string walking

[Larry B. Weeks]

I'm new to traditinal shooting. Someone explan to me about string walking. I have some of my buds but they can't tell me.

[bigbadjon]

Well essentially you move your hand to different points of the string to change your point on distance. Most guys who use this find there string positions by counting strands on their serving. I believe you lower your hand position as shots get closer. If you look at Ty Pelfry's instructions you can get a detailed explaination.

[rabbit_buster]

What bigbadjon said, Some guys back in the day used to tie on basicly string nocks to know where to draw from.....They claim its very accurate.

[Smallwood]

It's extremely accurate, in essence, you are using the tip of your arrow as a sight pin.
When the target distance changes, instead of using a different sight pin, you just place your hand on the string in the correct place for that yardage and again, use the tip of the arrow as a sight pin.
you can place your different yardage marks on your tab, or count the stitches on the tab, or you can place them onto your string serving or even tie on some different colored serving at the different places to hold for different yardages.
some people call the different yardage positions on the string the 'crawl'. So you have a different crawl down the string for 20yards, than you do for say 10 yards.

Two videos that teach you about string walking are- Modern traditional by ty pelfrey and the Masters of the Barebow videos also show you how to stringwalk.    

[Bjorn]

They count the stitches on a tab. BW tabs are very popular with string walkers. Expert string walkers are amazingly accurate on targets.

[bama]

Many traditional events ban its use.  I have never understood why.

[Smallwood]

because it's so accurate.
years ago, I went to a 3-d tournament, and was paired up with a guy shooting barebow compound and he used stringwalking. Man, that guy kicked my butt on both rounds of the course.
It's very effective, but just like sights, you have to judge your yardage.

[reddogge]

We shot field archery in bare bow class in the 60s and 70s using that method.  We did have an advantage of marked distances though which made the technique very accurate.  I used several methods of counting servings, using the slits in the tab for some yardages, etc.  We used the arrow point on the target as the front sight.

[Bowwild]

Another excellent video describing this technique is Tim Stricklands. )stricklandsarchery.com)  

I had never string-walked until about 4 weeks ago. After watching Tim's video I put on colored bands of tied on nock locators on my string. I went from a 15-20 yard shot to a 15-30 yard shot. That doesn't mean I'll shoot at a whitetail at 30 yards but I can.

Tim explains it very well, especially for someone who is used to sights. Basically, Tim (who is a champion archer and Olympic archery coach)explained that while he shot fine on targets sometimes on game he would hit high. He realized in the excitement of shots on game his eye reverted to a "sight reference" seeing the point of the arrow where he wanted to hit. Of course if you drawing hand is set under the nock (3 fingers under) you will hit high unless your shot is 30+ yards (on a normal length arrow and 3/8-1/2" nock locator.  

I now have three finger placements on my string. Two nock locators low and I'm set for 15 and under. One locator low and I'm good for 20-35. Under the nock and I'm good for 30 and 35 yards (different aiming point (at body edge for 30 and at back for 35.

Since I've been using sights since about 1981 or so (compound)I'm very accustomed to estimating yardage.

[Bowwild]

There is a huge hazard when string walking though. If too much concentration is put on the aiming and not enough on the "back of the shot" -- follow through -- groups will grow and other bad things can happen. I discovered this the very first timme I tried it. Then I realized what I was doing. Once I figured out that I need to visualize my sight picture before (or as) drawing my eye will form that relationship without my mind spending much time on it. For example, at 30 yards the point of my arrow needs to touch the edge of the body behind the shoulder.

Then I can concentrate on keeping the bow arm and drawing back muscles active so follow-through will be fluid. It makes a huge difference - beach ball groups at 30 yards vs. half a paper plate!

Now, every day (our season has been open 14 days) I shoot 10 arrows from my elevated (deck) perch at 3-D targets: 7, 12, 20, and 30 yards (once in a while 35 also). I usually shoot two each at the 7, 12, 20 and 4 at 30. The pair at the short distances are almost always top of the heart. The 4 at 30 will typically be 3 kills and one high liver (still a kill but not what I want).  

I never would have believed I would use this system of aiming but for me, I love it. It is a great bridge from compound with sights back to the recurve.

Here's a quick way to try this. Three fingers under. Put your index finger under the nock of the arrow. Then mark the bottom edge of the index finger with your thumb and move the fingers below the thumb (you are now an index finger width below the arrow nock). Then you should be point on at about 20 yards. This is over simplication. If your nock locator is higher than 1/2" or if your arrow is protruding more or less than 2 inches from your bow, this might not be right on for you.

Imagine the point of the arrow touching the center of the lungs. Come to anchor, think about moving your drawing thumb to the shoulder as soon as you drop the string (follow-through) and ....?