What am I doing wrong?

[Scott357]

I am right handed. I draw with right hand and hold bow in left hand.

It seems that the string slaps the snot out of my left wrist on almost every shot. I do wear a leather arm gaurd but today the string managed to catch the small area that wasnt gaurded and raised a heck of a bruise. Even when the string smacks the gaurd not only does it make a heck of a "WHACK!" noise but it is usually accompanied by a pinching sensation.

I try to shoot with a straigh bow arm. I think I am anchoring at full draw. The index feather touches my nose and I touch my right canine tooth with my right index finger. I have tried anchoring higher and lower but I still get smacked

Can anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong? This is starting to hurt!

Scott.

[John Nail]

obviously, you have your wrist bent. your forearm and second knuckle of your bow hand should be in line

[reddogge]

What's your brace height. If you look at the geometry of a right handed shooter from above (see Terry's form clock above) the wrist doesn't even come near the string. It's to the left. The shoulders, arrow and drawing forearm are parallel to the target but the left arm is not. I don't wear an armguard 90% of the time, only when wearing a coat to keep it tight to the arm.

[BobCo 1965]

Form and brace height aside, how tight are your nocks? The tightness of the nocks could be keeping the arrow on the string longer then necessary and pulling the string further then usual.

[Scott357]

The brace height on both of my recurves is just a hair under 7" My nocks arent super tight but they wont fall of the string without a tug.

Scott.

[McDave]

No part of the handle of the bow should extend to the right of the lifeline on your hand.  The pressure should be on the meaty area of your palm just below the base of your thumb.  If you move the grip too far into your hand, you will hit your wrist when you shoot the bow.

When some people say they are shooting with a straight bow arm, what's really happening is that their bow arm elbow is hyper extending in an arc toward the bow, so the string can't help but hit their forearm.  I see this more with women than men, but I suppose anyone could have that issue.  Since people who have this body structure don't have a natural stop where their arm is straight at full extension, they might be better off shooting with a slight bend in their bow arm, which many people prefer anyway.

[Brock]

if you are locking your elbow on bow hand instead of having arm extended and using muscles to hold it straight.....you will get slapped.  Also a low brace height will cause that and all of my recurves like 7.5 to 8.25 inch settings....7 inches or lower is where my longbows are set.

what bow do you have?  try moving bh to 7.5 inches.  try to have a very slight break in arm but still hold it out straight...dont lock elbow and see if it changes anything for you.  Do one at a time so you can tell what is the most productive.

[Scott357]

The one I shoot the most is a 45# Ben Pearson Stallion. I also have a 51# Browning I shoot a little but I think the draw is a bit too heavy for me right now. It wears me down pretty quick when I shoot it.

Scott.

[moebow]

To help out McDave a little:
"No part of the handle of the bow should extend to the right of the lifeline on your hand"

Should read: "No part of the handle of the bow should extend to the LEFT of the lifeline on your hand"

Typos, typos  

[McDave]

Not to quibble, Arne, but if I'm looking at the palm of my hand, where I can actually see the lifeline, then my statement is correct.  If you're looking at the back of your hand, and imagining that you can see through your hand to the lifeline, then your statement is correct.

Probably less ambiguous for both of us would be to say that "no part of the handle of the bow should extend to the finger side of the lifeline."  

[BobCo 1965]

Originally posted by moebow:
To help out McDave a little:
"No part of the handle of the bow should extend to the right of the lifeline on your hand"

Should read: "No part of the handle of the bow should extend to the LEFT of the lifeline on your hand"

Typos, typos      

How about:

While gripping the bow, no part of the handle of the bow should extend to the LEFT of the lifeline on your hand.

   

[Scott357]

I think that was the magic bullet. I just came back in from shooting and I changed the way I grip the bow. I tried to make sure the curve of the grip on my bow rested in the meaty part of the palm under my thumb. I shot until the middle finger of my shooting hand went numb(thats how I know its time to quit!)I got no slaps on the wrist of my bow arm. After reading the responses I think I was getting the bow too far into the web of my hand.

Now if we could do something about all of these high-left flyers!

Thanks,
Scott.

[McDave]

High left flyers can be caused by all sorts of things, but one common cause is failing to complete the draw.  Toward the end of the draw, the arrow has been drawn almost to full draw, and there should be a movement of the drawing elbow around toward the spine, so that a diagram of the draw viewed from above looks kind of like a "J".  If you release the arrow before making the bottom of the J, it will impact to the left.

One possible cause of the high part of the miss can be if you allow your drawing elbow to drop down below the level of the arrow, because you get tired or sloppy.  When your drawing elbow drops, you're pulling down on the nock end of the arrow, which inclines the arrow upward and causes a high miss.

[moebow]

 Yep!!  All depends on your point of view.  Anyway, the message was passed   :D

[Scott357]

I feel like my shooting has turned a corner.

Last night I watched Masters of the Bare Bow Vol 1. With the info I gathered from the video I realized I was plucking the string. I tried the various methods of realese discussed and I liked Gene Wensel's static release the best. based on what he said I also changed the way I grip the string. Before I was placing it right into the crease created by the first joint of my fingers. I cant remember who suggested it in the video but I placed the string on the fingers on the bone between the first and second joints. Doing this seemed to cure the slight problem I had with torqueing the arrow off the rest. I was only shooting at 15 yards tonight but I couldnt believe I was me doing the shooting. I could grab and pull all 4 arrows out of the target with 1 hand most times. My windage and elevation troubles are clearing up too.
But no one I can remember in the video addressed wrist slapping so all of the info I gained might have been useless without this thread so...
I want to thank everyone that responded and helped me work out the wrist slapping.
I still have volume 2 to watch. Maybe by this time tommorow I'll be busting knocks!
Scott.

[Pheonixarcher]

Good luck with the nock busting! Volumes 3 & 4 helped my shooting the most. If you haven't seen them yet, you owe it to yourself to check them out. Lots of great info!