Fred Bear's anchor

[tracker12]

I recently noticed a picture of Fred Bear at anchor that showed his thumb pointing straight forward.  Was that his normal anchor position or was it just a anchor for the camera that was different than what he normally did.

[reddogge]

Tony, I've seen photos of him pointing it to the front but also tucked a little. He had big hands with long skinny fingers so either would have been comfortable. There's a couple of photos on the cover and in "The Archer's Bible".

[Bowwild]

When the drawing hand thumb is up instead of folded in the palm your hand is pushed away from your face and their is tension in the back of the hand.

In my experience about 20% of newbies try to anchor this way, (I've trained about 6,000 adults). First thing I do is get the thumb folded down so relaxation can follow.

Of course I would not argue with Mr. Bear's success, he has been my archery hero for 50+ years.

[monkeyball]

[tracker12]

I would argue that Fred's position in that picture puts less tension in the hand than forcing it to be folded down or up as some beginners like to do.  That is the at rest position for a thumb.