right handed left eye dominant

[WidowEater]

I am, as soon as I shot a Lefty bow everything just clicked.

[macster]

I agree with bayoulongbowman, switch to shooting lefty, I did about 10-12 years ago, took about 2-3 months and I was shooting better than ever. If you are right-handed, your strong arm is your bow arm and you should have better bow control. I switched in the summer and was ready easily by bow season.

[jcar315]

I too am RH but left eye dominant. Shot RH until this spring and made the switch. BEST thing I ever did for my shooting!! I was an ok shot RH but could not shoot truly "instinctive" as I had to look at the arrow and hold way to the right to hit where I wanted it to go. I read G. Fred Asbell article and he was pretty clear that if you were left eye dominant you should shoot LH no question. No offense to anyone intended but that whole "if you shoot truly instinctive it doesnt matter what eye is dominant" is a bunch of hoohey! Made the switch and it was easy as butter and didn't take me more than a few shots to get comfortable with it. Sometimes still pick up the arrow with my "wrong" hand but that is the only thing. If you are cross eye dominant make the switch. Sell all you RH bows and don't look back. As the famous explorer said "men we are burning the boats so there is no going back."

[Willrett]

I am right shot left eye and have some issues as well. I have been trying to do more of a look where I want the arrow to go type thing. Its getting better and easier the more I shoot. I have played hockey for along time and the way you aim is to look where you want the puck to go and point the stick there on the follow through.

[Van/TX]

Felt like a monkey hunpin a grilled cheese sandwich.  

Bob, we need to talk.  How would you know that? That's funny don't care who you are           ...Van

[Shinken]

My wife and both of our children are right handed and left eye dominant.

However, I determined that early on for both son and daughter so they both shoot left handed longbows with excellent results.

Shoot straight, Shinken

[Pinecone]

I'm RH and LE dominant...have been as long as I can recall.  My shot is pretty good, but far from perfect.  I use the split vision method of aiming and practice almost daily in order to maintain accuracy.  Still...sometimes I just plain miss!!!

Claudia

[longbow fanatic 1]

I'm RH dominant and LE dominant. I never noticed a problem until one day hunting whitetails about 15 years ago. I had missed a deer earlier in the week and was frustrated because I had been shooting well on the 3-D courses during the summer. I had a doe in front of me about 25 yards away. I pulled my compound bow string back, lined up my sights on her vitals and then closed my left eye. My pins were way right of the deer's vitals. Up to this point, I had always shot with both eyes open. Shooting targets this way was no problem, however, when shooting at game, I realized the stress of the encounter caused my left eye to become more noticeably dominant. To cure this, I shoot with my left eye closed.

[SlowBowke]

Just a quickie since I just read on that last night.

Also recommended elsewhere in TG concerning "tt tt tt tttarget ppppanic" Jay Kidwell's book on instictive shooting is a good read.

He himself will tell you each of us has our own stance, etc and if working decent but not always he offers hints and exercises to improve YOUR form, not introduce  "just one that work's for everyone".

All of us know that no ONE form with work for all and it was refreshing to read something written more on the MENTAL process than the physical one.

The new edited version I just got had the TP chapter added but....for this thread it was a plus that he covers Right hand dom and Left eye dom....which he is himself.

It's NOT a cure all that makes everything better NOW but has some really interesting thought processes and hints on form that I know has helped me already....and I think will continue to do so.

TO ME, it is a refreshing book on true instinctive shooting from A to Z and I think it was CHEAP at 14 bucks shipped.

Some are going to say it wasn't much help but if you're serious about improving and continuing to do so , I would highly recommend this book.

Being "slow" in more ways than one, I'll be rereading it again and again this summer.

Like his book informs us on shooting, I know the more I read it the more this information will be programed into my "head computer" to use when needed.

BTW.......this book will inform you that you do NOT have to switch right to left, and he didn't.

Just MY opinion, no one gets to sue me if you don't feel it helps......but from one trad shooter of 50 yrs to all of you, I honestly wish I had heard of this YEARS ago.

  http://www.n-sights.net/n-sights.net.html  

God Bless!

[easyup]

I have shot compounds for 25 years and just now returning to traditional. My eye dominance shifted in my 40's; talk about screwed up.  So I now shoot my scoped rifles, compound (with pins) and shotguns RH and my pistols RH but left eye and longbows LH.  Probably weird but seems to work for me as in hunting situations needing speed the form just seems to be their without confusion.  Need to get my longbow accuracy at longer ranges sorted but feel good that it will come with practice, which I enjoy.

[damascusdave]

As you will see at the bottom of my post the issue of a master eye is no longer a problem for me.

I used to be left eye dominant and am very right handed, ie. mixed dominance.

The way that I solve the problem is to shoot both right and left handed. That way eventually I will find something that works for me. Right now I seem to be shooting reasonably well left handed with sights and right handed instinctively.

[Gerardo]

Right Handed but LH eye dominant , I used to shoot rh , and could not lift a bow the diferent way, but if you just do it and try to learn it will all be natural and I am a better shot LH now!!!

go with your eye you will get the hang of it eventually

[Yelloweye]

I am right handed, left eye. Figured it out 37 years ago and switched. So is my father,  my brother in law  switched 3 years ago he is a better shot now. I used to think that was the only way until I found out just how many folks shoot cross dominate and are good and even great shots. I personally believe it depends on your own vision, more specifically how great the difference between your eyes is.

[BobCo 1965]

I used to believe that you should shoot on the same side of your dominant eye. However, I am leaning the other way now and believe that you should shoot with your strong side and let the eye dominance problem work its way out.

My son originally shot right handed and was left eye dominant when he was around 7. After two years of shooting right we switched him to left and he has shot that way for a while. Recently we moved him back to right again will probably keep him this way for good.

FWIW, I believe olympic coaches are having students shoot strong side and do not worry about eye dominance anymore.

[damascusdave]

I just bought Glenn St Charles' book, "Billets to Bow" and he definitely has an opinion in this regard.

Anyone else that finds his ideas make a lot of sense for you?

I am going to stick with Glenn's ideas until they prove to be unmanageable for me.

[damascusdave]

Originally posted by BobCo 1965:
I used to believe that you should shoot on the same side of your dominant eye. However, I am leaning the other way now and believe that you should shoot with your strong side and let the eye dominance problem work its way out.

My son originally shot right handed and was left eye dominant when he was around 7. After two years of shooting right we switched him to left and he has shot that way for a while. Recently we moved him back to right again will probably keep him this way for good.

FWIW, I believe olympic coaches are having students shoot strong side and do not worry about eye dominance anymore.

I was watching some video of the world archery championships today and I noticed that the Korean lady who won the gold shooting right handed was using her left eye with her spotting scope.

[Flatshooter]

Read Jay Kidwell's book... eye dominance is not a factor in instinctive shooting. I believe Mr. St Charles held the same view.

[damascusdave]

And although there is no reason to declare each of these gentlemen's opinions to be right or wrong, there is a need to decide what works for each of us.

I should be shooting some 3D next weekend with the new carbon arrows that I have coming. My goal is to pick a spot on every target and shoot to that spot.

If I have success fine, and it I do not then the week after I will try something a little different. Part of the fun of being early in the learning curve.

[J-KID]

I think a lot depends on your shooting style.  In a previous poll on TradGang we discovered that there was a fairly even split between "instinctive" and "hybrid"/"gap" shooters.  When I said in the book that it doesn't matter which eye was dominant I was referring to a person who shot according to the "instinctive" definition and I still believe the evidence supports this view.  I also still shoot right handed with a left dominant eye.  If I ever revise the book I will likely make note that "hybrid"/"gap" shooters would absolutely benefit from shooting with their dominant eye directly over the arrow.  I've included the poll and results for those interested.

INSTINCTIVE - You have no conscious awareness of your bow or arrow and focus 100% of your attention on the target 100% of the time. You typically do not think much about "yardage" and just trust yourself to make the appropriate adjustments.
HYBRID - You begin with a conscious awareness of your bow or arrow and use it as a beginning reference, and then you shift your focus 100% to your target. You tend to give some thought to "yardage" as you relate it to your beginning reference point.
GAP - You use the gap method, or a similar method of aiming where you consciously consider "yardage" and use some reference (arrow tip etc.) to align to the target. You split your attention between the target and the reference point to stay aligned.

Results – Total Votes 267
               Instinctive = 52% (139)
          Hybrid = 38% (102)
          Gap =10% (26)

[damascusdave]

The advantage for me of shooting instinctively has mostly to do with the fact that I do not have either eye that I can convince to take a dominant role.

When I shoot left handed with sights I close my right eye in order to have any chance of selecting a sight pin that is something other than an illusion. There is a limit to how well I am going to be able to shoot that way. So what, it is still enjoyable. The main reason that I am shooting that way at all has to do with my archery coaching role as a teacher.

Likewise there is a limit to how well I am going to be able to shoot intstinctively simply because I am not really going to work at it very hard. For now all I am going to hunt is foam and enjoy the heck out of being outdoors and meeting some great new people. Of course I will get the urge to bowhunt and I will deal with that according to circumstances. I live in an area where the most likely target for a bow would be a moose anyway, and that gives one a little larger kill zone to work with than your average whitetail.

I have been primarily a rifle shooter all my life and never once saw a bullet on its way to the target. I could care less where the arrow is until it hits something.