Shooting Style..am I Crazy (HELP)!

[tippit]

Little history, I'm 71 years young and been bowhunting since 1980.  I had a left rotator cuff/spur surgery 1 1/2 years ago and an old sports injury/arthritis in my right clavicle.  I'm now shooting/hunting 40# pain free.

I watched the video Push last night and decided I'd at least try a fixed crawl...but I always shoot canted.  So I tried to shoot with my bow straight up & down.  Amazingly my bow seemed too light!!! so I got a 45# and a 50# bow out (yes I have a lot of bows) and I was anchoring and  holding those weights without stress.

I'm not sure about the fixed crawl because I haven't given it a real chance.  I shoot more by Joel Turner's method where my feather hits my nose on release.

I'm not sure if this has dropped my draw length so I'm therefore not feeling the extra weight? Or if everything in a different alignment and not stressful?  My arrows are flying great It has corrected two problems I've had in the past of pulling occasionally off to the left and hitting my arm guard (I'm right handed).  

Any thoughts/help is more than welcome.  I'll be headed back to Aiken, SC and my hog lease in GA soon...tippit

[MnFn]

Don't know that I can answer your question, but with my recurve I definately  shoot better straight up and down.

[Pine]

I say , what ever works for you .
Glad to hear that you are shooting .

[Danny Rowan]

Doc,

I have always shot recurves without a cant. When I shot longbows at a younger age I canted those and my draw was shorter.

It could be that you are in better alignment when shooting without canting the bow also your draw length might increase with time. I know when I shot the longbows and a heavier weight my draw was 27", my draw now is 29"

[Caleb Monroe]

You may have better alignment if you were also canting your body.

On a side note I personally think a fixed crawl clicker setup would be almost cheating. Gonna try to set a bow up this way for next season.

[forestdweller]

The tiller could of been off before you started to grab the string at a much lower point.

[tippit]

I wasn't shooting a fixed craw.  Started first with the bow straight up/down and my regular anchor.  That was the only difference!

[Roy from Pa]

I've shot 3 under for years. Used to string walk, now I shoot fixed crawl, setup for point on at 20 yards. Love it.

[highlow]

Tried the fixed crawl after watching The Push and that is how I shoot now, both recurves and lonbows. Cant them also. I get a better sight picture that way. Give it a try, an honest one, before deciding for or against. I'm not a great shot but a hell of a lot better than shooting split.

[Orion]

I think it's easier to keep the elbow of your drawing hand in line when you hold the bow vertical.  Have to really concentrate on keeping it down when the bow is canted.  Canting tends to introduce string torque as well unless the bow arm elbow comes down to stay in line with the cant.  Keeping the bow arm lower also seems to scrunch up/shorten the draw.  When everything is lined up properly, the bow does't feel as heavy, or put another way, when it's not lined up properly, it feels heavier.  I have canted for a long time, but am working back to an almost vertical bow for those reasons.

BTW, I'm a little long in the tooth as well..  Will turn71 next month.  Never to old to rediscover/apply old tricks

[NBK]

Originally posted by Orion:
I think it's easier to keep the elbow of your drawing hand in line when you hold the bow vertical.  Have to really concentrate on keeping it down when the bow is canted.  Canting tends to introduce string torque as well unless the bow arm elbow comes down to stay in line with the cant.  Keeping the bow arm lower also seems to scrunch up/shorten the draw.  When everything is lined up properly, the bow does't feel as heavy, or put another way, when it's not lined up properly, it feels heavier.  I have canted for a long time, but am working back to an almost vertical bow for those reasons.

BTW, I'm a little long in the tooth as well..  Will turn71 next month.  Never to old to rediscover/apply old tricks

Yep.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Tip,

I've been shooting fixed crawl and string walking for years. What I think you're noticing is that your alignment is better, with bone on bone alignment. That, likely, is allowing you to draw more weight and hold it more easily. A byproduct of good alignment, and this style of shooting, is the ability to get off the string cleanly. With good alignment, your string hand and string hand elbow are better able to get off the string because they're in direct alignment with the arrow and bow hand.

At least that's what I've noticed for myself. Glad you're finding success altering your form!

[tippit]

Orion,
Your explanation makes a lot of sense.  Now I've got to retrain my muscle memory...except I seem to be coming up a little short on both muscle & memory these days     Thanks to y'all for the help.

[YosemiteSam]

I've always wondered if people look down the left or right side of the string if they're holding straight vertical.  I need a cant to get perfectly over the arrow with no string in the way.  With a slightly stiff arrow, looking right of the string (right handed), the arrow hits straight for me.  How are you vertical-holders seeing things?

[longbow fanatic 1]

As far as if this style of shooting has dropped your draw length or lengthened it, most of the time it lengthens your DL. As Orien said, when you're canting the bow, your string hand elbow is a little more slumped forward unless you're conscious of reaching proper alignment. For people who can do this, they can shoot with a canted bow and achieve excellent alignment. When you hold the bow vertical, your DL tends to lengthen because your able to expand your shoulders more, engaging your rhomboids more easily.

Sometimes when people cant the bow they dive into it to much, which will shorten the draw more.  On the other hand if canting and still getting the draw arm to align with the arrow, allows the eye to be in a better position over the arrow, it will aid in fluid accuracy.

[beachbowhunter]

Do you also lean over at the waist when you shoot canted? If you did and are now standing up straight, you will be able to use your back muscles more completely which seems consistent with how the draw feels lighter for you..

[Pokerdaddy]

One of the biggest changes I made lately was going back to more vertical and have had similar results to yours.  For me, alignment is better, weight seems lighter, draw length increased, coming off the string cleaner.  I was going through a serious funk for a while, and while I have addressed many parts of my shot, going more vertical was the single best thing I did.

[tippit]

Pokerdaddy,
I'm not sure I'll get into the fixed crawl...but becoming more vertical has done all those things you mentioned.  That Push video has really pushed me to change.  Plus I have a whole new group of bows to shoot again.

[Jakeemt]

Originally posted by YosemiteSam:
I've always wondered if people look down the left or right side of the string if they're holding straight vertical.  I need a cant to get perfectly over the arrow with no string in the way.  With a slightly stiff arrow, looking right of the string (right handed), the arrow hits straight for me.  How are you vertical-holders seeing things?

When I shoot my bow vertically the blur of the string is in the right hand corner of my right eye. I tend to shoot my bow vertically but not always . Op, If you want to try a fixed crawl you can also cant the bow with one.