both eyes or one

[LinemanARK]

I am new to trad archery and was woundering do I have to use both eyes to shoot. I am left eye dominate but shoot right handed is there any thing I can do to help or fix this problem.

[Rooselk]

When I shoot both eyes are open. That's because I'm not aiming in the traditional sense (no sight).

A friend of mine is left eye dominate, but a right hand shooter. He had one heck of time trying to shoot a sighted compound or a rifle. Also had a tough time trying to shoot left handed. But he's able to shoot a right hand traditional bow with no problem. It's probably because he uses both eyes and no sight. But I'm certainly no expert when it comes to this kind of thing.

[WINDTALKER]

I am right handed and left eye dominate and have recently switched to left handed shooting. Both ways I shot with both eyes open.  I've noticed that when shooting right handed the farther distance I shot the farther to left I would hit from my aiming point, now that I 'm shooting left handed I seem to be doing alright on the left to right plane its up and down I need to work on, I seem to be shooting low. All this is just my experiance and opinion but I think switching hands was the best thing I did to help.

[Paul WA]

The same here, I close my left eye...PR

[adeeden]

I'm left eyed dominat as well, but shot right handed for 20 years (both eyes open). I had similar problems as windtalker. It wasn't much of an issue at 20 yards or less but anything longer caused magor issues.

The best thing I ever did was switch to shooting lefty. My accuracy improved by a bunch!

[YORNOC]

You can't fight eye dominance. Olympic archery coach always insisted you shoot to match your dominant eye. People I know have tried  eye patches, and different sighting techniques, but always revert back to dominant eye while shooting. Your best bet is to give shooting lefty a try. Then base your decision after a couple of months of shooting.

[GingivitisKahn]

I keep both eyes open but would guess you would be better off shooting left handed to keep the dominant eye more completely in play.

[Coonbait]

Both eyes open. I don't see the difference between shooting instinctively or hitting a baseball. You wouldn't come up to bat with an eye patch on would you?
Glenn

[Bjorn]

Both eyes open and don't worry about eye dominance-that is a rifle thing.

[vermonter1]

Years ago (during my compound days) I seriously injured my right shoulder and could not pull a bow.  I learned to shoot left handed and to do this I had to shoot with right eye closed (my dominant).  One day I missed two deer, one of them twice.  It took me a couple hours on the range to realize I was FORGETTING to close the dominant eye.  I would definatly switch to match your shooting to your dominant eye, be persistant, you can learn to shoot w/ the other hand!

[YORNOC]

Totally not true Bjorn. Absolutely an archery thing too. Like I said, they teach in Olympic archery. Including when shooting without sights.

[Bjorn]

No disrespect, David maybe they teach that to the Olympic guys and gals but not according to Fred Bear or Glenn St Charles.

[David Yukon]

I'm left eye dominent, and shoot right hand, and if I shoot a often(not lately), I'm prety consistent. I shoot both eyes open! I tryed a lefty one day and it was realy weird.. I'm sure you can do it over time!?! Maybe!

[mambashooter]

Both eyes open here  

[Bowwild]

I'm RH and left eye dominant. I shot 28 years right-handed and had to shut the left eye. I switched to LH shooting in 1996 and now shoot with both eyes open: better distance & peripherial vision.

I've witnessed many people switch to LH shooting to match their draw hand to the dominant eye over the past 10 years. Some say they shoot better in 2 days than they have in years after the swtich.

[Friend]

Closing one eye to shoot is only half wrong.

Now close both eyes and try to shoot.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

I use a sight (the tip of the arrow) and find I have my best results at normal ranges with one eye shut. It really has improved my shooting.

[LinemanARK]

thanks Ben and every body so keep the advice comeing couse I am in the process of buy a bow with more draw weight and going trad all the way. So with that said what kind of bow would you buy needs to be a recurve takedown anything over 50# at 26 1/2 in draw. What would I need to be looking for used of corse thanks for the help   Mike

[Tom]

Both eyes open as they are so bad I need all 4 of them.Best advice for buying a bow is shoot as many as possible to get a feel for the different risers, when you find the one that feels good buy it.

[YORNOC]

Just to clarify, when I speak of eye dominance and everything I've been taught and read and experienced, is with both eyes open. Depth perception is critical having both eyes open unless you sight aim...including point of aim (without sights using your arrow to sight down). But even these methods are better if you can adjust to shooting both eyes open.
Rezeen, look back at what all these guys are saying. All the left eye dominant guys shoot much better when changing their bow hand. Don't trouble yourself more than you need to. Go with physics, science and with what just plain works. Don't fight your body.
Fred Bear and Glenn St. Charles...two of my favorite guys ever. Met them both. Icons, hero's you name it. But if they preached to anyone that eye dominance does not matter in archery, they made an error in judgement. Absolutely no disrespect, everybody is wrong at one point or another. I'm not making this stuff up, research it for yourselves.