To tuck or not to tuck your thumb

[Ssamac]

Question: How many of you tuck your shooting hand thumb against your palm when you draw and hold and how many do not?
What do you consider the best form?
I find that "untucked" my thumb causes me to push away from my face at full draw and mess up a good cheek weld.

Suggestions please

Thanks
sam

[RedShaft]

My thumb just hangs down. I think pointing it up is awkward to me and creates some tension in my hand, witch is what you want to stay away from.

I also think that tucking it I. Like you said also creates tension

[Ssamac]

Does create tension I agree
But if I don't it sticks out and interferes with my anchor sometimes

[RedShaft]

Then I would just go with it and not worry. If it feels good for ya and your shot is better you be foolish not to!

[mahantango]

Just the opposite: if I tuck my thumb against my palm it pushes my hand away from my face.

[Ssamac]

OK Fair enough
Here's what happens
If I don't tuck my thumb it makes contact with my face BEFORE my drawing fingers do so my anchor is
1. more thumb than middle finger
2. away from face by the space of --- A THUMB!

Thumb wants to be my anchor point and that shortens the draw, is incorrect anchor, etc etc.

To avoid this I tuck the thumb and then I draw to the middle finger.

sam

[joe skipp]

Tuck...

[RedShaft]

Did you ever consider videoing yourself? Maybe you canting your head to far during the draw? That's what's causing you to feel the contact.

[olddogrib]

I feel your pain, my brother. My anchor is more naturally repeatable when I tuck my thumb over my little finger, curled into the palm.  There is admittedly more tension in partially closing my draw hand like this.  If I practice it, I can leave the thumb upright and little finger relaxed/extended and shoot equally well. It just doesn't feel as natural, so I "waffle" between the two. I can tell you one thing, at the "moment of truth" on game you don't want to have to think about it to reproduce what you normally do!

[Sarah]

I press my thumb onto the nail of my pinkie finger  to hold both fingers in toward my palm - this "boyscout salute" style is how I was taught from the very beginning. Seams to cause the rest of my hand to relax completely and kind of flatten. Works for me.    

[Ssamac]

Well I'm glad to find that there are other tuckers out there
I tried the "untucked" style a couple of days this week but cannot keep a consistent anchor like that. sometimes it works really well and others not so good with plucking and releasing too soon. I guess keeping the thumb tucked is not so bad after all.

thanks to all who posted and the advice. I'll try to hold it to my pinkie also this week. Feels like a nice way to hold it all together.

sam

[ChristopherO]

My Dad always tucked his thumb under his jaw as his anchor.  He had the smoothest release I've ever seen.  When I tried that it torques the string in my fingers too much for a clean release.  I searched for pictures of various styles and saw that Fred Bear pointed his thumb up onto his cheek.  After trying this method I've stuck with it because it works for my hand and face shape.  
Whatever works for you is the most important.

[damascusdave]

Mine kind of depends on how flexible my thumb is at the time...it is always tucked to some degree...I think if watch some Olympic level archers they mostly tuck theirs

DDave

[Ssamac]

Christopher your dad must have had a low point of hold then, a lot like a target archer who draws the string to his nose.
You mention Fred Bear. I just looked at his biography. Interesting. In his early photos, he anchors his index finger under his chin  also a low hold
As he got older, he put his thumb against his cheek right on the cheekbone so the arrow was just under his left eye. (he was a lefty of course). Quite an evolution over time.
The other thing about Fred Bear was that he was pretty much a snap shooter -- he did not hold long. -- Just got the arrow back stopped and probably aimed at that point and let go.

So my thumb to the side of my face, as long as it is close to the hand or tucked would be a good index for me.

BTW. they majority of the great archers in the Fred Bear books tuck their thumb.

Gets more interesting as you go.
And Dave, yes all the Olympic shooters tuck their thumb and hold very low.

Thanks
sam

thanks
sam

[slowbowjoe]

I place my thumb so it just touches the nock on my arrow. Seems to help me with my alignment, and keeping my hand relaxed.

I guess that's tucking?

[Mooreski]

I've tried tucking, but it don't work for me. My thumb is most comfortable sticking up like Christopher described Fred Bear's method. My hand gets too cramped if I try and tuck my thumb.

That being said, I think it is personal preference and whatever works for the individual.

[rwbowman]

Un-tucked for me. My thumb against my temple is one of my three point anchors, along with middle finger to corner of mouth and upward cock feather to the tip of my nose.

[dragonheart]

Originally posted by Sarah:
I press my thumb onto the nail of my pinkie finger  to hold both fingers in toward my palm - this "boyscout salute" style is how I was taught from the very beginning. Seams to cause the rest of my hand to relax completely and kind of flatten. Works for me.      

X2

[ChuckC]

Fred started shooting field archery, as was the thing to do back then.  In field archery, you wanted a low hold so your point on was farther.  They also tended to use multiple touch points, anchor under chin, kiss the string (some used a kisser button), tip of nose to string, string bisects aiming eye.

Those that used sights tended to those anchors so they could employ multiple pins out to maybe 80 meters or so.  A higher hold would not allow that.

It was a different world.

That mode of aiming does not lend itself to hunting, although some kept doing it.  A higher (on the face) anchor puts the arrow closer to the eye so you can aim quicker and better.

Fred could hold his thumb up like that.  A friend in my archery club (early 70's) did the same.  I can't even get my hand to bend around like that, much less doing it comfortably and repeatably.

You gotta do what works for you.

If your thumb is making your hand stand away from your face, maybe try anchoring a tad further back so the thumb is past your cheekbone ?
ChuckC

[Bob Baur]

My thumb lays flat along my hand & then bent 90deg down at the last knuckle. It gives me a duel anchor, middle finger in corner of mouth & thumb just behind cheekbone.
IMO doing so with the thumb flattens the palm & encourages a smoother release.

YMMV