SHOOTING TO LEFT

[JWA]

I AM RIGHT HANDED AND MY ARROWS ARE CONSISTANTLY HITTING LEFT OF MY AIM POINT. CAN ANYONE GIVE ME SOME POINTERS?

[Green]

Arrows too stiff for your setup?  Post your bow weight, draw length, and your arrow setup is and let us help you try to diagnose.

[reddogge]

Too stiff arrows.

Not assuming a tight anchor so eye is left of string.

Try canting bow to right to get arrow under eye.

Not achieving full draw by not engaging back muscles fully.

Torqueing bow.

Moving bow arm when releasing.

Poor release.

[JWA]

My bow weight is 55# at 28" draw.
I am drawing the bow at 28"
Arrows are Carbon express 150 or Easton alum. 2018 with 125 gr points
Thanks for your help!

[moebow]

When you draw, try bringing the string in front of your eye so it is a "blurry blob", line that "blurry blob" up with the inside of the sight window right above the  shelf and with the target to be hit.  Now see where your arrow hits.

If the string is not a "blurry blob" that your are looking through, you probably have it to the right of your eye which will cause a left hit.

[JWA]

Thanks moebow! I will try this tip this evening.

[JWA]

Hi Green,
My bow weight is 55# at 28" draw.
I am drawing the bow at 28"
Arrows are Carbon express 150 or Easton alum. 2018 with 125 gr points. I forgot to say that my arrows are 29 1/2"

Thanks for your help!

[LEWIS VADEN]

If you are left eye dominant you will shoot to the left.

[CEO]

I've noticed that if my left shoulder is angled to the left of the target, that's where my arrow will go.

[mrjsl]

Originally posted by moebow:
When you draw, try bringing the string in front of your eye so it is a "blurry blob", line that "blurry blob" up with the inside of the sight window right above the  shelf and with the target to be hit.  Now see where your arrow hits.

If the string is not a "blurry blob" that your are looking through, you probably have it to the right of your eye which will cause a left hit.

Have seen you advise this a few times. I tried it, but maybe I'm not understanding, because I can't really do this unless I anchor middle finger to the tip of my nose or tilt my head over in a really awkward feeling way. I shoot split finger. The string is most definitely to the right of my eye, although my anchor is pretty snug to my face. How do I do it?

[moebow]

Hard to say without seeing your form at full draw.  For me (and most of my students) I teach placing the "C" of your drawing hand on the back of your jaw (where it turns up towards your ear), my index finger in the corner of the mouth (split finger); "release tips" video.  That puts the string right through the center of the pupil of the eye.  Your facial shape will have something to do with this and the flatness of your string hand at full draw and how the hook is formed.

If you look at your self in the mirror, the corner of your mouth is pretty much right below your eye on that side.  So if that is where you are anchoring, the string should be in front of your eye.  If you are pulling back farther than that on the side of your face, the string MUST be to the right of the eye (right handed shooter) and that will/can cause left misses, which is where we started this conversation.  I see some self taught Trad shooters that have their draw clear back to their ear which does lots of bad things to their form, strength and accuracy.

On the other hand, if, somehow, you are getting your finger clear over to your nose, the string will be to the left of your eye causing a problem in the other direction. I personally cannot visualize my finger clear over on my nose to get the string in front of my eye.

Again, facial construction is different for each person.  If you are one that cannot get the "blurry blob" of a string, that would lead me to suggest a slight cant to get the nock end of the arrow directly under the eye.  That cant would be due to a slight bend from the waist to tilt your head over the arrow, not just twisting a cant in by use of the bow hand and string hand.

Can you post a video of your position at full draw with the camera out in front of you? To the right if you are right handed.

[mrjsl]

I do make the C and put my thumb knuckle right under my ear, and my middle finger in the corner of my mouth, really right behind my incisor.

But, the key thing here is that I anchor middle finger and not index finger. I tried that, and the string does come up in front of my eye when I do it. However, once released from this position, the arrow will fly over the target and hit my shed, I found out. But it was more or less above the bullseye and not left.

Is there a huge advantage to anchoring index finger vs. middle finger shooting split?

[moebow]

I mistyped "index" finger and actually use the middle finger too.  As you found out, the only difference is the height of the nock of the arrow on your face and by using the index finger it will be lower on the face causing a higher shot.  You should still be able to get the string in front of your eye.  While that isn't critical, in my opinion, getting it there is ONE way of getting rid of un-wanted left shots for many folks.

I wonder if you are canting the bow more than the angle of your head?  If your cant angle is more than your head angle, the string will be turned away from your eye a lot more.  This may cause the difficulty you suggest.  If this is the case,you as a shooter may be getting the nock of the arrow under your eye and the string suggestion will be difficult to do.  If your shooting is OK for you don't change to the string theory (blurry blob).  As I say, it works for many but as in all things may NOT fit all.

[mrjsl]

I do not cant much if any in normal practice, but more importantly I don't really pay attention to it, so I may watch that and see if that eliminates inconsistency. I do practice some from canted positions, but try to keep my form the same and just bend over to cant.

I shoot pretty well, but there is always room for improvement. I do miss left a lot, but mostly it's barely left of the bulls eye - like an inch. But until I stack every one in the dead center of the bull and have to measure misses with a micrometer I will be trying to improve.

My bow is very light and my draw weight is heavy, so most of my bad misses are left due to not reaching proper alignment. It is difficult to shoot consistently for a long time. I plan to get a heavier mass lighter draw weight bow as soon as funds allow. I have shot a number of small 3d tournaments this year, and won most of them, but every time I've been beaten it's been with a bow that is heavier mass weight and lighter draw.

[-Achilles-]

Am I really the only person that would reccomend aiming more to the right?I've tuned alot of arrows to bows and the arrow has to be pretty darn weak or stiff for it to go very far left or right unless your shooting bare shafts.I've had bare shafts shoot to the left and then shoot a fletched arrow and it fly right where I wanted it to hit.So if your arrows are decently tuned its more an aiming problem.imo..."A good shooter can shoot a bad setup better then a bad shooter can shoot a perfect setup"

[JWA]

I am shooting better after using the "blurry string" tip. I have been givinbg more attention to my shooting form as well so thanks to all for the posts.

[Swamp Yankee]

My normal smart a** response would normally be if you're hitting to the right, aim more to the left.  I suspect 99% of the time, unless you're aiming with the wrong eye (not over the arrow), that is the solution.  I also agree that as long as the arrow is flying reasonably well, spine doesn't change aiming that much.
HOWEVER, just this week I dusted off my 1969 52" Red Wing hunter and it was consistantly hitting a good 6" right of where I was aiming at only 10 yards!  What the ????  Stuck a Bear weather rest on it out of shear desperation and voila, right on target again.  You'd THINK putting on an elevated rest and canting the bow to the right would have made it worse, but it actually brought the arrows back to the left.
I'm GUESSING the arrows were a little stiff and were hitting the shelf (not radiased back then).  No matter, the elevated rest stays on that particular bow and we're off to the races.
Point being, don't get caught up in minor fine tuning issues like trimming 1/4" or adding 10 grains etc.  Big errors (misses) usually are the result of something obvious; like the arrow smacking the shelf.