Basic Tips

Body Alignment Feet Spacing Arm Positioning

Bow Hand String Hand Correct Stance Ready! Fire!

Basic shooting tips common to all bow styles

The first and most important part of archery shooting is to be in the proper stance. The illustration here depicts the proper stance and form you need to learn no matter what bow you are shooting. AS you follow the instructions for the proper form, you can click your mouse on the body parts on the Proper Stance drawing, and see an enlarged picture of the topic. Words hi-lighted in orange indicate click points on the picture. I hope the written descriptions along with the pictures help everyone to understand the meanings. Please pay close attention to how the wrist must be positioned, this alignment is crucial to shot accuracy and to avoid stinging string welts on the forearm.

The first thing is to align yourself to your target. It makes a difference if your right or left handed, but only for which shoulder you look over. If you are right handed, you will be holding the bow in your left hand and your left arm and shoulder will point at your target. Your right hand, arm and shoulder will point towards the target if you are left-handed. Your chest will be pointing at about 90° angle from your target.

Next your feet must be spaced properly apart, the standard is about even with your shoulders but what your looking for is a relaxed stance that lets you easily maintain your balance without any or little weaving. The foot that is closer to your target should be turned slightly towards the target and your weight should be slightly heavier on that foot. To accomplish this bend that knee a little bit, this will shift your weight slightly towards the target, giving you a more controllable stance.

The position of the arm and bow holding wrist is critical. The bow holding arm should be straight out to the side, the elbow locked straight and the wrist locked straight in line. It is very important to keep your shoulders and bow arm aligned straight and hold that position while shooting and until you see or hear your arrow hit your target. Do not try to watch the arrow in flight, unless you are having accuracy problems and need to see if your arrow wobbles in flight. If you need to move your aim to the left or right, move your entire upper body in a single motion. Do not move your arm at the shoulder that will change the length of your draw and cause poor accuracy and maybe a nasty welt on your forearm.

The bow holding hand will be in a vertical position with the fingers pointing straight out in line with the arm. This is one of the common errors made by archers new and old. You must hold this arm-wrist-hand alignment to avoid string welts and have good accuracy. If the wrist is relaxed and allowed to drift out as shown in the bad hand position photo, the string path moves over to the inside edge of the forearm. It is very important to have a loose grip on the bow. You must let the bow jump as freely as possible; a tight grip causes the bow to move as soon as the pressure in the crotch of the thumb and forefinger is released. Most proficient shooters use a wrist strap and do not grip the bow at all when shooting. Other shooters will very lightly hook one finger in front of the bow.

The bowstring holding hand will come up to your jaw under the ear and the thumb knuckle will be hooked behind your jaw bone just about where your jaw bone curves to the front right under your ear. You must find a comfortable place to hook your thumb every time you draw the bow to shoot, this is your back lock position. If your lock position is not the same every time, you will not shoot accurately.

Now that your stance is correct,

• Stance; bow shoulder pointing to target, weight slightly forward.
• Straight arm, wrist and hand alignment.
• Bow hand grip is not to tight.
• String hand hooked in right place behind jaw.
• Shoulders, arms and wrists are locked in firing position.

you are holding the bow right and you are drawn back in the firing position, you should look like the Proper Stance drawing, remember the only thing that should move from the breastbone up is your string finger when you fire. Any movement side to side or up and down to sight in your target needs to happen from the waist. Movement anywhere else will cause a variance in your draw length and decrease accuracy.

You're ready to aim and fire and this is similar to firing a firearm. Line up your arrow tip on your target, if you are shooting instinct style, or line up your sight pin on the target. Take a full breath and slowly let out about half of the breath and hold. Slowly relax your grip on the string, or apply pressure to a release trigger, slow enough that you are almost surprised by the release mechanism. Be sure to hold your form until after your arrow hits the target. One of the biggest problems archers have with consistent shooting is how we want to watch the arrow in flight. In order to watch the arrow flight you naturally drop the bow out of the way, most of the time prematurely, which causes your arrow to fly low and away from the target. Remember to hold your form until you see or hear the arrow hit the target.

Section Links Body Alignment Feet Spacing Arm Positioning

Section Links Bow Hand String Hand Correct Stance

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Glossary

Break over point; On bows with cams style pulleys there is a point near the end of the draw that the cam leverage takes over and the weight of the pull is greatly reduced.

Caliper; A jaw type clamp that goes around the bowstring and holds the bowstring until a trigger opens the jaws.

Draw length; Is the distance between the bowstring at the back of the arrow and the arrow rest on the bow. Arrows need to be about 2 inches longer than that measurement.

Fletched; The feathers or plastic vanes at the back end of the arrow

Hold point; Archery term for full draw position

Kisser button; A small disc shaped button that attaches to the bowstring and is used as a check point for consistent draw length.

Peep sight; A device that inserts into the bowstring to open a little peep hole through the string. This creates a scope like ring you look through to center your forward sight into.

Release mechanism; A device that the archer holds in the hand or straps to the wrist and attaches to the bowstring.

Sights; Any of many devices that attach to a bow and aid in targeting.

Spline strength; How stiff an arrow is determines the pounds of force it can handle before it bends. The longer an arrow the less its spline strength, so longer arrows need to be stronger.