Howard Hill/ Snapshooter/

[Holepuncher]

I watched an old HH/Tembo VCR tape the other day, and in my opinion Howard Hill was a snap shooter, I just picked up a Recurve about 3 months ago, and everyone tells me not to snap shoot? If Howard Hill could do it with such great accuracy, why Can't I?

[Terry Green]

You can.  Just because 'they' say it, or 'they' can't, doesn't mean you can't either.

The term snapshooter back in the day it was coined is not the same as the term some as of late had decided to change it to.

Snap shooting is a style, and wasn't meant to refer or mean a condition of out of control.

There's a lot of good snap shooters on this board, and they are defiantly in control of there shot.  Fred Bear and Ben Pearson were also snap shooters.  Ron LaClair snap shoots moving targets like no bodies business.

I have a thread I'll try and look up for ya.

[thumper15]

There's a differnce between what everyone wants to call snap shooting and just plain being a fast shooter. Probably the best thing I have read on snap shooting was in TBH magazine by Fred Asbel. To me you snap shoot when your shooting too fast and don't hit anchor, whereever that anchor maybe for you. I find myself snap shooting from time to time but I still seem to be fairly accurate, but I'm not CONSISTANTLY accurate.

[Terry Green]

Here ya go......

 

Originally posted by Ron LaClair:
I've been shooting a bow since I was a squirt... but I didn't really start to learn about form and style until I started shooting competition 49 years ago. While we never "stop" learning there are some things that become apparent after 50 years of study. One thing I do know for sure is there is no absolute style when it comes to shooting a bow.

When someone says you have to shoot this way or that way because all the top shots shoot that way, I say baloney. Some of the best shooters I've been privileged to know shot with what some would call an "unorthodox" style. Jim Pickering used a "Dead" release and high anchor when he competed in some of the top tournaments of the day in the 1960's. Everyone else in the Country shot with what was call "Power Archery" Jim whipped them all. He was a National Champion and a PAA Champion using a style that everyone said was "wrong". Jim Caspers another Archery Champion shot with a high elbow on his drawing arm. He actually pumped his arm up and down after he was at full draw, he said it helped him build up back tension.

As for the term "Snap shooter", I've been hearing it for 50 years and it was probably used before that. It has "always" been used to refer to someone that shot in one fluid motion, and whose release was triggered when they touched their anchor.

I was privileged to talk to Fred Bear many times over the years and I remember him calling himself a "snap shooter". He said, "I'm a snap shooter,..I concentrate from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet". He said he couldn't shoot a compound because the let off interfered with the rhythm of his shooting style and broke his concentration.

"Good snap shooters"?...I've seen a lot of them. In the early years of the GLLI (Great Lakes Longbow Invitational) when scores were kept , we had the best shooters in the Country shooting for the honor of top dog. The shooters that won that shoot more often than not were what I call "Snap shooters" Very controlled, very meticulous, very accurate shooters whose release was triggered when they touched their anchor.

Someone that "does not" come to full draw or touch their anchor before they release have what's called "target panic or what use to be called "IT". They are NOT...repeat NOT, snap shooters.

I think the problem is like what Terry said people today are "mis using" the term "snap shooter".  Snap shooting is definitely not an inferior style of shooting a bow, however it must be realized that not everyone can master the snap shooting style. Those that can't may end up with target panic and be called snap shooters but in reality they are  not. Maybe we should come up with another term to describe these failed snap shooters...."short snappers"?..."Half snappers"?

[chuck172]

Out of curiosity, can someone who considers himself a snapshooter, come to anchor and hold for an extended period without releasing if they try?
If they can then they I believe they are snap shooters by choice. Not by convenience.
I can only speak for myself but its a real task to come to anchor, hold, then release. Much easier for me to just touch my anchor. I'm not saying any method is right or wrong.

[Ray]

Wipper snappers (LOL) sorry Terry couldn't help myself.

[bowhunterfrompast]

Have to say Ron LaClair sums it up quite accurately. The end results prove snap shooting is controlled and accurate. In MHO they are snap shooters by choice because it works for them.

Ray LOL that is good.

[mike g]

Mr. Hill
Called his style of shootin as Swing Draw....

[Terry Green]

Correct Mike.....he didn't pre point, he used the swing draw method to get the bow to anchor, and he didn't hold at anchor he snap shot.

[toddster]

I feel that Howard Hill, Ron Laclair to name a few have reached to me the pinnacle.  they have flawless form from working so hard and long on it and shot so much, that when they shoot it appears as to be casual and to an untrained eye just flinging arrows.  But if you slow it down and break it up, it is just all those hours and decades of hard work.  Look at any old time longbow shooter and you will pretty much see this.  Just a a Pro athlete appears to do things,  Mike Jordan changing hand in mid dunk, Walter Payton effortlessly changing direction to avoid a touchdown, Tiger Woods approaching a ball and smacking it to the green, Bill Wallace "superfoot" lifting his left leg and delivering a 60mph roundhouse kick in a blink of the eye.  All done with effort from decades of hard work.

[M60gunner]

In video "Hitting Them like Howard Hill" Shultz says when you come to full draw you should be on target and ready to shoot. There is should be no hesitation in releasing the arrow.
The key here is coming to full draw as stated already. I was told a person who did not come to full draw and shot fast was a "snap shooter".
Snap shooting can and does happen from shooters not being in shape and getting tired towards the end of a shoot. Being overbowed is also another way to learn the bad snapshooting. This can be solved by doing some body building.

[RC]

I have seen my accuracy improve a good bit this past year. I changed my shooting style a bit due to a sore shoulder and don`t hold at anchor as long as I did in the past. This has enabled me to pick up a few lbs of bow weight as well. I bought the video by John Shulz and practiced daily.The arrows go where I`m looking and I shoot 30 yard groups better than my 20 yarders were a 2 years ago.Last year I killed 14 big game critters in 15 shots.My friends say I shoot fast.I ain`t happy with the one miss but he was a small pig......I think in John Shulze`s book he says " hold long ,hold wrong".RC

[Daddy Bear]

Originally posted by George D. Stout:
If your natural draw is 28 and you're letting go at 25, then you are a snap shooter.

I disagree George, I'm in the camp with some of the others who posted earlier in this thread. In the circles I ran a snap shooter or snap shooting was not a bad thing and had nothing to do w/ loosing the arrow before reaching full draw. I've seen your definition of snap shooting being repeated on the computer now and then but that is completely different than my understanding of snap shooting from my three decades plus shooting stickbows.

Daddy Bear

[James Wrenn]

When I think of snap shooting I picture someone releaseing with a short draw in an un-controled manner.I never considered any videos of Hill's shooting as snap shooting.He was always in control but just shot fast.It takes very little time to get on target when you have shot the thousands of arrows he has shot. :)For a new shooter however you will see a lot more of those un-controled shots if they are not real carefull.jmo

[Gary Logsdon]

Fred described his shooting style to me once.  Leaning back in his chair, grinning ear-to-ear, and with a wink in one of his arctic blue eyes he said. "Oh yeah, I shoot kinda quick, it's CONTROLLED snap shooting, HA!"

[BLACK WOLF]

Originally posted by chuck172:
Out of curiosity, can someone who considers himself a snapshooter, come to anchor and hold for an extended period without releasing if they try?

They could if they made a choice before hand to do so or if it was something they have practiced.

The way we shoot is based on the way we practice. If a snap shooter was told to shoot a target they would most likely shoot it the way they practiced shooting it.

Whatever shooting form an archer decides they want to do should be consistant and engrained within their subconscious so they can execute it instinctively so they can place all of their focus on aiming.

An archer who snap shoots has taught themselves to shoot that way...and can be done very accurately. It's not the same thing as target panic.

Ray  

[AllenR]

What exactly is snap shooting?

Is it the "touch & go" that I see Hill using on some of his videos?

Thanks,
Allen

[Terry Green]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by chuck172:
Out of curiosity, can someone who considers himself a snapshooter, come to anchor and hold for an extended period without releasing if they try?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes.

------------------------------------------------
"What exactly is snap shooting?

Is it the "touch & go" that I see Hill using on some of his videos?"
-------------------------------------------------

Yes.  Someone that shoots upon reaching anchor.

Usually, there are two different aiming methods used for those that 'snap shoot' and those that hold.

Snap Shooters usually  Aim - Draw - Anchor - Release.

And folks that hold usually Draw - Anchor - Aim - Release.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by Terry Green:
...

Snap Shooters usually  Aim - Draw - Anchor - Release.

And folks that hold usually Draw - Anchor - Aim - Release.

IMO, that's exactly it.

[Bowman0202]

Seems the real question here from Holepuncher was whether you can learn to shoot like Howard Hill. Maybe not with the same expertise, but maybe so, depending on your physical/eye-hand/capabilities and your willingness to practice. To point you toward achieving that goal I'd recommend you get John Schulz' book Straight Shooting and his DVD/Video Hittin' 'em Like Howard Hill, Bob Wesley's book and video and the the book and DVD/Video " Become the Arrow" by Byron Ferguson which are also good.  These will give you a well rounded and good foundational understanding of learning to shoot along those lines and you can adapt elements in all three to suit you personally.  All of these are available from 3 Rivers I think and should be in everyone's trad library for reference from time to time.

Hope this helps.