Eye Dominance

[bigugly1]

Ok so I have known for years I'm left eye dominate but right handed. Years ago, late teens, I tried converting to shooting left handed with no luck at all. This was with shotgun and wing shooting ducks. I tried for two seasons and my success was mixed just couldn't get comfortable. What I was told then was to put a smell tab of mud on my left lens, which turned into a sticky dot over time. Worked like a charm. I'm shooting a recurve and getting pretty good but have not been doing the old dot system. Any other left eye right hand guys out there do this? I just can't get comfortable shooting left handed.

[Wiley Coyote]

I am lefthanded and right eye dominate. Years ago when I used a compound with sights I was able to shoot left. When I went traditional I changed to right handed by doing lots of pushups. It worked.  

[lpcjon2]

My son(9yo) is left eye dominant and shoots right handed and he shoot the bow well.With a firearm it is not good I am working with him and an eye patch to help correct it.Some may say not to do it,but I have seen it done and it can be accomplished.

[Pat B]

If you keep both eyes open when you shoot it shouldn't matter.

[David Mitchell]

Left eye dominant but right handed for everything except shooting--switched to lefty several years ago and it was the best thing I ever did for my shooting.  AND I was over 50 years old when I finally made the change so old dogs can learn new tricks, but you have to keep at it until things begin to feel natural again.  Now I simply cannot shoot right handed at all.

[lpcjon2]

Pat,
 What happens is they end up seeing split images and it is hard to focus on just one.I was a Marine Corps shooting coach and I shoot with both eyes open and I am rgt.eye dom.and shoot rgt.hand for a left eye person it is  a visual visual obstacle between the body knowing and the eye focusing.

[Covey]

There was a fella I use to shoot with that was left handed right eye dominant. This guy could shoot light's out anywhere from 10 to 40 yards. Didnt' seem to be a handicap for him at all. He was an excellant shot! Jason

[J-dog]

I am left eye dom, shooting right handed. My Father also a Marine shooter made me wear an eye patch, no matter what i was doing as a kid. No matter hat I am shooting I shoot it just fine.

J

[SOLDIERII]

My brother found he has this problem. I think he has it figured out, but he does seem to miss a lot while deer hunting.

[NIGEL01]

I just came to the realization this Fall, I'm left eye dominant and right handed.  I just perchased a half dozen recurves and longbows over the last year and half, thought I'd have to sell em all, and start all over.  Really wasn't shooting too bad the way things are.  I was shooting instinctivly, so when I thought about it, I figured whats the difference I can throw a baseball where I want it with my right hand.  Switched back to my compound, missed 5 easy shots.

[reddogge]

If you keep both eyes open it DOES matter if you are right handed/left eye dominant.  You will be holding the bow right handed but your dominant eye will be taking over so you'll shoot left of your target every time.

Try it.  Close your right eye and pull your imaginary bow back and aim at something in the distance.  Now open the right eye.  The arrow is aimed left of the target.

[NIGEL01]

When I tryed completely closing my left eye, and different anchor points things just got worse.  I was hitting good all summer, but I did notice I was getting headaches when I was shooting alot.  I can only guess my eyes were fighting each other, went to eye doctor, told me my eyes were fine, but said that I should be shooting left handed.  If thats the case anyone interested in the bows listed below?!!

[BobCo 1965]

Originally posted by bigugly1:
Any other left eye right hand guys out there do this? I just can't get comfortable shooting left handed.

My son.

He started out with a right handed bow and moved to lefty when we found out he was left eye dominant. He always had problems shooting lefty though since the right side of his body had a stronger dominance. We got a hold of a coach who helped change his dominant eye and he went back to shooting right handed. It took about a year to change the eye dominance and was worth it  IMO.

[SimpleMan]

About 5 years ago, I wanted really bad to shoot a long bow and bought one.  I'm left handed and left eye dominate, but do many things right handed.  I couldn't hit a 2'x2' target half the time at 5 yds.  I sold the bow out of frustration.  I decided to try again this year, but shoot right handed with my trad bows due to it just feeling right.  I have to really watch myself and not let anything block my view with my right eye as I shoot like my right hand as I draw.  If anything blocks my right eye, I can "feel" my left eye take over instantly and will shoot left.  I just take my time and make sure nothing blocks my view of my right eye as I draw and concentrate on using my right eye and my groups tell me when I do it right.  A patch helps me too, but closing my left eye doesn't work at all for me.

[Sambar]

i tried for years shooting right handed left eye dominate, i was ok i could hit 3 out of 5 bunny's at anywhere from 30-40 yards but just wasn't consistent and lost alot of vision as i closed my left eye when shooting, plus i could only gap shoot as only having one eye open over the top of the arrow your eye wants to focus on the arrow not the target witch makes it hard as well. so i made the move and am now teaching my self left handed after one day i was hitting bulls eyes at 15 yards every shot both eyes open its feels a little funny but after a few weeks of stickin with it im sore my strength will build and it will feel natural.make the move mate sick with it and you will never look back.

[Jack Whitmire Jr]

Sell the bows and go LH . I could right a book on this , if you do it you will someday  come back here to tell everyone it is the best thing you ever did for your shooting.


Jack

[easyup]

All I can say is everyone must be different. After some difficult neck/shoulder problems I now shoot both left and right, usually alternating each day.  Part of my shot execution is to BREIFLY close the eye that is not under the arrow as I bring the bow up, this gets my brain calibrated I guess.  This comes from needing to close the left eye when learning to shoot LH.  I don't shoot better with either hand and at 20yds or less can count on that first shot being on the money regardless of the bow hand.  Works well for hunting but I do get teased about having a backup bow that is different handed.  At 60 plus it seems to have helped with the body to alternate and if I injure a finger or something else I just shoot the good hand for a few days.

[highelk]

when I first started Trad I was shooting right and for a couple of years i never could get to where I was comfortable enough to go game hunting. so someonre finaly enlighted me to the whole eye dominace thing and I realized that I was left eye dominant. so I went and got a left hand bow. I wish that I didn't wait so long. it seemed very awkward at first but the accuracy was improving so I stuck with it. now I can't even shoot right because it's too wierd. and I now have no problem going after game with full confidence. I personly think if you work through the awkwardness you will be well pleased with your shooting in the long term.
Good luck and shoot well

I can shoot both sides, I will say that after shooting right handed for years, the first deer I shot at left handed, I missed. I had the elevation perfect, but somehow I had the point of the arrow under the right eye instead of the left.  I took a couple of practice shots with blunts and was dead on. Then I thought what if I mixed up my eye because of buck fever, so I drew on a leaf then slid the arrow over to line up with the wrong eye and that was the exact miss I had on the deer.  Shooting with with cross dominance will have different problems for different people.  I have seen those that were so right hand dominant that they couldn't stick a hotdog with a fork left handed.  Everyone has their own basic coordination strengths and weaknesses, knowing what yours are and working with what you have to your advantage takes time and practice.  Those bracket sights that were for DAS recurves, I saw in the 3 rivers catalog, were tempting me because I could then be sure I was in the ball park. I went to cresting (with a brush) a bright chartreuse band on the end of the arrow so I could easier see where it was pointing. There is nothing wrong with making whatever adjustments you need to be happy with your shooting. I need to pay more attention to the point to keep things inline when the nerves light up with buck fever, that was my weakness.  Oh, and getting through brush with a left hand back quiver on, that is much more difficult than one would think.

[bigugly1]

Originally posted by reddogge:
If you keep both eyes open it DOES matter if you are right handed/left eye dominant.  You will be holding the bow right handed but your dominant eye will be taking over so you'll shoot left of your target every time.

Try it.  Close your right eye and pull your imaginary bow back and aim at something in the distance.  Now open the right eye.  The arrow is aimed left of the target.

I must be different then, whenever I miss you can be guaranteed it's to the right. Man I'm weird, guess I'll just keep shooting and having fun. Two years ago I shot the recurve a lot but never hunted with it, I was pretty confident out to 25 yards. At the time I didn't know any other trad hunters and I just assumed that wasn't good enough. 2012 will be different I  will be using the recurve for turkey, moose and deer.