Tried 3-under for 1st time today

[Jedimaster]

Well after 15 years of traditional archery the thought finally hit me to give three under a try.  Some observations from my perspective.  

I can see the merits of this method but it seems much different to me.  For starters I found myself drawn to look down the arrow, after a few shots I realized I had begun to close my left eye.  What was this? I had unwittingly begun to "aim" (I shoot instintive, I won't say how well    ).  I also realized that one must have a near flawless draw, not allowing the string to roll at all.  It shouldn't roll anyway, but without that stabilizing finger above the arrow you can see your mistakes magnified.  The last thing of interest was that I actually perceived more finger discomfort and I thought this method was supposed to all but eliminate finger pinch.    

Interesting experiment but I quickly realized that I had to stop or perhaps screw up my current form.  Others may say "stop before your converted".  I'm sure it was a fluke but my bow seemed quieter even though it's tillered split.

[kadbow]

Different strokes for different folks.  I've tried it a time or two (briefly) and I am just to used to split finger.  I like the added security of fingers above and below the nock.

[Turkhunter]

I tried several diffrent time to start shooting traditional equipment using split finger draw.  No matter where I anchored I always shot 4-8 inches high.  I could get good groups, but shooting instinctivly I always hit high.  Then a friend told me he would begin his draw with 3 fingers split and right before anchor he would drop his bottom finger off the string and just use two (sounded wierd to me too).  Later i seen a video of Brooks from Double bull using a 3 under release and thought I would give that a try as it would put my dominant eye closer to the arrow. While I was at it I tried just using two fingers under instead of three.  Wow!! Instantly my release was smoother and my groups went right where I was looking.  Now the compound is collecting dust and im going traditional.

[Roger Moerke]

I have shot 3under for many years and it worked well for me.About 2 months ago I tried split with this different bow I have and I had to work at it but I think I like it better, lots of old habits to be aware of. I too shot high and still do on occasion with split.
For me at least this is an instinctive style which I like especially when the arrow goes right where you are looking its a blast!!

[ks_stickbow]

I've been shooting 3 under for about 15 years. When I shot split, I could never get my top finger to apply equal ammounts of preasure as the rest of the fingers. Go to the point where I would concentrate more on my top finger then the spot I was shooting at. Eventualy I started dropping the top finger and was basicaly shooting 2 under. I could never get consistant. Then I read about and tried 3 under, and low and behold I was shooting consistant...about 3' low but tight groups...it took a couple of years to get the arrows up to to hit where I was looking...I have shooting 3 under since.


I really cannot tell you if I aim or not..I don't know..and I don't care...I hit good out to 30+ yards.

[JRY309]

It's all in what works for an shooter.I have always shot split and haven't felt the need to change it.It just feels more natural to shoot this way.

[Jedimaster]

Split feels natural to me probably because I've been doing it so long.  Honestly the only thing that is discouraging about shooting "instinctive" is that I usually need to shoot 2 or 3 arrows before I feel I'm "on" again.  So every time I head out hunting I sling a few to get warm, but then you get a shot 3 hours later... are you still in that zone?

I won't fault anyone for looking down an arrow, or whatever they have to do to be consistent.  I would like to achieve that feeling where I'm hitting the mark every time.  Practice, practice, practice; but I'm staying open to other ideas too.