Feet?

[Konrad]

Questions for the gurus:

When shooting from un-even ground, how do the “pros” place their legs and feet?
Do you lock the downhill knee?
Does a more open stance work better when shooting uphill, etc.?

Yes, it is a serious question and I ask for serious, thoughtful answers.

Thanks for your time,
Konrad

[moebow]

Konrad,

I think it is whatever you have to do to get your bow arm/shoulders/string arm into proper alignment.  If you use the "flat ground" stance to practice your form, that leads to proper alignment of the upper body structure.  When on uneven ground or shooting from weird positions you are still trying to get that upper body structure to be the same as on a flat practice range.  What you do with the lower body only needs to facilitate getting it all aligned.

Sometimes when hunting/stumping things are not ideal but if you really know what you need in the bow arm/shoulders/string arm you can get it regardless of the "underpinnings".  If you don't have good form on the "flat" you will never get it on uneven ground.

[cbCrow]

I'm not a pro but usually will bend the knee in the direction of incline or decline. If shooting down I bend my left knee down slightly, rt. knee if elevated.I shoot with a open stance, feet about shoulder width apart.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

This doesn't have much to do with the feet, but I was practicing on my back deck the other day, shooting at my 3D buck from the top of my picnic table. I was maybe 10' or so off the ground surface shooting down at the target. I noticed that my shots were in the kill more if I bent slightly forward at the hips. My upper body stance remained the same, I only leaned slightly forward at the waist and hips rather than lower my bow arm, then I was consistently in the kill. I was doing this to simulate shooting from a treestand.

[Wapiti Bowman]

Konrad,

MoeBow summed it up fairly accurately and succinctly!  S_H also gave some good advice about shooting downhill or from tree stands. When shooting up or down hill, in order to achieve and maintain 'full draw' the shooter has to draw as if on level ground to his full draw anchor and position, then bend at the waist. Attempting to just lean back or forward while drawing can lead to short draws and elbows outside the line.

Boy do I love those loooonnng, steep,  down/up hill shots on a good field range!    

[cbCrow]

"If the target is below you bend your forward knee to tilt your body, if uphill bend your back knee." page 18 "Become the Arrow" by Bryon Ferguson. He offers an explanation in the previous paragraphs, I began using his methods about a year ago after having problems with my restart of archery. His book and vids inproved my shooting 3 fold!