Still hitting left

[wisconsinteacher]

Well I tried adding weight to my arrow tips but I am still hitting the same spot.  1-2" left at 6 yards.  (that is the length of the garage)  My vertical impact dropped as I went up in weight but not my horizontal impact.  I used 125 145 and 175 heads.  What can I do to fix this?  I shoot a Bear Grizzly 45# with GT 3555 shafts that are three fletched and I shoot 3 under right handed.

[Doc Pain]

If I were you, I would try to get with some other shooters or even an archery shop and try some 600 spine arrows.  It may be the center shot of the bow causing you the problem.  Even though the GT's are within the spine range for your bow, your shooting style and the center shot of the bow may call for a weaker spine arrow so the paradox of the arrow upon release will clear the riser.  Most archery shops have a pretty good selection of arrows to allow you to shoot before you buy.

[Winterhawk1960]

A couple of things that you could try.

1. Try a softer, thicker sideplate (female velcro).

2. I don't know if you cant your bow or not, but for me.....if I increase my cant, it will cause me to shoot a little bit right.

3. Try closing up your stance, keep left foot in front of the right one.

Winterhawk1960

[McDave]

If you can consistently hit a spot 2" to the left of your target, your form must be pretty good.  You said you tuned your arrows, so your arrow spine can't be that far off.  What that leaves, in my mind, is that your "sights" are out of allignment.  In order to move your point of impact to the right, without changing anything else, your rear sight, which is your eye, needs to move to the right with respect to the arrow.  You can do this either by moving the rear of your arrow to the left, or moving your eye to the right.  You should be able to move the point of impact of your arrows to the center of the target, or to the right of center of the target, depending on how much of a correction you make.

Sometimes, wearing a thick shooting glove or going to a deep hook will move the hand away from the face enough to move the point of impact of the arrow to the left.  So the first question to ask yourself is whether there is anything you can do to move the rear of the arrow to the left, closer to your face, without fouling up the way you shoot.

If the answer is "no," then you have to ask yourself what you can do to move your eye to the right with respect to the arrow.  I tilt my head to move my eye over the arrow.  If you're a person who keeps your head at the same angle as the bow, regardless of cant, you can cant the bow a little more, your head will tilt as you cant the bow, and that will bring your eye to the right, more over the arrow.

When your eye is directly over the arrow, it will appear to fly straight towards the target.  When your eye is to the left of the arrow, it will appear to fly from right to left toward the target.  Whether you can notice this at 6 yards or not, I don't know, but it is easy to see at 20 yards.

Or, you can just not worry about it.  Many good instinctive shooters would say that if you've got good form, and are able to consistently shoot tight groups, your brain will eventually move the group over to the center of the target without you having to consciously do anything about it.  If you take this route, be aware that your arrow point will be to the right of your target in your peripheral vision.  You can't let that worry you either, assuming you notice the arrow point at all, or you will defeat the purpose of your brain trying to reprogram your shot.

[Bill Skinner]

One more thing to try, raise your brace height.  It will make your arrow act weaker because it won't be on the string quite as long.  It should move you right if you are right handed.  Bill

[BobCo 1965]

How tight are your nocks? Your arrow maybe staying on the string too long.
Are you sure you do not have a contact problem in both your arrow/riser or bow arm (slap)?

I'm just throughing out ideas here. I always hate to give advice with weak/stiff reactions without seeing someone shoot.

[davesonic444]

After you get to full draw close your left eye and you should see how well your eye is lined up over your arrow.If its not directly over your arrow you will have left right issues till your brain finds a way to compensate. This will become more apparent as you shoot longer distance.

[wisconsinteacher]

I have Nerk nocks and they are not tight.  I don't think there is any contact problem.  I put brand new mole skin on and there are not marks of the arrow hitting it.  I am not hitting my bow arm.  Is there a way to tape myself shooting so people can see it?

[ishiwannabe]

I am plagued by hitting left alot. Im a righty, and I hit left when I start getting sloppy with my anchor. When I slow down and anchor, it is fixed. Doesnt sound like your problem, but I figured I would put it out there. Sometimes I focus so much on what it could be that I forget the basics...

[craig1955]

McDave,

Lots of good advice there!

[Predator Man]

Its probably where you anchor.  Change your anchor or your cant and you will fix the issue.  Also dont put so much effort into fixing problems at 6 yards.  What happens at 15+  ?

[Whump]

Whump Sez; Just for grins---shoot one of your arrows with no point at all and see where it hits. I had the same problem shooting griz sticks that were under. I could go up in point weight and change the point of impact very little---I shot one with no point, just an insert and it struck dead center. You can always go to extremes to get  headed in the right direction on spine.  And move back some like "Predator Man" Sez.Hunt safe

[wisconsinteacher]

I have not shot since I started the topic, but I did draw back my bow this morning and was looking at an object.  When I closed my left eye, my right eye was not straight down the arrow.  My eye was looking at the object but my arrow tip was pointing to the left.  How can I fix this issue?

[Spurs]

Interesting that you are having the exact same problem that I am having.  I know that my anchor is getting sloppy.  I shot today, and just as ishiwannabe said,  if I slow down and take my time anchoring things are much better.  However, I am shooting a 51# black widow with gold tip 3555's.  I have tried everything from 100,125,175's and all seem to act the same.  I believe that I am going to try and tune some 5575's to my bow.  Even with a concentrated anchor I am still hitting slightly left.  Canting the bow helps this slightly, but I believe that I just need to start with a stiffer shaft then add weight to the front.  Maybe the way the widow is cut, but I think that the 3555's are just too weak.  I don't have any room to cut any more off.

[DTD]

If your bow arm is locked straight it can cause you to shoot left. A slight bend may help you line up better. Also, your arrow may be over spined. Try adding 250 up front and see if it helps.

[mahantango]

I think McDave and ishiwannabe hit the ten ring. It happens to me too if I get sloppy with my anchor. Also, 6 yds. is awfully close to get a good feel for arrow flight, can you move back to say 15 yds?

[Van/TX]

Also agree with McDave about adjusting your "sights".  And move back to 15 yards as suggested above.  Good luck...Van

[Bowmania]

What's the spine of a GT 3555?  Mentioning that alone would allow more people to comment.  In addition your draw length would be nice.

Bowmania

[wisconsinteacher]

Well I shot at 15 yards tonight and was still to the left 2-3 inches.  I tried different anchor points but nothing felt right and was fixing the issue.  I anchor with my middle finger on my eye tooth.  I tried moving it to my front tooth to bring the string to my eye.  Sometimes it helped but not on every shot.  What should I do to get my eye over my arrow more?  I am shooting three under as of now.  Will shooting split finger help?

[McDave]

Sometimes, in trying to correct a problem, we may change something that doesn't need changing.  It is far more important that you come to full draw (where your drawing forearm is in line with the arrow viewed from above) than just about anything else.  I don't see how you could come to full draw and anchor on a front tooth.  Maybe it can be done, but it's hard for me to imagine it.

If you can't move the arrow in enough to get it under your eye, then you need to move your eye over the arrow.  If you shoot with an upright, or almost upright bow, this means that the bowstring will be visable in your shooting eye, which doesn't turn out to be as much of a distraction as you would think.  People come to rely on that out-of-focus bowstring in the corner of their eye as a part of their sight picture.  If you cant the bow, the bowstring will not be visable.

You move your eye over the arrow by tilting your head.  Notice that there are two movements you can make with your head: you can rotate it or you can tilt it.  If you rotate it, you will rotate your nose into the path of the bowstring (ouch!).  If you tilt it, your nose will face forwards, where it belongs.