Ned Some guidance for split vision

[arachnid]

Hi guys.
I've been shooting instinctively  for a while now and I want to try split vision.  I've read about it but I'm not sure how to start and how to technicaly  do it and train in this method.

Are there any split vision gurus on board?
I'd really appreciate your help.
Thanks
Dor

[moebow]

spider,

For me, split vision is a refinement of gap shooting.   I don't know of a way to just go to split vision.  I would (and have) learned my gaps out to the point on distance.  I actually wrote the gaps down at first and referred to the list until I had them pretty much memorized.  Then it becomes an exercise of estimating the gap at given distances by using peripheral vision and not by looking specifically at the arrow position.

For me, it became a method of using the TLAR computer and making the shot.  TLAR = That Looks About Right.

Arne

[arachnid]

Thanks Arne.
Do you have a training program that I can follow?

[moebow]

Not really.  Never even thought about trying to write it down.  Learn your gaps out to your point on distance, memorize them while shooting a gap method, then slowly let your mind take over setting the gap by using your peripheral vision.  I've always taught this in an hour or two in person.

Arne

[McDave]

I don't know of a way to just go to split vision.  TLAR = That Looks About Right.

Arne

Actually, I evolved into split vision from pure instinctive, with only a short bypass into gap.  I decided one time to try gap because I was unhappy with my consistency using pure instinctive.  But the calculations required to use gap took my mind out of the instinctive mode entirely and were taking me away from the reasons I liked traditional archery to begin with.  So I abandoned gap and adopted TLAR (didn't know that acronym, but ISAR to me).  I liked split vision because I could still use my instincts in deciding what gap looked about right, but improved my consistency by being able to use the sight picture from one shot to improve my next shot.

I’ve read everything I could find on Howard Hill, who I believe came up with the “split vision” name, and don't recall that he ever used pure gap, although maybe he did and I just don't remember reading about it.

My advice would be to just do it.  Be sure to maintain your focus on the target and not let it shift to the arrow point.  Once you start using split vision, it is an easy mistake to make.  If you have an unexpected high miss, be extra careful to focus on the spot you want to hit on the next shot, because you may have let your focus shift to the arrow point.

I would read Howard's description of this method in Hunting the Hard
Way, if you want more information on it.

[arachnid]

Thanks Dave and Are.
I'm not happy with my consistency either, that's one if the resons I want to move to split vision.

Dave, if I"just do it" and don't know my gaps first, what does having the arrow in my pereferial vision help?
And what do I do if the sight picture doesn't look right? Do I fix myself? Do I restart the whole shot prosses?
And what if I miss? Do I fix myself in the next shot?

That's why I asked for guidance  in the first place. To know how this method work and how to apply it.
So, great info thus far, keep it coming.

Dor

[McDave]

You “just do it” the same way you did when you learned to shoot instinctively. You notice your sight picture in your peripheral vision and shoot the arrow. If you feel like you did everything right, but the arrow hit too low, then you raise your sight picture a little for the next shot. Frankly, this is the same thing you would do if you were shooting gap. If you hit low, you would say to yourself, “I must have underestimated the range,” and then would raise the arrow point a little on the next shot. The only difference between this and instinctive is that with split vision you have a clue as to what you want to do on the next shot. Over time, your feeling that the sight picture “feels right” should translate into more accurate shots.

As to when to let down, let down whenever something doesn’t feel right, the same as any other style of shooting. When the split vision sight picture feels right, you hold, focus on the target, and release the arrow, assuming everything else feels right at that point.

[Jim Casto Jr]

If you can find a copy of "Indirect Aiming" by Bob Wesley, you'll find it easy, quick to learn.

[Sam McMichael]

Arne, I am not sure if my aiming method is split vision or not, but I think it is. I don't specifically see the arrow point. My peripheral vision does pick out the arrow shaft fairly close to my face, but the point does not really show up in my vision. The arrow is never the focal point even though I am aware of it. Should the arrow point be more distinct in my sight picture?

[moebow]

No, don't look at the point, just be aware of relative location to the target.  Sounds like you are doing OK with it.

Arne

[Fattony77]

I found this link when searching for the above mentioned Wesley book. Hope it helps.
https://weshood.wordpress.com/

[Friend]

My 3D partner, for many years, and I both shoot split vision. Last year he took 3rd in the world in bowhunter class...2nd in the world the year before and won a world championship last month.

We focus on the spot and see a window between the aim point and the out of focus arrow.

My own setup with a point-on of 25 yards:

1/2" window for 15 yards and in.

1/4" window for 20 yards

The 1/4" and 1/2" windows are likely not those measurements however, I have engrained them as such.


I never know where the arrow is pointed down on the target or if the arrow is pointed on the ground.


Works excellent in the field and relieves stress in the aiming element of the shot execution.


Note: my partner uses three assigned values as his point-on is further than mine.