Past and Present Great Bowhunters who shot/shoot 3 under

[Tony Sanders]

  Yesterday while in my treestand bowhunting, a thought came to me wondering how many past and present great and known Bohunters shoot or shot 3 under. Because usually when you saw pics of the past bowhunters and archers, it seems just about most of them shot split. I only know of a few that shoot 3 under. I believe Gene Wensel, Steve Gorr, PBS Member Kevin Dill from Ohio just to name a few. I have shot split finger for 40+ years and have played around with 3 under. Matter of fact the Longbow I am hunting with right now likes 3 under better than split. And I have one recurve in my possession, that no matter what I do, I can not get that thing to shoot split for me, so I set it up for 3 under and man it really shoots great at 3 under. Go figure. So to those of you in the know how many past and present great bowhunters shot 3 under. Just a thought and wonder. Thanks in advance for your input.

  Tony Sanders/aka"SNUFFER"

[GCook]

I think a lot of folks do.  I shoot split but know several guys who hunt and most are 3 under shooters.

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[reddogge]

Tony, can't answer your question but my recollection from "back in the day", we didn't discuss how we gripped the string much or read about it much. Of all of my old time archery buddies, including my old partner at APG, I never really noticed how any of them shot or gripped the string. I got my old Fred Bear Archery Bible out and in there it shows how to "properly grip the string" and it showed split-finger (no surprise). I think any old archery book from that era and earlier showed split-finger to be the correct grip, therefore beginners used it. I know that's how I started shooting in 1955, using an old book on archery showing that grip.

Trying to visualize how Jim Dougherty shot but can't, even though seeing him in hundreds of pictures.

[Tony Sanders]

  Hi Richard thanks for responding. I trust all is well. From my books I have on Jim Dougherty, it looks like he shot split in the pics I see of him. Another person that I know that shoot 3 under and he is really good, and that is Rick Welsh.

[bihunter]

Don't know if Jim Dougherty shot split or not, but he was one great shooter.

[reddogge]

I'm a little different. I shoot my hunting bow and 3-D bow split finger with high anchor and get a 30 yard point on. I shoot my indoor target bow 3 under so I can get point on at 20 yards.

[FlintNSteel]

In pics I have of Jim Dougherty (still have an old original small booklet on bowhunting from Ben Pearson with pictures of Jim in it) he shot split finger but perhaps with a little higher anchor or maybe his head is just bent forward a bit more to get his eye closer.  I think that years ago even a higher anchor was probably a little unique compared to first finger to corner of mouth or even under the chin (like Pope and Young). 

In that booklet, titled "Secrets of Successful Bowhunting" under the section "Seven Simple Fundamentals of Good Archery", point #5, it says: "....Most...bring the forefinger to the corner of the mouth and the thumb rests under the jawbone (some archers say the middle finger at the mouth)."

Watching old Fred Bear movies, I don't recall seeing anyone using a high anchor, much less three fingers under.  Perhaps I just haven't been looking that closely.

[Bowwild]

Tim Strickland shoots 3 under.

[JR Williams]

Bobby Worthington, Jason Westbrock, Denny Sturgis Jr. I have a picture of Saxton Pope shooting 3 under so it’s been around awhile. I happen to shoot three under but I don’t think it matters much for bow hunting, it’s whatever works best for the individual archer.

[Liquid Amber]

Art Young and Saxton Pope were taught by Chief Compton the Sioux lock or Tertiary release.  Young and Compton used this release.  It puts three fingers on the string below the arrow with the little finger generally touching the string.  The thumb is hooked over the arrow nock, which is pinched between the thumb and index finger.  This release was common to most of the native American tribes located in the plains and central part of the USA.  All the photos I've seen of Saxton Pope show him using the Mediterranean release or split fingers. 

The three fingers used by archers today doesn't incorporate the thumb to secure the arrow and is a relatively modern invention.