Is short draw an issue in the saddle? What should I be in the look out for?

[HuumanCreed]

So finally was able to do some practice with my longbow in the saddle. It's actually not as hard as I feared initially. I was planning to hybrid setup but shoot standing when I can, but I decided to try a small platform and ring of steps just for testing. I was pretty happy with my accuracy for the most part, but I noticed that I was swinging fully instead of simply rotating my hip like I do with my compound bow.

With a draw stop in compound bow, it was easy to minimizes my movements. I just need to draw to the wall and then align my sights.

But with the longbow, if I simply rotate my hip, it felt like I was compacting myself and it feel like my draw is shorter. My shoulders and arms feel unaligned and it was just not a comfortable feeling. It felt better when I was swinging my whole body, but this feel like a lot of big movement.

My worry is that short drawing leads to horizontal misses. I understand practice make perfect and I'll keep at it, just wondering if anyone can give some guidance about using a traditional bow in a saddle. So far I have not encounter an issue with the tether or bridge so that's a plus.

Tips? Hints? Your methods?

 

[GeoFish]

I have never used one, clicker?

Draw Check Clickers

A draw check, or clicker, makes a noise (a click) when you hit full draw. Having this signal is a great help to traditional archers to cure target panic.

www.3riversarchery.com

 

[BTaylor]

I have never used one, clicker?

Draw Check Clickers

A draw check, or clicker, makes a noise (a click) when you hit full draw. Having this signal is a great help to traditional archers to cure target panic.

www.3riversarchery.com

A clicker can be a very useful tool but for his situation I dont think it is a consistent fix. I have found myself drawing in positions where I hit anchor but would not have been able to make a properly set clicker go off because of body position. @HuumanCreed Learning how to get your body in position so that you are consistently drawing the bow with proper alignment will help that. Adding a clicker would ensure you are getting there. Keep playing with shot angles and body position until you figure them out. Change the shot distances as well as the target relation to the tree because every change is going to influence proper positioning for the shot.

 

[gcr0003]

So finally was able to do some practice with my longbow in the saddle. It's actually not as hard as I feared initially. I was planning to hybrid setup but shoot standing when I can, but I decided to try a small platform and ring of steps just for testing. I was pretty happy with my accuracy for the most part, but I noticed that I was swinging fully instead of simply rotating my hip like I do with my compound bow.

With a draw stop in compound bow, it was easy to minimizes my movements. I just need to draw to the wall and then align my sights.

But with the longbow, if I simply rotate my hip, it felt like I was compacting myself and it feel like my draw is shorter. My shoulders and arms feel unaligned and it was just not a comfortable feeling. It felt better when I was swinging my whole body, but this feel like a lot of big movement.

My worry is that short drawing leads to horizontal misses. I understand practice make perfect and I'll keep at it, just wondering if anyone can give some guidance about using a traditional bow in a saddle. So far I have not encounter an issue with the tether or bridge so that's a plus.

Tips? Hints? Your methods?

This is round about why I am wanting to do more at height shooting with the traditional bow. Once you’re locked out with a compound just align the sites and release like you said, but for the traditional bow the slightest twist of the hips or torso can make reaching that correct back tension and or form very difficult. For me, it has felt extremely weird so far. I see this going two different ways, both of which you’ve seemed to already touch on some. The first would be to practice and develop comfort and consistency with your shot at the various twists and angle the body can be in and confirm you can still make the shots at slight short draws if necessary. One thing is that your arrow flight might suffer at a slightly shorter draw depending on your bow and arrow set up and therefore a slight short draw might not be feasible. The second would be to set yourself up in the saddle where you are more stable, maybe more constrained, such that your form suffers less. To me, that would mean standing/leaning more upright in the saddle which better mimics the ground shooting we do standing up. I think with a ring of steps you are naturally more upright even though youre basically sitting, and you are more stable but you need to rotate/swing yourself around the tree to maintain that form. Both things require practice, much more than compound. Those are my thoughts anyway. I’m trying to improve on similar aspects of shooting a traditional bow from a saddle.

 

[BTaylor]

This is round about why I am wanting to do more at height shooting with the traditional bow. Once you’re locked out with a compound just align the sites and release like you said, but for the traditional bow the slightest twist of the hips or torso can make reaching that correct back tension and or form very difficult. For me, it has felt extremely weird so far. I see this going two different ways, both of which you’ve seemed to already touch on some. The first would be to practice and develop comfort and consistency with your shot at the various twists and angle the body can be in and confirm you can still make the shots at slight short draws if necessary. One thing is that your arrow flight might suffer at a slightly shorter draw depending on your bow and arrow set up and therefore a slight short draw might not be feasible. The second would be to set yourself up in the saddle where you are more stable, maybe more constrained, such that your form suffers less. To me, that would mean standing/leaning more upright in the saddle which better mimics the ground shooting we do standing up. I think with a ring of steps you are naturally more upright even though youre basically sitting, and you are more stable but you need to rotate/swing yourself around the tree to maintain that form. Both things require practice, much more than compound. Those are my thoughts anyway. I’m trying to improve on similar aspects of shooting a traditional bow from a saddle.

Exactly why I prefer the mission platform or a small stand so I dont have to struggle to get in proper shooting position. The couple of smaller platforms I tried sucked for getting in good shooting position for me with a stickbow.

 

[gcr0003]

A couple ground shots I’ve been doing for practice are: shooting standing on one leg, standing on one leg while twisted looking back at the target, and shooting while leaning off to the side. Yes the saddle holds us in the tree, but all those ab muscles and stuff are firing off to hold us stable when making shots at some of these finicky angles. One thing I discovered really quick was if both of my feet aren’t planted my stability suffers greatly and my shots do too. I think these shot exercises replicate saddle shooting pretty well.

 

[gcr0003]

Exactly why I prefer the mission platform or a small stand so I dont have to struggle to get in proper shooting position. The couple of smaller platforms I tried sucked for getting in good shooting position for me with a stickbow.

I was slowly convinced over the last two seasons that if you’re serious about killing deer you’ll pretty close to the tree, low tether and pretty upright on your platform. Less movement and you’re ready for a shot very quickly. Less bridge or tether in the way and you’re already in a shooting stance that is very stable. If you’re sitting with knees touching the tree your sight is limited and you have to do more to take a shot. Yes you may be able to get a shot off sitting down, but shooting sitting down can be tough with a trad bow. Then if you aren’t ready and need to push off the tree for a better angle you’re creating a lot of movement and then youre a decent distance away from the tree, which means that you’ll be leaning a good bit for a shot, especially if that shot opportunity come behind you. All that means less stability and less accuracy to me.

 

[BTaylor]

I was slowly convinced over the last two seasons that if you’re serious about killing deer you’ll pretty close to the tree, low tether and pretty upright on your platform. Less movement and you’re ready for a shot very quickly. Less bridge or tether in the way and you’re already in a shooting stance that is very stable. If you’re sitting with knees touching the tree your sight is limited and you have to do more to take a shot. Yes you may be able to get a shot off sitting down, but shooting sitting down can be tough with a trad bow. Then if you aren’t ready and need to push off the tree for a better angle you’re creating a lot of movement and then youre a decent distance away from the tree, which means that you’ll be leaning a good bit for a shot, especially if that shot opportunity come behind you. All that means less stability and less accuracy to me.

I couldnt agree more with that assessment.

 

[gcr0003]

A couple ground shots I’ve been doing for practice are: shooting standing on one leg, standing on one leg while twisted looking back at the target, and shooting while leaning off to the side. Yes the saddle holds us in the tree, but all those ab muscles and stuff are firing off to hold us stable when making shots at some of these finicky angles. One thing I discovered really quick was if both of my feet aren’t planted my stability suffers greatly and my shots do too. I think these shot exercises replicate saddle shooting pretty well.

I will say that I compound the traditional bow issue by shooting a little heavier weight bow. It’s not that it is hard to draw, it’s just that it is harder to draw than a 45# bow. So when you’re on those off angle shots you have different minor muscles contributing to the draw as well as the anchor arm, and it’s more of struggle to stabilize the heavier bow. Some of the angles would be more manageable with a lighter lb bow, but I just love how fast this thing is so I’ll stubbornly practice until I get it to work for me.

 

[GCTerpfan]

Proper alignment and back tension is important, at least for me. If I don't accomplish those two things I will not hit what I am shooting at. This is the main reason prefer a ROS or a platform with a step on each side of the strap. I try to set up so that deer come in at my strong side and I can keep my feet aligned. If they come in from some other direction I will use the two steps to get my body aligned before I take the shot.

I just make slow controlled movements to get into position and don't ever remember being picked in the saddle specifically because I was getting my feet aligned. I have passed up shots at deer when I couldn't get my feet aligned in time though.

 

[Will Harris]

thats why i bought a .5 this year