lt eye dominant, rt handed

[runningbird]

Thanks for the reply Jason.
I just built a 6' straw wall so I won't kill my horses.  I'm determined to do this so I'm sure I'll get there.  Just a little frustrated right now.

[GardenerHunting]

Does the Dominant eye thing just effect aimimg and shooting vs instintive shooting just point and shoot ??

[Jasper2]

Depends on who you talk to.  Some claim that it doesn't make a difference if you're shooting "true instinctive".  It sounds logical and I still somewhat believe that.  However, the mind is a powerful thing and it didn't work out that way for me....so I switched.  I can only speak from my own personal experiences but I could shoot targets just fine RH and still can.  However, when it comes to shooting at game, something goes haywire in my brain and I miss badly to the left.  I'm not talking inches....think like 2-3 feet at 15 yards!! Evidently, my left eye does some kind of subconscious aiming regardless of which side I'm shooting from.  I don't even notice the arrow much less pay attention to it.  Therefore, I always thought that I shot true instinctive.  Who knows for sure but I'm shooting better than ever with the arrow under my dominant eye and I'm not changing back    :D  

Take care,
Jason

[Meilaq]

Just posted this in another discussion, l thought it might be relevant here...  I wish i had changed earlier but am happy i have now made the switch, still can't say i'm a great shot (check out the fun shoot in powwow for my poor archery skills) but i have improved.  

 

I have changed to left handed over the last year after shooting right handed for 30+ years. I have done this for a number of reasons, i am left eye domiant, i had developed really bad form right handed, i had been spoilt by compound bows, had a sore right shoulder...

I really enjoyed the transition process and have returned to really enjoying trad archery. I bought a custom predator recurve, my first true Left hand bow and although i'm not as accurate as i would like i am managing to avoid some of the bad habits that my right hand was used to. I now shoot right handed compound (sights & release aid) and left handed trad archery.

The advantage as i see it is that you use all the knowledge and experience you have to teach a new student, the other side of your body, with no bad habits built in from muscle memory.

[rgconner]

I am also LE but RH... maybe.

RH is kinda forced on you by school, but too late to retrain the left hand to write.

I wonder if I would have been LH if left to my own devices.

Anyway, picked up a LH bow and by the 3rd arrow it felt more natural and smooth than ever before.

Groupings continue to tighten as I build a good anchor point with the left hand. And that is the only "negative" you may have to relearn the anchor point. Well, at least I did. Might be different for others.

Slightly offtopic:

The passed-down-to-me Grandfather's Springfield 30-06 is set up left-handed and fits like a glove.

Still a bitch to reach up and cycle the bolt without losing sight picture...

[capt eddie]

Let me add just alittle to this thread.  4 years ago I lost the uses of my right eye.  I am right handed. I waited one full year to shoot a bow, fearing the worst.  My kids were all outside shooting anf ask me to join them.  Not wanting to be the old mean stepdad, I got my bow down. After a few random wild shoots I noticed this was not so bad after all.  I do call myself an instinctive shooter.  And now I realize what that really means.  I simply look at the spot I want to hit, the smaller the better. Draw anchor and release.  I can understand where someone can really get messed up if they try to look at the arrow.  Off by 2 feet for me. I will admit that if you want to shoot instinctive it will not matter what eye is dominate.

[Bernie B.]

This goes against almost everything that has been posted on this thread, but here goes anyway.

I also am left eye dominant and shoot right handed.  I could care less where my arrow is in relation to the target because I'm not looking at my arrow.  I'm only looking at what I want to hit.  My mind will take over and compensate for whatever diffenerences there may be.  

Do you close your left eye when you throw a ball to someone?  No...your mind compensates for it.

I go along with Glen St. Charles on this one.  It doesn't make any difference.  Just look only at your intended target and shoot.

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

[Jasper2]

Bernie,
The theory is sound and I'm glad that it works out for you.  I know that many great shooters also share your beliefs on this issue.  It just seems to me that saying "it doesn't make a difference" isn't entirely true.  While I would agree that it "shouldn't make a difference", the fact is that it DOES make a difference for some because no two shooters are the same.

Like you, my mind also takes over and compensates for any differences when shooting with the arrow under my non-dominant eye (most of the time) but put that arrow under my dominant eye and there are no differences to compensate for as the eye and the mind are working in harmony and everything just feels right to me.

Additionally, many shooters think that they are shooting instinctively, when in fact they are not, and then this whole theory breaks down and their accuracy suffers badly.

I believe that new shooters or those having problems, should double check their dominant eye and at least give the other side a try as it may help them in the long run.  New shooters will definitely benefit from starting out on the dominant eye side, then they are free to utilize any aiming method effectively.

Take care,
Jason

[Roy from Pa]

Left eye dominant here and shoot right handed. Been doing that for 50 years. Not the best shot in the world but I have shot some very nice tight groups more than once. If your just staring at a spot, I don't see how it matters what eye is dominant. The brain should compensate over time. So I guess it's different for all of us. Give it a try and see how it works out for you..

Now here is a side note:) Years ago when the pac man game was on the scene, I played right handed because I have been right handed all my life. Then I broke my right hand and had a cast on it. So I started playing pac man left handed for 6 weeks. Even after my right hand healed, I still played the game with my left hand. I just couldn't play as well with my right hand. LOL, go figure huh?

[amazonjim]

I shoot both, but am left eye dominate,if I just stare at the point I want to hit when shooting right handed I always shoot to the left, now if I take the time to line the arrow up with the target then I am right on.

If I shoot left handed and do most of the time, all I have to do is point, concentrate on the spot and draw and release, 98% of the time on target or really close. I find the greater the concentration the more accurate I am. I shoot tennis and golf balls scattered in the yard form a second floor balcony, shoot at different distances just to keep from shooting the same target twice in a row.

[Hopewell Tom]

I'm the same as you, too.
I switched and found the toughest part was doing the little things with a non-dominant hand. Arrow out of quiver and worst of all nocking the arrow. But after a couple of hundred arrows, pretty good to go.
I know about not looking at the arrow, but it's RIGHT THERE and I found looking down the shaft better than having it on an angle to everything.
To each his own, for me much better now, lots of repetitions makes for a new way.

[Bowwild]

I'm with jcar315 on this. I shot RH for 28 years. I've been shooting LH (left-eye dominant) since 1996.

When teaching new archers I certainly encourage them to match the string hand to the dominant eye so they can keep both eyes open throughout the shot (better depth perception, peripheral vision, and for many better balance).  After-all, in archery both hands do something equally important.

Another side-benefit (and why I switched) is that you have an opportunity to re-learn how to shoot and more importantly how to think when you shoot. When I switched in 1996 it was an INSTANT elimination of target-panic which had been getting increasingly worse for me for 11 years.

I've seen fellows that shot counter to their dominant eye improve in a single day by switching.

[bushpilotmexico]

I'm left eye dominant and shoot right handed but now lucky for me when I shoot both eyes open the right eye takes over and the arrows fly true.

Up until 2 months ago I hadn't shot a bow in 53 years and when I started back shooting with both eyes open my arrows flew left. Closing my left dominant eye solved the problem but instinctive shooting went out the window and I had to know the distance and gap aim.


Decided to go back to two eyes open and somehow my body decided to feel sorry for me and now allows the right eye to take over when I shoot. I just look at my aiming spot on the target, the arrow is some where in my periferal vision and let the arrow fly.

If I still do the "which eye is dominant test" it still comes back to the left eye.

[Yabusame]

My son and I both started shooting instinctive style with a recurve about 9 months ago. He is strongly right handed and so naturally started shooting right handed.
After a few months he was having problems with consistency so we checked his eye dominance and found he is left eye dominant. He was initially skeptical about being able to change to shooting left handed but we got an inexpensive bow that can be shot from either side and  let him try it out. He found that after two or three sessions he was feeling okay with shooting left and after a few more days he felt that shooting left felt perfectly natural and that he would never change back.

[ddauler]

Wow sounds like we got this one figured out! My gut is it would be tough if you intentionally look for where the arrow is most say no prob if shooting "instinctively" of course how do they know if they are not shooting cross dominate.

[refugerambler]

I'm a lefty shooter (lefty everything) and I'm also right eye dominant, and don't really seem to have any trouble. I shoot purely instinctive and can pretty much put the arrow where I want.

[Paul WA]

I just close my left eye, works fine...PR

[high desert rambler]

first post here... allow me to jump right in on a topic i've grappled with considerably...

i am left-eye dominant and a RH shooter - i started that way before i knew anything about eye dominance so it was never an issue for me... then i started reading about eye dominance and got all concerned that perhaps i'll never get very good at this game unless i switch to left-handed...

well, by no means am i any kind of olympic-accuracy shooter, but at the distances i'm willing to shoot, i can put an arrow plenty well into the kill zone...

i am PURELY an instinctive shooter - i don't even see the arrow until i let it loose... i flirted with closing and squinting my left eye and i could see the potential for better accuracy, but what i noticed straight off that when i force my right eye to be dominant (by shutting the left eye) i REALLY see the arrow - and it's REALLY hard to avoid the temptation, darn near impossible for me, to sight down the arrow and "aim" it... when i have both eyes open, the target is the prominent feature in my vision - when i focus with my dominant eye, the arrow becomes the prominent feature and it's 90% of what i see because it's right there under the eye - i can't NOT look at it!  which i guess is the point of having the dominant eye over the arrow, but i don't like that because again, i prefer to shoot purely instinctively - and when i have both eyes open all i see is the target and i'm not even in the least bit aware of the arrow...

so short story is that i don't buy the ballyhoo about "you'll never get accurate with cross-dominance"... i won't argue that perhaps my groups would tighten up some if i matched eye to arm, but i'm not a target shooter, i don't compete - i can get done what i want to get done with a left eye and RH bow, confidently, and it keeps me "purely instinctive"... i see no reason to switch and i FIRMLY believe that our brains are more than capable of compensating and overcoming the cross-dominance issue... i mean, if you're an instinctive shooter, you're basically relying on your brain to "do the math."  i think it's kind of dismissive of the brain's potential to assume that it can't adjust for 2-3" distance eye-to-eye...

in the end, i say go with what you feels right to you and don't worry about eye dominance - trust your brain figure it out and it will (assuming you shoot instinctively, of course...)  but i guess if you're looking to be as accurate as possible, it sounds like more than a few folks report increased accuracy by switching...  but for all PRACTICAL purposes, at least in my case, any improvement in accuracy doesn't really translate into enough difference to make it worth a switch... i'm gettin' the job done either way...

p.s. this might be a bit speculative, but you know how you have good days and bad days shooting?  surely everyone here has noticed how when your mind is in the wrong frame, you can't put an arrow in the circle to save your life...i think the same factor is at play in being concerned about eye dominance - at least i've seen this in myself... when i was grappling with the eye dominance issue, my shooting got worse - my mind was more concerned with dominance and "should i switch?" and "maybe i'm doing this wrong?" and "gosh i really want to be the best shooter i can be what should i do? is eye dominance important? maybe? maybe not?"  when i just said "screw it, i'm shooting RH" i didn't have any more problems... so if you're gonna' worry about eye dominance, i guess it might "ease your mind" to switch... and if you can just let it go and not make it an issue, the brain will be freed up to learn how to shoot quite well cross-dominantly... KEEP YOUR MIND FREE OF DISTRACTIONS, FOCUS ON THE TARGET AND IT'LL ALL WORK OUT, that's what i believe...

if christy brown could learn to paint and write with just his left foot, i'm purty sure the brain of a healthy individual with four working limbs and decent vision can figure out how to shoot accurately cross-dominantly... relax, trust it and let it do its work...

i guess what i'm trying to say (and i'm sure after all this babbling and rambling i've done, you wish i had said it with several fewer paragraphs!) is that if you make it an issue, it'll be an issue... if you don't, it won't... (i'm talking with respect to INSTINCTIVE shooting ONLY... i can't say anything about other methods as i have no experience with them...)