cross-eye dominant shooting aids?

[zze86]

I'm cross-eye dominant, left eye dominant, but have been shooting right handed. I've recently been trying to shoot left handed and I can tell that I am more accurate shooting left handed, I have tighter groups and am closer to point of aim. Shooting right handed, I am more consistent in hitting the target but the groups are not as tight and usually hit more to the left.

I've been practicing left handed quite often, every other batch of arrows down range for the past two weeks, hoping to develop muscle memory, improve my left hand form and try to get comfortable, however, it's still very awkward feeling. Frustrating.

If I squint while shooting right handed, like lining up some sights, I have tighter groups but I don't like shooting like this, it messes up my depth perception, and just doesn't feel right. Plus I don't get to see the arrow fly   .

I am now thinking about covering up half of my left eye's field of view to see if that would help any. Doing the whole "point to an object in the distance" routine with half my left eye covered gets my finger pretty spot on when only viewed through the right eye which has me thinking about making an eye patch that only covered half my left eye. I tried completely covering my left eye and that was disastrous, depth perception was complete off.

I was wondering if anybody else has tried this or if there are any cross-eye dominant shooters out there with any other shooting aid?

[slivrslingr]

If you're just starting out, switch to lefty now and work through the frustration, it will payoff down the line.  Trust me, switch now and don't look back!

[khardrunner]

I just switched to lefty and I am RIGHT eye dominant due to shoulder issues. I think it was easier to shoot righty, but it is not impossible to shoot well X eye dominant.

[David McLendon]

You already know the answer, just stick with the LH bow until you develop left hand dexterity. The hardest part for me when I switched to left was the left hand handling the arrow and stringing it on the bow. At this point if I have a dream that involves me shooting a bow, it is left handed.

[Jasper2]

Chee,
Save yourself from more frustration in the future by taking the advice given to stick with LH.  I shot RH for 25 years before switching to LH 2 years ago. If I have sights, pins, scopes on my weapons, I can and still do shoot RH........but for traditional archery I had problems that were solved by getting my dominant eye over the arrow.  FYI it took me a solid year and lots of arrows before it felt natural but the confidence and improved sight picture are worth the wait.

Take care,
Jason

[Bud B.]

I agree. Stick with it.

But if you do shoot RH again, try wearing shooting glasses with a small piece of Scotch tape over your left eye lens where the target would be while you're shooting at full draw.

This works for wing/clay shooting behind a scattergun. Using this method might help you with tightening your groups as a righty.

But, for getting it naturally right, go lefty for a looong time without shooting RH at all and your brain will do the rest to get you programmed that it feels right, ahem, I mean correct.      

[mike g]

Chee....
    Just stick with it....
I started shootin lefty and man was it awkward at first....
    As mentiond above, the hard part was handling the arrow lefty....
    I can now shoot left our right without squinting....
    My next HH bow I get will be an ambi bow, so I can shoot both....
    At some 3D shoots a target may be easier lefty then righty....You will have an advantage.
    And another advantage is ya build up your x side muscles....
    Just keep at it and it will come to be natural....

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I shoot cross eye dominant and used to shut one eye closed. Then i moved my anchor point down a bit lower so the tip of my nose rests on the string.... no problems shooting both eyes open now at all....

i did loose a bit of draw length doing this, but it was well worth it to me. i just couldn't adjust to left hand after 23 years of shooting right handed at all.

[MT Longbow]

Here is what I know.  , Howard Hill was Left eye dominant and shot Right handed.

now that (that) has been said...


I find that tipping or tilting my head a bit more to the right and canting my bow correspondingly, help put my left eye over the arrow vertically better...in other words it reduces the angle error.  That really helps get me back in line and stops me from hitting left.

When I first started shooting  if I let my head drift more upright ...shots drift left.  so constant repetitive form checks to groove that in makes a huge payoff over time.  now its a natural part of my draw cycle.  


Dan Toelke ( a great shooter anfd trad Boyer) also shared a tip when I was first starting....he told me to become a left eye "winker" right as I was in the last bit of my draw...what he said this did was by closing your left eye for a "wink" (like 2 seconds or less) the brain shifts focus to the only eye its getting a signal from...the right one.  it switches automatically and you line up your shot with the right eye.  now you cant hold the eye closed or your right back to where you talked about squinting...not good for depth perception.   then open the left eye and settle in and release.


I personally didn like this method...it did work but it seemed cumbersome to me. But try it and see what you think.


I like tipping my head and canting my bow a bit more.  That was and is the ticket for me...and I am REALLY strong left eye domiant.

Hope this helps.

Patrick

[BobCo 1965]

My son's dominant side is his right and his dominant eye was left. He started shooting barebows at a very young age shooting right. Then some guys at our club talked us into switching him to a lefty bow. He shot for two years lefty but was very uncoordinated. I took him to an active regional coach and during his first lesson, he switched him back to right. He went through a series of steps from using a black patch, to a white, to an opaque, and then a mesh patch. After about a year, he didn't wear a patch at all and does not squint when he shoots.

[zze86]

Thanks for the tips all, keep them coming!

Bud B - Thanks for the scotch tape idea. I experimented over the weekend and this worked marvelously. My shots tightened up right away and I was consistently in the kill zone. When I wasn't on target, I could tell it was because of bad form.

Kirkll - tried this as well, maybe I wasn't doing it right...? I will probably have to experiment more with this technique as it was not working too well for me.

MT Longbow - I'll try this out as well and see how it goes. I tried doing the whole winking thing before as well and found it cumbersome also.

Bobco - I was thinking about doing this also. Sort of like a training regimen for the eye. I'm encouraged to hear it actually worked!

I think I will keep on practicing left handed to develop the muscles and dexterity on that side.  Mike G made a good point in that there is a certain advantage in that I can pick which side to shoot with. I think I'll still experiment with an eye patch/cover though when shooting righty.

[wob]

I am left eye dominent and shoot right handed.

I just started to recognize and embrace my unique sight picture with the arrow sighted to the right of my target.

From experience, I know whether I am going to be off (left or right).   After that, it is just good form, and follow through.

I tried shooting left, but felt too strange, and closing my left eye would not work when hunting, since I usually am focusing hard with both eyes to pick a spot on the animal when shooting.