Tilting the bow??

[Mr. Natural]

I'm a right hand shooter and I pull to the center of my nose (in order to keep from hitting the monstrosity) but that keeps my prominent right eye from seeing the targer as the bow is in the way.  What are the draw backs to tilting my bow slightly clockwise to aid in vision of the target?  Or other suggestions?

[moebow]

Mr. Natural,

Really need to see to help much.  In general, with a side of face anchor, the string should center your eye and not your nose.  IF you wear glasses, the string should be in the center of and on the lens.  Center of the nose works better with a target style under the chin anchor.

Nothing wrong at all with a cant to "clear your view" but must be cone correctly so you don't torque the bow or the string.

Arne

[McDave]

A lot of traditional archers cant (tilt) their bows to the right (clockwise).  Most traditional archers have a preferred cant, but are able to cant at varying angles to suit the shot.  I've never personally shot with a traditional archer who draws to their nose, but I understand that drawing so the string touches the nose is a common Olympic technique.  I personally draw so the back of the cock feather touches my nose, but the arrow shaft is to the right of my nose.  It is desirable in traditional archery to have the arrow shaft under the dominant eye, and of course, to see the target with the dominant eye.

Canting the bow is not a problem, but it would be nice to be able to see the target with the dominant eye in any position from dead vertical to an extreme cant.

[Mr. Natural]

Thanks Arne and McDave.  For some reason I was under the "mistaken" impression that a cant would change the flight path of my arrows.  I'll try it for a day or two and see what happens.  I took a few lessons some years ago from a former Olympic coach and arrived at pulling to my nose in order to avoid the string hitting it upon release.

[McDave]

Canting the bow does change the point of impact of the arrow, but not as much for a traditional bow shot off the shelf as for an Olympic bow shot off a raised rest.  Traditional archers learn to adjust for this, within an acceptable range of error within the distances we commonly shoot, i.e., keeping the arrow within a softball sized area at 30 yards or less.  Clearly, if you were trying to do the same thing at Olympic distances, you wouldn't want the additional variable that canting the bow introduces.  Perhaps less clearly, as traditional archers, we don't always have the luxury of standing tall and shooting with the bow in a vertical position.

[Terry Green]

Good form can be taken to various positions and cant angles.  Can't tell you how many animals I've shot with odd cant angles.  Comes in handy.

 Over the Pond......CLICK HERE