Right Hand to Left Hand

[hayneda]

I made the opposite switch after 50, due to suffering an eye injury and detached retina in my left eye.  Shooting right or left seems equally natural now after 1 year.  I just see the target better shooting right.

[jr1959]

Left handed and right eye dominant.  I shot right handed for 25 years and switched to lefty due to left shoulder pain.  Keep both eyes open and go stump shooting.  The coordination of nocking an arrow will come.  I watched all the Masters of the Barebow dvd's but stump shooting helped me the most.  Good Luck, JIm

[Apadaka]

This information is exactly what I was looking for as I maneuver through uncharted waters. The concept of closing the right eye is interesting and will add another ingredient to "throwing a baseball like a girl" (not that there is anything wrong with girls!) Thanks for sharing your experience and encouragement. It sure beats the alternative of transitioning into a compound. Now I am off to the classified forum to zoom into a light weight left- handed "traditional" bow.

I have posted about this before, but I switched because of release finger issues. You may notice that things happen differently on one side viesus the other.  Your muscles may come in to gear at different point of your draw. When I first jumped over I thought that I would have to go to a more straight back draw, recurve style. I thought, 'oh well, it will be more like my target shooting form.' so I got a dandy left hand Grooves recurve.  I got smoother and found that the old swing draw, anchor, release, with a bit longer hold would work great, so I went back to longbows. The sneaking through cover with a back quiver left handed was the hardest to learn, I hand to become full time left footed as well.  Walt spoke of closing an eye and somone else said the he squinted his off eye, this may help you at first even though you are going to your dominant eye.  Your brain will try to remember the old images. I do not have a dominant eye, I am ambidextrous, and there was still a learning curve for me in all aspects. When I jump back and forth from left to right, my first few practice shots feel off. I need to hold the bow back a bit longer, blink my off side eye a couple of times and try to get that full draw feel, before I release.  With most of my bows the arrow settles directly in line with the target, of course the left eye sees one thing and the right something completely different. Without thinking about it I have caught meself splitting the difference. What that means is, shooting right handed I missed the 20 yard turkey shot by two feet to the left with my right hand Robertson. Then two days later I missed another turkey two foot to the right with my left hand Robertson.  If I would have blinked the off side eye during the draw, perhaps, the shot would have been on.
Your draw length may be slightly different as well, people are not all that equal from left to right. You should start with the fundamentals of what you call good form for yourself and let it develop from scratch. Your draw may different, your anchor may be a little different, your shoulders may feel a little differnet, and your strength may not be the same, but you will be able to do it. Just take things easy and smart and try to not strain something.  One more thing, if you pop the walllet on a light weight recurve, make certain the you have arrows that match it. A good set of woodies are easy to adjust and will work better than a set carbons that are way to stiff for the light bow. Nothing will confuse you more than having arrows that don't fly.

[joe skipp]

To stay on top of shooting LH, I work hard on my form in the shop. Shooting 7 yds into a pillow bag, roughly 50 arrows per week. I concentrate on "Both hands do nothing" upon release. I'm real satisfied with my shooting.

[LB_hntr]

Me too!!!
I shot a compound right handed but was left eye dominant. When I went traditional I went left handed. It took a couple weeks to get it together but was best decision I ever made.
 And yes I can still shoot pretty dang good right handed.

[LoneWolf73]

Agree with Danny. Keep both eyes open unless you are using some sighting method. Instinctive shooting use both eyes open. Better depth perseption. Never heard of an in-fielder having to close one eye to make a throw to first base. Same with instinctive shooting. I shoot right and left know from experience on using instincts.
Close my eye on rifle sights though. But hey if closing one eye works, well..........it works for you and that is the bottom line. Yes agree knocking an arrow is a bit strange for 6 months but I encourage everyone to shoot both sides. It Works great for form and building muscles. If ya like shooting a bow and something on your body craps out it is nice to have options.

[Stumpkiller]

Originally posted by kat:
Stumpkiller-  If you are only back to 90% now, the deer are in real trouble next fall.

  The older I get the better I was.  

The advantage of outliving eye witnesses.  

[TradBrewSC]

I am left eye dominate and grew up shooting a firearm lefthanded, but shot a compound bow righthanded, I guess being because I write right handed.

When I started shooting trad some 12 years ago I too shot righthanded and quickly became frustrated with my groups. My bowhunting mentor (Owen Jeffery) quickly told me that I needed to be shooting Lefthanded if I wanted to improve, and we then whiped together a 40lb takedown. I shot and shot with this until I finally started feeling comfortable.

Needless to say by groups greatly improved!

I have never turned back and am so glad I made that decision. The next thing you know you will be selling your righthanded bows and will be forever "wronghanded!"

Just give it a little time and much practice!

The act of "picking a spot" will come much easier.

[Bowwild]

I shot RH from the mid-1960's through 1995.  I've shot LH since 1996.  I'm left-eye dominant.

I changed because I had Target Panic very bad. Switching fixed that with the very first arrow. Of course I had to learn what causes and how to prevent the malady or I would have gotten it left-handed as well.

I was not shooting a recurve when I switched. That didn't start full time until 2010.

Now I can shoot either RH or LH but I only own LH equipment.

It took me about 3 months of shooting to make the switch. I can tell you the first shot that season was a very nice buck at 15 yards. I missed him because I closed the left-eye (the way I shot RH). I guess I needed a couple more thousand shots to get that out of my system.

I get 1-4 bow shots a year at deer. The only one I've missed since 1996 was that first one LH. I am very picky with my shot selection -- too picky at times.

[H-MANEOD]

Changed last year.  I too have the left eye dominance issue.  Shot right handed for ever until someone convinced me to change over.  The first year it wrong pulling as a lefty but now it seems more natural.  Give it time and you too will see a difference.  Good luck