Right Hand to Left Hand

[Apadaka]

Due to reoccurring shoulder injuries, I have to attempt to transition from being a right hand shooter to left hand. The only thing going for me is I am left eye dominant.  Assumming I can pull this off in a proficient manner, will I still be able to shoot righthanded? The idea of shooting left handed seems to be similar to throwing a baseball like a girl. Anyone out there have any experience or pearls of wisdom with making the change?

[Hopewell Tom]

There's been a number of threads on the subject.
I made the switch and couldn't be happier. I'm left eye dominant as well and like the sight picture much better.
Start with a lighter bow. Biggest problem for me was doing little things with a non-dominant hand. Nocking an arrow was painfully slow, but after a couple of hundred times, soon no problem.
Going back to righty shouldn't be a problem - If you can learn to throw a baseball like a girl, you can do anything!

[khardrunner]

I'm rt eye dominant but also had to switch to lefty due to a busted up shoulder. It didn't take as long as I thought. I shoot lefty better now than I ever did righty. It's been almost 2 years now. I can't shoot righty at all though due to that same shoulder issue.

[arrow flynn]

it messes with you for awhile but hell if I can do it anyone can.And im rt eye dominate.took me 6 months with a 40 lb bow good luck.

[Bowwild]

Apadaka,
The fact that you are left eye dominant is a very HUGE advantage for switching to lefty.

I'm RH but left-eye. I switched to LH shooting after shooting for RH for 28 years back in 1996. A very good decision. I wasn't shooting recurves (or longbows) when I switched.

I can tell you I had to drop 14 pounds in draw weight. The switch really gave me the chance to teach myself to shoot anew. I was able to erase some ingrained bad form habits. I made this move about 3 months before hunting season. I did miss my first shot that season because I hadn't shot enough 1,000's of arrows LH.  I closed my left eye when I took the shot. That caused a bad miss right!  So, shoot a lot!

I'd highly recommend you get advice on the best way to shoot and make this an opportunity to get your form in great shape.  I would opt for 10 pounds too light than 1 pound too heavy as you learn to shoot from this side.  

I've seen people (I teach archery a lot) make the switch in a single day using a 20 pound bow.

[ChuckC]

Lots have done it, you can too.  Immediately it will feel weird when you try to anchor.  That goes away in a couple days.  Pretty quickly you will be shooting as well as you did the other handed.

I found that the rest of the story was more difficult.  Moving around and positioning for a lefty shot, using my right foot forward on stalks, things like that came much harder than the shooting.
ChuckC

[Bladepeek]

I'm 73 and switched with no problems. I'm not a strong shooter - I was shooting 50# right handed. I have  46# and 47# lefties now and am comfortable with that. I shot my buddy's 50# Bear Au Sable yesterday and, while I like my lighter bows better, I had no trouble shooting it. The nice thing is that I can keep both eyes open and my dominant eye is looking right down the arrow now.

[TonyW]

You got me thinking.
I am right handed/left eye dominant.
Only advantage I found for this was hitting a baseball.

[Apadaka]

Absolutely right on stellar comments and I thank all of you. I shot today with my new LH Toelke Chinook--missed the entire target at 6 yards the majority of the shots. Then, every once in a while there were glimpses of instinctive mechanics that would kick in, just enough to tell this Little Engine that I can do this.Keeping the arrow on the shelf and the release make me see, like a spastic water bug. By the way, Dan Toelke is an outstanding pillar of our Traditional fraternity. But that is a "Bunny Trail" for another time.