Gaps are to large. Please Help

[docmerrow]

Okay here is the deal. I shoot 90 percent of the time with my cheek bone as my anchor and three under. I shoot instinctive to about 20 yards. Once I reach beyond that point my instinctive skills go out the window for the most part. I don't have as much time to shoot as I would like. After, 25 yards and beyond I try to gap or use point of aim.

My point on is very low in my opinion its around 18 yards with my cheek bone anchor and three under.
My point on with index in the corner of my mouth and three under is around 23 yards..

In order for me to have a cheek anchor and shoot 30 yards my gap is around 3 ft. Is this normal or is that really high?

My goal is to shoot better at longer distances. I have been face walking, string walking, switching to split finger to get my point on distance/ gaps smaller. Changing my anchors. I have done it all.

I love my cheek bone anchor and feel the most comfortable with it.. I am wondering how and why my point of aim is so low. I see on here that the average is around 30 to 40 yards. I don't even have that with a low anchor hold.

I am only shooting 48# 31 inch arrow with 125 grain tips, can't remember my total arrow weight but its not heavy.. The only things I know to do is cut my arrow length down..

My goal is to keep my cheek bone anchor for all yardages and have a longer point on distance..

Any suggestions would be great..

[McDave]

18 yards does seem close for a point-on distance.

Do you need to be shooting 31" arrows?  You didn't mention your draw length.

Do you move your head around when you aim?  I wonder if you're doing something to move your eye down closer to the arrow.  I was taught to keep my head still and upright and bring the arrow to it, but I know some people tilt their heads when they shoot to get their dominant eye over the arrow, and they seem to do fine too.

My primary anchor used to be the back of the cock feather against my nose, and my point-on was just under 40 yards.  I changed about a year ago, and now draw the feather under my nose so it anchors when it touches my moustache.  That increased my draw length about 1/2" and also increased my point-on to just over 40 yards, since my anchor point is a little lower.  I shoot 29" arrows with a 28" draw length.

Basically, your point-on is a function of how far the arrow is below your eye, and the trajectory of your arrow.  But, as you said, your arrow doesn't drop that much in 18 yards, so the only variable is really the distance between your arrow and your eye when you aim, for a given bow and arrow.  So if you want to increase your point-on, you'll have to do something to increase that distance. Of course, as you get it out to 40 yards or so, the arrow trajectory will come into play, so you'll increase your point-on even further by shooting an arrow with flatter trajectory.

[docmerrow]

I can shorten my arrows up quite a bit but they are spined out perfect. So, I just left them alone. All I can figure is that I have super short draw length never really measured it, probably somewhere around 27 to 28"

[McDave]

Just for fun you might want to get a 28" arrow and shoot it just to see what effect it would have on your point-on. I've never tried it, but my guess is it would increase your point-on. I'd be interested to know what you find out.

[docmerrow]

Dave, I will give that a try and decrease the size of my fetching. I have banana feathers on at the moment. May try and adjust the brace height a little see if I can get some more performance out of it.

[twitchstick]

I walk my face with a compound bow for several years. When I switch back to a recurve I found my gaps were much bigger. My point on at 20 yards shooting 3 under was my index finger at the top of my cheak bone. My 30 yards point was my index finger in the corner of my mouth. When I tried to shoot a field course I ran out of room on my face for loner yardages. My 40 yard mark was under my jaw bone making it harder to get point of aim at the longer yardages. I found out that if I switch to shooting over & under instead of 3 under it open up my range much more. It put my 60 yard mark now at my jaw bone. Then I could just memorize my gaps above the target faces for the 70 and 80 yard targets. It's something you might want to try,it is a little hard at first to shoot 3 under and over & under the nock but it can be done. Now what I'm saying may be some bad advice from a self taught archer. What Mcdave is saying may be a much better approach but that's what worked for me at that time.

[A.S.]

I would suggest cutting 2 or 3" off your arrows. You will probably need a different spine arrow, but it will move your point on.

I draw 27", and my arrows are 27 1/2". I have a high anchor and shoot 3 under as well. With this set up, my point on is usually 20-23 yards depending on the bow that I'm shooting. If I shoot a longer arrow, my point on drops quickly down to around 17-18 yards.