so I had to adopt this technique and it worked after some time.