String Walking???

[GreyGhost83]

I know its a style of aiming but, not much more than that. How exactly do you use string walking?    :confused:

[bowkevin]

I was curious about this myself.

[Mike Mongelli]

Do a search in the Shooters Forum.

[GreyGhost83]

I have tried a full site search but could not find anything.

[reddogge]

It works best with known yardages first of all like marked NFAA field archery courses.  You put your tab under the knocked arrow and either counting the string servings, stitches in the tab, or separations in the tab, take your right thumbnail and place it on the string in the proper spot for that yardage and slide the tab down to that spot.  Then pull to anchor, put the arrow point directly on the target and shoot.  The distances of dropdown on the string are worked out by trial and error.

[boznarras]

I did a search in Shooters Forum and saw several threads. This is one of them:
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=005685#000000

[Bowwild]

The most successful coach of US Olympic archers recommends string walking, especially for folks who are used to shooting with sights (us guys who have returned to recurves after a long time with compounds, sights, and release aids).

For about 9 months (December 09-early August, 2010) I had been shooting 3-fingers under with the index finger touching the arrow nock. I was shooting gap, not instinctive. I was "ok" at 15 yards but not happy beyond that. I even qualifed for the IBO worlds using this system and came in second in a "money shoot". I left the money with the club -- I was just trying to get hunt'n ready. But I had a lot of work to do.

Then I watched this fellow's video (that he sent me with his Recurve) and learned how and why string walking might be good for me.  What the author says is that he does fine on targets gap shooting. But in the heat of the moment when hunting he often shot high. He concluded, because he was used to using sight pins, when a hunting shot presented itself he subconsciousuly forgot the gap and used the point of the arrow for reference. Well, at distances under 30 yards most people will shoot high if they put the arrow's point on the spot they want to hit. You have to "look low" to hit at such close distances. By the way, this fellow, who's initials are TS, holds NFAA records that are decades old. I don't know how deep his age is into the 60's but he's my senior and he has returned to competitive archery this year.

I then began experimenting. I'm not going to claim I started to robin hood arrows, but my groups became tighter and I immediatly became confident at 20 yards and could see that 25 was going to happen also.  I'm very happy with this aiming style.

Yes, I have to know the range, but not to the yard though. For me, if I drop my 3 fingers to a spot on the string that is just a bit more than an index finger width, below the arrow nock, I can place the point of the arrow on what I want to hit at 20 yards. Almost like a sight pin, albeit a big fat one! An index finger and a half and I'm good on anything under 15 yards.  My arrow point is right on at 35 yards (under the heart at 30)--but I won't consider a hunting shot past 25 yards.

I basically serve a very wide nock locator (serving on top of the center serving) under the arrow nock in one color for 20 yards and then another color below which I'm on at 15.

About aiming. Just like with sight pins, if you concentrate on that sight pin, trying to keep it still and focused, you won't like the results. Your group's will be larger and you'll have a difficult time following through. Aiming with a bow (sight or arrow point) is more like aiming with a handgun (open sights). You look at the spot you want to hit while your mind's eye places the sight or arrow point there. It is amazing to me that your mind can do this very accurately if you will let it -- thus my "signature line".

This fellow has a DVD explaining the entire process which I'd be happy to direct you to via PM.

Will I always do this? I dont' know.  But I can't tolerate "to whom it might concern" or "shotgun" accuracy with a bow. I want to hit the hair, shadow, or crease I'm looking at with my hunting recurves.

My return to recurve hunting after 34 years of compounds, using this system resulted in 16 and 21-yard clean kills on deer this past season. I was very tickled!

[ishoot4thrills]

Very good information, Roy. I'm glad that you kept trying to find what worked best for you instead of just settling.

I would enjoy shootin' with ya at the KY Tradfest if we were to meet up at an opportune time.

There are many ways one can shoot a trad bow. The important thing is that you find what's right for you and go with it.

[bowkevin]

Yes, thanks for the information. Very informative.

[30pointbuck]

This is what i needed, i have the same prob. i just got rid of the wheel bows and was using the tip as a referance. Thanks for posting. It helped.  

[Eugene Slagle]

Not saying anything is wrong with it because I personally know some outstanding string walkers & face walkers out around my area that I only hope to achieve what they are able to do with a bow at ranges that I'm still working on but when I decided to return to traditional archery I decided to go back to the way I remembered being taught.

I did try 3 under but for the life of me I could not get comfortable with it so I went back to split finger.
I guess you call mine a split vision type of aiming because I'm sure that my subconcience sees the arrow but for the most part I pretty much re-learned my instinctive aiming technique from over 30 years & now up to 40 yards I use that technique beyond that I'm gap shooting till I can't see the target which is beyond 60 yards.

The only issue I do see with string walking is if the person wanted to compete in many arenas like NFAA & IBO to continue to use string walking would place them in the bare bow level instead of traditional.

[damascusdave]

I just returned from a major 3D competition where the individual who won the traditional class using string walking beat their nearest competitor by well over 100 points.

When I asked him about the long term issues he assured me the Canadian rules had only recently been modified to allow string walking due to a perceived need to allow us to be competitive in British and European competition.

DDave

[Onlyaspike]

I want to try the "string walking" type of aiming.....until now I had no clue actually what it was, Ive just been trying to "sight down" the arrow shaft at full draw and visualize the arrows flight and adjust accordingly. With stringwalking how much overhang are you guys using on your arrows? Is there any kind of rough guide or chart to help me start aiming w/ stringwalking? Thanks.

[AJP66]

The amount of overhang really doesn't matter. Get a copy of  Modern Traditional DVD, lots of good info on stringwalking there, Three Rivers has them.

[Mitch H]

Bowwild described it about as plain as it gets.  

After starting out my archery hunting with a recurve nearly 40 years ago, I moved on to compounds after the 1976 season and never looked back except to play around a couple of weekends each year with a trad bow. Running a big archery club and shooting competitively for many years I was around traditional shooters a lot. While part of me wanted to go back to recurves for hunting a long time ago, I just could not settle for the occasional flyer that was way off the mark, sometimes even at short range. Watching the guys who strictly shot traditional showed me that maybe 1 guy out of 100 seemed immune to regular flyers.(shots seriously off the mark) After hunting in several countries with a good friend who used to shoot traditional bows on a national level, I told him of my quandary one day while we were hunting. He laughed and told me that he could eliminate my flyers completely, and that it would not take long to get there. He then introduced me to string walking.

If I had known about this method in the very early 1970`s, I may have NEVER gone to the compound bow. I am still a rookie compared to my buddy, but I am 10 times the trad shooter I ever was before, and not afraid to hunt with a recurve or longbow anymore. In fact, with the exception of really big critters like cape buffalo, I have gone completely to traditional bows for hunting now.

It would be awesome to have the ability to lay arrows right where they need to be at unknown yardages, but 99 out of 100 top compound shooters cannot do that, and even fewer trad shooters can. Until I figure that out, I will string walk, and carry my trusty rangefinder.  

[twitchstick]

Another alternative to this is face walking instead of the walking the string. It's just a dislectic verson of string walking. You move your anchor point on your face and not your hand placement on the string. For me this version works better because my hand is closer to the center of the string for a better release and arrow flight. I shoot this way with a compound for years and with my recurve I have set up for local shoots which have shoots out to 80 yards.

For instance most bows with an evelated rest and shooting 3 under my 20 yard mark "pin" is the tip of the arrow with my index finger at my cheek bone just under the eye and my ring finger in the corner of the mouth. My 25 yard mark I slide down my face to my middle finger is in the  corner of my mouth. My 30 yd mark is in my index finger in the corner of my mouth and so on to down below my chin is my 45 yards mark. Now anything longer than that with trad gear I have to walk the string and shoot over and under which opens up my sight window. It's like playing a violin you have to find positions on your face to find solid anchor spots. Sometimes you have to gap the arrow if you can't find a solid anchor but for the most part I can keep the tip of the arrow as the "pin".

For me this worked better but we are all differant. When we hosted the world field trials here I was amazed with some of the string walkers that were there. Some would count the servings wraps on the string down to the yard for thier hand placement.