Deep hook = cleaner release?

[BAK]

Just switched over from my 3d bow (40#) to shooting my heavier (50#) bows for hunting season.  Was having some consistency issues till I started using a deeper hook.  Does this make sense to anyone else?   

[Orion]

Pretty common knowledge, actually. Good that you discovered it.

[Pat B]

It doesn't seem logical but in fact it is the case. I was taught that with my first traditional bow by a man that could shoot the eye out of a gnat. I was skeptical but tried it and found him correct.

[McDave]

Many people, myself included, have a cleaner release with the deep hook than otherwise.  This has limits, however.  Too deep a hook and the advantages disappear.  It doesn't require that much effort to shoot for a while with the string in different positions, all the way from on the pads to well unto the second joint, to find out where your sweet spot is.  It's possible that you will find that you have one position that works better for target shooting with a light draw weight bow and another position that works better for hunting weight bows.  You may also find that you need to fine tune finger pressure among the string fingers before you arrive at the best result.

[Roy from Pa]

A deep hook really works well for me...

[Car54]

Yes,  that's one of the hardest things for me to do,  same finger pressure on every shot.

[Terry Green]

Yes....takes tension and stress out of the hand...keeps the back of the hand so it's in line with the "Magic T"....makes your bow feel 10 pounds lighter.... more consentcy...allows you to preset fingers to  alleviate finger pinch with short bows.

[Sky-chief]

Counterintuitive but works for me.

[sancoon]

   Used tips of fingers for many year but found deep hook made for more consistency  for me

[Lori]

I was taught to have the fingers at the joint and shooting gloves were ordered or altered so I could draw with my finger tips angled in, is that a deep enough hook?

[Orion]

Sounds about perfect, Lori.

[Wudstix]

First joint of fingers works well for me and heavy-ish bows.
 

[flntknp17]

All you need to do is examine the worlds best recurve shooters who are shooting at the Olympic level where the target is baseball sized at 70 and 90 meters.....they all use a very deep hook.  Its all about using a hook deep enough that you can actually relax the muscles in the hand so that they aren't causing the fingers to drag on the string as it leaves because there is tension.  The idea they use is to make sure the string is pulling the fingers open, not the fingers trying to actively get out of the way.  Its logical when you think of it that way.

Matt