Trad release help

[Hailey_Phillips]

Hey all, so I finally fell off into the trad world a couple months ago and I’ve been shooting fairly frequently. I’m still in the 15yd range, much further than that and my “groups” really fall apart, but I’m working on it!
So here’s my issue, when I release, my hand pulls away from my face a good bit. It’s much better than when I first started, but still an issue. I recorded myself on my phone in slow mo and took some screenshots to show.
I’ve looked online for tips but all I seem to come across is basically someone saying “don’t do it” but I cant seem to find a reason why the hand pulls away or many tips to prevent it.
I would say I usually shoot 8”-10” groups at 12-15yds, with occasional flyers, and I wonder if my release, amongst many other newbie things, is to blame.
The shots that hit really good, feel really good just as soon as I feel the string slip my fingers. Instantly tell if it’s gonna be a good shot or bad before the arrow even hits the target.
is it something that just has to be worked at and will get better over time or is there something someone can suggest to help prevent my hand from pulling away.
thanks for any advice/criticism!

 

[Hailey_Phillips]

Here’s the shot process

 

[NMSbowhunter]

My guess is that you are plucking the string in these instances. Try an experiment. Draw back and come to anchor. Focus on the target and hold for a bit and then concentrate on tensioning your back muscles and just let the shot happen. Sort of let it surprise you. Try not to consciously release. Hope this helps.

 

[Sticknstring88]

Is your string hand wrist straight or broken at full draw? If it’s not straight or slightly high sometimes tension in the arm can cause the directional force that ends with the hand coming out. It can also happen if you just simply have too much tension in the arm. You should only have enough tension to hook the string and it takes less than what a person thinks. Our natural inclination is to tighten the forearm and fingers. I have been shooting for 20 years and it’s a hard habit to break.


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[Hailey_Phillips]

My guess is that you are plucking the string in these instances. Try an experiment. Draw back and come to anchor. Focus on the target and hold for a bit and then concentrate on tensioning your back muscles and just let the shot happen. Sort of let it surprise you. Try not to consciously release. Hope this helps.

Plucking! Didn’t realize that’s what they meant, I thought they were referring to a finger movement. I just watched a video by Archery101 and it blew my mind. I do the exact thing he showed. Too much of a broad tension in the back is causing my elbow to come back too far at the shot, thus making it difficult for my hand to not go out in that radial movement. He explained it in a sense that I do believe just clicked in my head completely different than before! As soon as I saw your comment I looked it up as “plucking” and boom! Im gonna shoot tomorrow and see if I can start to correct it. Not saying it’s my only problem by any means, but it seems to make a lot of sense now.
And by the way, I fellow Sippian, Copiah county, just south of Jackson!

 

[Phopkins]

Try shooting from 3 yards, draw then close your eyes and relax your hand. You'll feel if you're doing it right. It's a great way to practice form in general.

 

[Hailey_Phillips]

Is your string hand wrist straight or broken at full draw? If it’s not straight or slightly high sometimes tension in the arm can cause the directional force that ends with the hand coming out. It can also happen if you just simply have too much tension in the arm. You should only have enough tension to hook the string and it takes less than what a person thinks. Our natural inclination is to tighten the forearm and fingers. I have been shooting for 20 years and it’s a hard habit to break.


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Thanks for the tip, Do you mean broken as in horizontal to the ground? Like, not in the angle of the pics from above, but if we were standing toe to toe? Like elbow too high or low above arrow line?

 

[Hailey_Phillips]

This is the video I came across that was told in a way I haven’t seen yet.

 

[Heydeerman]

Try shooting from 3 yards, draw then close your eyes and relax your hand. You'll feel if you're doing it right. It's a great way to practice form in general.

Begin and end your shooting session by shooting 6 arrows this way.

 

[BTaylor]

Here’s the shot process

In that first pic at full draw, notice the line of your forearm on your draw arm. It is pointed to the right of the arrow and target. When you release tension, the only direction your hand can go is away from your face as the draw elbow rotates back. This is where back tension and draw alignment really matter the most imo. Work on getting that draw elbow in alignment with the arrow and target. This will put the draw arm/elbow in position to rotate back and down at release pulling the hand straight back past your face towards the top of your shoulder.

 

[Sticknstring88]

Thanks for the tip, Do you mean broken as in horizontal to the ground? Like, not in the angle of the pics from above, but if we were standing toe to toe? Like elbow too high or low above arrow line?

No, I’m referencing whether your wrist is in line with your forearm. If it is not, it’s very difficult to get perfect alignment of the elbow.


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[cedar paul]

Just to add a couple of thoughts. First a strong bow arm will cancel out some of the problems at the back end. Be immersed in aiming and let the shot happen and remember the release is actually stopping an action(gripping the string). It is more like allowing string hand to relax while maintaining good back tension. Usually plucking or hand flying away from face is a pretty good indicator that you lost the push pull opposition. Envision trying to touch your shoulder blades together at fulll draw and continue through the shot.

 

[Petrichor]

I am also a strong proponent of a secondary anchor point.

 

[cedar paul]

When I trained with Rick Welch he also had me fletch my arrows so I could have a secondary anchor touching my nose as well as a facial reference with my drawing hand.

 

[Hailey_Phillips]

Well, I’m not sure how to explain todays shooting ha.. it went much better. I’m not sure which part helped the most, or just a combination of all of them.
I tried to make sure I was using my back as “correctly” as possible. I discovered it’s easy to use too much back, as in feeling like I’m over drawn and my elbow simply not having enough motion left to keep my my hand from flying out. But once I kinda found the happy spot of using my back without feeling like I’m at my max range it helped.
Then after watching a few slow mo vids of myself, I noticed my release arm having a very slight collapse forward right at the shot, once I managed to cut down on that, it helped my groups tremendously.
But the one that seemed to help the most as far as plucking goes, I noticed in the videos my hand was torqued pretty good, as in my hand vertical and my bow canted. When I tried to focus on keeping my hand as inline as possible with the string, I could actually feel my tab sliding across right below my ear to the point it was getting a tad bit tender, but in a good way! My hand wasn’t flying out like I was trying to flag down a car haha! I was in shock that my release hand was coming pretty much straight back!
Im still trying to figure out how to lose some tension in my forearm, because I can actually feel the tension while I’m at full draw. I tried to mentally relax my arm while holding the string, but I relaxed a bit too much and managed to send an arrow 5’ over the target into the briars.. it’s ok, I got it back ha.
I’m not cured by any stretch, but I had a great day of what I consider progress. I truly appreciate the help! Any more you got, keep throwing it my way! And if anyone is in the central MS region I’d loveto try and get together and shoot and get some one on one pointers!

 

[Robert loper]

Im am actually havin or was having this same problem. I havent had time to really shoot but i will soon. My goal is to harvest a deer this year with my trad bow. I did miss one year b4 last.
I believeI have this same problem snd I snap shoot alot.
for some reason snap shooting is difficult to get out of.

 

[cedar paul]

Also an invaluable tool is blind bailing(get close to target and isolate one aspect of your shot at a time). If you try too many things at once it can be very frustrating and you will regress rather than improve. Howard Hill always stressed having the bow are like a vice and keeping it firmly in position. Applying torque to the string- canting bow and anchoring more vertical can cause release issues as you have discovered. My suggestion would be build your shot step by step before adding the aiming aspect - indirect/instinctive. Bob Wesley ( used to hunt with Howard Hill) stressed to me to keep forearm of your string arm relaxed - too much tension affects release. It can be maddening but very satisfying when everything comes together and shooting a stickbow is a blast!

 

[BTaylor]

Well, I’m not sure how to explain todays shooting ha.. it went much better. I’m not sure which part helped the most, or just a combination of all of them.
I tried to make sure I was using my back as “correctly” as possible. I discovered it’s easy to use too much back, as in feeling like I’m over drawn and my elbow simply not having enough motion left to keep my my hand from flying out. But once I kinda found the happy spot of using my back without feeling like I’m at my max range it helped.
Then after watching a few slow mo vids of myself, I noticed my release arm having a very slight collapse forward right at the shot, once I managed to cut down on that, it helped my groups tremendously.
But the one that seemed to help the most as far as plucking goes, I noticed in the videos my hand was torqued pretty good, as in my hand vertical and my bow canted. When I tried to focus on keeping my hand as inline as possible with the string, I could actually feel my tab sliding across right below my ear to the point it was getting a tad bit tender, but in a good way! My hand wasn’t flying out like I was trying to flag down a car haha! I was in shock that my release hand was coming pretty much straight back!
Im still trying to figure out how to lose some tension in my forearm, because I can actually feel the tension while I’m at full draw. I tried to mentally relax my arm while holding the string, but I relaxed a bit too much and managed to send an arrow 5’ over the target into the briars.. it’s ok, I got it back ha.
I’m not cured by any stretch, but I had a great day of what I consider progress. I truly appreciate the help! Any more you got, keep throwing it my way! And if anyone is in the central MS region I’d loveto try and get together and shoot and get some one on one pointers!

You might want to consider a course like Tom Clum's Solid Archery Mechanics to really build good form early on so you dont have a bunch of bad habits to overcome later.

 

[Hailey_Phillips]

Thanks for all the tips and info! So much help from this group!

 

[Hailey_Phillips]

T

Also an invaluable tool is blind bailing(get close to target and isolate one aspect of your shot at a time). If you try too many things at once it can be very frustrating and you will regress rather than improve. Howard Hill always stressed having the bow are like a vice and keeping it firmly in position. Applying torque to the string- canting bow and anchoring more vertical can cause release issues as you have discovered. My suggestion would be build your shot step by step before adding the aiming aspect - indirect/instinctive. Bob Wesley ( used to hunt with Howard Hill) stressed to me to keep forearm of your string arm relaxed - too much tension affects release. It can be maddening but very satisfying when everything comes together and shooting a stickbow is a blast!

Today, for some random reason, mostly curiosity, I canted my bow pretty far. Like an easy 45 degrees or more. And the shot felt and looked absolutely great. Thinking it was a fluke, I did it again, and again it felt great. My upper body was hunched over just a bit, head tilted over a little, and bow canted way over seemed to feel way more natural and not forced at all. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve always shot right handed(I am right handed left eye dominant) and when I decided to start shooting trad, I decided to go with my dominant eye. And shooting left handed feels like learning to shoot all over again with form and which muscles are being used. I don’t think I’ll continue to shoot canted over that far, but it seemed to make it easier for some reason.. got any insight on that?