Trad release help

[Petrichor]

T

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?

First off. I’m left eye as well. And also switched from right to left. It was a good move for me but I can still shoot right handed just fine. Canting is a natural thing for me and I always recommend it. Depending on where your anchor is the cant can help get the arrow directly under your eye. The trick is bend at the waist. The relationship of how you hold the bow and anchor should not change. By bending at the waist you can vary the cant based on surroundings and for me it doesn’t really change much about the shot. Now for me personally a 20 degree cant perfectly puts the arrow under my eye and I like it about there.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I shoot a Hill style longbow and I generally shoot with a pretty good cant to the bow. It just seems natural to me.

 

[HugeBull]

For Robert loper:

You said: "I believeI have this same problem snd I snap shoot alot.
for some reason snap shooting is difficult to get out of."

You may be struggling with target panic, which was my nemisis. Google Jay Kidwell on target panic. Jay is a PhD Psychologist and explains that target panic is actually both mental and physical. Your mind actually changes its hard wiring, like physically wiring a switch differently. It is not all mental. BTW, Jay is also a coach on the psychology of success for Olympic level athletes in fields other than archery and a trad shooter. I understand that there is a lot of other good stuff on the www about target panic, but Kidwell is the best that I have seen. JMO.

Personally, I developed target panic trying to shoot instinctively and "burning" a hole in the target. This and heavier weight bows led to snap shooting, and ultimately to releasing before I had a solid anchor. I still shot consistently at 10 yds, but was horrible at 20. I have switched to a compound and a release and am shooting well now at 20 and 25, but I had to try something different to still shoot trad. I bought a low poundage ILF setup and am trying to work back up to hunting weight with trad gear, but it ain't gonna be this season. I miss my longbow, and my trad friends, but I couldn't shoot anything for a season and had to go to a low weight compound after surgery. I am now shooting 50+ in a compound but less than 35 in a recurve.

Because I really like the consistency of my compound system, I am actually considering a very similar set up for my trad gear, which some will say is not trad, but I don't care. Personally, I would do anything to figure out how I can hit a 5 inch pie plate consistently at 20 yards with a longbow or recurve in the 45-55 range, and yes, I will shoot a release if that is what it takes.

All I can say is that if someone is giving you advice that doesn't work for you, find another coach. I've had all kinds of folks who did not understand target panic try to tell me what to do, but if they do not understand it, they can't coach you out of it. Kidwell has some good, practical lessons to help, but at least as important, he understands target panic from the inside out. In my own experience, I could not get myself out of target panic, my nerve synapses were not functioning the way I wanted them to. This well meaning friend said do this, and that one said do something else, but my mind was consistently doing something that I did not want it to. Kidwell explained why and how to break it.

Good luck.

Hugh

 

[Heydeerman]

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.

Do this but close your eyes just before you release and don’t open your eyes until you hear the arrow hit the target. Hitting a spot is not important. Focus on what you are doing .

 

[JSEXTON23]

Draw holds