Arrow in line with eye

[DanielB89]

I am wondering how many of you guys when shooting have the arrow in line with the eye??.  

I can not, no matter what I do, get the arrow in line with my eye unless i severely under draw and absolutely FORCE it under my eye.

[Scott E]

I know your frustrations with this. I cant my bow and played with my head position as opposed to my anchor point to get the arrow under my eye. It still sits a touch to the right but good enough for me.

Do you cant the bow?  Some where in that cant it will line up.  Although if you notice it, eventually or you perhaps already do, use your secondary vision to some extent.   Some, even those who cant the bow, find that their knuckle is a good reference.

A while ago, my knuckle became a very obvious reference.  I chunked out a really bad release and a piece of black right wing feather opened me up like a soup can.  I was bleeding like the old stuck hog.

[McDave]

Facial structure has a lot to do with how hard or how easy it is to get the arrow under your eye.  I guess I'm blessed, from an archery standpoint anyway, with having a narrow jaw and eyes that are set further apart than average.  So I can be under my eye or on either side of under my eye, depending on where I anchor.  Some people have a face that is wider at the jaw level than eye level, and I would imagine they have a harder time.

Of course, all this is predicated on keeping your head upright and unmoving as you draw and anchor, as is the current orthodoxy.  In the recent posting of an old article by Jim Ploen, he recommends tilting the head so it is above the arrow after reaching full draw.   Following my tendency to try everything different that I hear or read about, to the detriment of my overall archery proficiency, I'm sure, I tried this myself and found that I was more relaxed and my eye found it's position over the arrow as easily, or more easily, than I could position the arrow under my eye.

[the rifleman]

Absolutely everyone is built different.  I can tell you what made the difference for me was fletching my feathers closer to knock and burning backs more square than shield.  I draw anchor and then drop my head so nose touches feather.  This puts my eye right over the arrow.  This has helped my accuracy and consistency very much.

[the rifleman]

Absolutely everyone is built different.  I can tell you what made the difference for me was fletching my feathers closer to knock and burning backs more square than shield.  I draw anchor and then drop my head so nose touches feather.  This puts my eye right over the arrow.  This has helped my accuracy and consistency very much.

[shoot yea]

You have to be willing to get you nose bloody. I noticed at the Archery shoot in Penn. some of the best shots had tape on their nose.

[slowbowjoe]

Several factors affect this, as usual. McDave sums it up well. I'm wondering if your stance is fairly :"open", meaning you face the target somewhat while shooting. Seems like that might encourage underdraw?

Anyway, I find getting the arrow centered in my sight picture works really well. I don't know, or try to figure, where it is with my dominant eye: I shoot with both eyes open, and, as often said, we'll each be different in where our vision will balance. My stance is relaxed, and my head needs to bend forward a little to keep proper alignment.
I adjust my head/sight picture for a moment to have my visuals in line with the arrow, and my head/neck position lined up with the bow.

[die_dunkelheit]

I first  got my eye over the arrow by accident when I tried nosing the fletching as an extra anchor point. To brush my nose with the fletching I had to turn my head into the string slightly, not enough to actually hit my nose with the string, but that's just the architecture of my face like others have said. I also notice that if I don't cant the arrow will not end up under my eye, indicating that it is not actually at 6 o'clock to my eye when standing, but relative to my eye when canted it is.

Joe, an "open" stance does not necessarily mean that the archer slightly faces the target. It only means that the archers feet are not parallel and 90 degrees to the shooting direction. I for example shoot a fairly wide open stance but my right foot, which is furthest from the target, is actually further behind my left foot which is on the line I'm shooting putting me actually facing slightly away from the target if I stand up straight. This helps me keep my shoulders inline with the bow arm. I'm no expert, but it works for me. Hope that made sense, see the picture too...

Arrow pointing to the target.
 

[slowbowjoe]

Die D, my stance is very similar to yours,but my left foot angles a little more to the right.And I've found this works best for my alignment also.

[Pokerdaddy]

I have struggled with this.  As stated above, facial structure plays a big part with me.  I have a wide jaw, big head and very narrow set eyes.  It was very frustrating for a long time.

I have had to completely change my anchor.  While many archers use a combination of fingers and the corner of their mouth or a tooth, I had to switch to the first joint of my thumb deep set into the corner of my mouth.  Alignment, back tension and release all work out perfect with this anchor.

The hardest part for me was dropping two inches of draw length...thinking "well, I'm 6'1" and I should be drawing at least 28 inches".  Well, come to find out everything works out and lines up perfect with MY body with a 26" draw.  FWIW this draw length is for ASL and mild R/D longbows.

Once I got over the fact that my draw length was just going to be shorter than I thought it should be I'm shooting better than ever!

[moebow]

die_dunkelheit,

You said :
"Joe, an "open" stance does not necessarily mean that the archer slightly faces the target. It only means that the archers feet are not parallel and 90 degrees to the shooting direction. I for example shoot a fairly wide open stance but my right foot, which is furthest from the target, is actually further behind my left foot which is on the line I'm shooting putting me actually facing slightly away from the target if I stand up straight. This helps me keep my shoulders inline with the bow arm. I'm no expert, but it works for me. Hope that made sense, see the picture too..."

Not sure where you got your information about stances but that is not how a coach would describe it.  As In ALL things you do what works for you but...

What you show in your picture is a SEVERELY CLOSED stance.  Presuming the arrow is pointing at the target and you are right handed. In NO way is that an "open" stance!

Lining up your toes with the arrow would be a "square" stance and  moving the right foot in the picture up to the arrow and pulling the left foot back from the arrow  gives an "open" stance.

For what it is worth, coaches would try to get you into a square or open stance as the "closed" stance is physically your weakest position.

Again, what works, works but that is not something I would try to recommend to anyone without up close interaction.

Arne

[Jock Whisky]

Daniel try facing a mirror while holding your unstrung bow with the arrow on the shelf and you hold the nock between your fingers as though you were going to draw and shoot it. Now while looking in the mirror, "draw" the arrow to your anchor. By varying the cant of your bow and your head position you should be able to find a way to get the arrow under your eye. At the same time you should be looking to have the real arrow and the arrow in the mirror pointing at each other. This helped me, it may help you.