What is "Split Vision" aiming mean???

[PastorSteveHill]

I've read post of guys saying they shoot "SPLIT VISION" type aiming style. Could someone explain this to me?  Thanks in advance...

[Tom Leemans]

Think of it as being aware of your arrow, while concentrating on the spot you want to hit.

Gapstinctive, if you will....

[Mike Byrge@home]

Steve,
That's how I describe the way I shoot.

Basically, my focus is on the target but I am aware of the arrow tip in relation to the target.

I'm right-handed and "left eyed" so I see the arrow below and to the right of the target.

Hey I'm off work all next week...planning on making a loggy bayou trip later in the week.

[Charlie Lamb]

In a nut shell, it's focusing on the point to be hit, but still being aware of the arrows (the tip) relationship with the target.

As an excersise try what Howard Hill suggested.

Pick a point on a wall as your imaginary target. While focusing your vision on that point and not looking away, point your finger at a different point several feet away.

It just shows (and trains your concentration) that you can focus one place and point another.

For instance... I know that at 15 yards the tip of my arrow will line up with the feet of my 3D deer. I can focus at the point on the deer I want to hit and place the tip of my arrow on the feet of the target without losing concentration on the spot to hit.

If the target is closer or further I can make the needed adjustment without changing focus on the spot to hit.

Very handy for learning where to hold and it becomes quite "instinctive" after a while.

[trapperDave]

sounds like gap shooting to me

[vermonster13]

Well explained Charlie. It's how I shoot also, or perhaps try would be better.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by trapperDave:
sounds like gap shooting to me

In away it is, but it's done like the others have said.....

[PastorSteveHill]

I wish I could learn this. ANy resources???

Mike, pm'd ya...

[BRITTMAN]

Become the arrow ( video ) would be good as he demonstraits how its done and methods on how to pratice for it .

Mike

[bayoulongbowman]

Bob Wesley , teaches this in North Carolina , he was taught by Howard Hill....

[Crooked Stic]

I call myself a gap shooter. My gaps are not nearly as much as some of you guys talk about. Maybe six inches below what I want hit at 20 yards. Might be more instintive than gap.

[McDave]

Crooked: you can have pretty much any gap you want at 20 yards, depending on where you anchor or whether you're shooting split fingers or three fingers under.  If you're shooting three fingers under and have the arrow right up under your eye, you might be almost point on at 20 yards.  If you're shooting split fingers and anchoring under your chin, I can't even imagine what the gap would be at 20 yards.

[Al Dean]

peripheral vision is the scientific name for it.  The problem is not everyone has the same amount.  Mine is about 90 degrees.  Some people have 120 degrees or more.  Some have less than 20 or 30 degrees.  When helping someone with their aiming technique it would be nice to know how many degrees they have.

[ChuckC]

Charlie.. I hear ya, and I read what HH has said, but I still don't get it.  Not ..what he is doing...but why ?  If you are "aware of the arrow point and where it is"  why even look at the place you want to hit ?  Why not look at the point and be "aware" of the target.

I don't shoot that way and that doesn't help me at all understand this, but it seems like you are just using the arrow point to aim, period . ???

Is this one of those things that, if you have to explain it I wouldn't understand ?
ChuckC

[McDave]

ChuckC, I've wondered the same thing myself.

When I went through rifle training in the Marines, we were taught to focus on the front sight, so that the target and the rear sight were out of focus.  They could even tell if we were focusing on the target instead of our front sight, as our shots would circle around the bull rather than grouping inside.  They called it "chasing the bull" (and called us something impolite, as I recall).

I wonder why it's the opposite when gap shooting a bow?  I suppose you could try it both ways and see which way works the best, but there is probably some explanation for it.

[ChuckC]

McDave.   Sometimes some of the things we do were done by those before us and that's why we still do them.   I don't know enough about this technique.  i can't do it at all because of my shooting style (or lack thereof).  I went thru FLETC training and was taught the same (as the Marines) which makes it even tougher for me.

Maybe someone can give an answer...maybe it is one of those things I wouldn't understand even if they explained it to me.  don't know.
ChuckC

[Rod Jenkins]

A bow at 160-200 FPS requires much bettter follow through, than a rifle round at 2800-3100 FPS...that why its important to focus on target rather than the point....being at the target in both vison and mental focus, allows better followthrough, than on a point thats gonna react faster than the arrow can clear the bow.

[BLACK WOLF]

The best description I have read for how Howard Hill aimed when using Split Vision was this.

Based on the distance of the target, Howard would know exactly where his arrow point needed to be in order to hit the target. He would than place the arrow tip on an imaginary spot where it needed to be near the target and focus the majority of his attention on the target while still being aware of where the arrow tip was in relationship to the target. Hence....Split Vison.

It was basically combining Point of Aim with Gap.

Ray  

[eggomaniac]

Get yourself the Masters of the Barebow dvd. It shows some of the world's top archers. Some shoot gap and explain it well, others talk about looking at one spot on the target, others explain their split vision shooting style.
  Get some rubber tips and a bag full of tennis balls. Throw them out on the range and shoot at them before they stop.
  Hitting them like howard hill is another important dvd to watch.

[T Sunstone]

When I shoot I can see the arrow and I do line it up right and left but not up and down.  I couldn't tell you where the point is, its just a feeling.  I know when I'm pointing at the right spot and let it go.