ldfalks
04-13-2005, 06:15 PM
Quote from Reel-Break
Hey anyone have some helpful tips on shooting with both eyes open? I`ve noticed most of the better shooters seem to shoot this way. Why and what are the advantages besides like me shooting the wall instead of the target.Maybe someone* could write a article.
Thanks
Advantages-Disadvantages-And My Story* :D by LDFalks
The advantages are a reduction in eye fatigue, you have more available light and you don't look like a squinty geek...
The disadvantages are that you'll put a bunch of arrows into the wall, dirt, neighbor's yard and the next county.* You will probably walk around with a little flap on the bill of your cap or an eye patch that identifies you as a "both eyes open shooter in training".* Besides all that I learned to do it in about a year.* And it only cost me a dozen or so arrows...
I always shot open sight rifle and pistol with both eyes open.* The difference there is that you have a linear reference (the barrel, stock, back of your hand etc) to guide your vision and insure that you are using the correct image to aim with.
I'll tell you how I did it and you can go from there.* My wife has been trying to learn for a couple of years and still can't get the hang of it.* Some shooters just opt for the patch/flap and quit fighting it.* There are advantages to all of these techniques, but if you can learn to shoot with both eyes open you will be a better shot on the competition range and in the hunting woods.
My Story...or better named "The 40-Week Lost Arrow Blues"
I was shooting an indoor 5-spot round in the Bowhunter Freestyle Class and scoring my usual 290/42 when I noticed between ends that I could see the dot, the ID Line between the 4-rings (and all of my arrow holes in them) the X-Ring and the X clearly while standing on the shooting line with both eyes open.* When I closed my left eye, sure enough, the target was a little darker and slightly fuzzy.* Being a rookie (a few months in the sport) I didn't pay it much attention.
I drew down on the target and with my left eye closed (I'm right handed) I looked at the target and saw what I was used to seeing, a blurry 5-spot with a big red pin covering up most of the white and dancing around like a whirling dervish or leaping gnome (take your pick).* I opened my left eye and BAM!!!* The pin stopped moving and the dot was clear and the world looked like someone had turned on a spotlight.* The only problem was that I had 2 pins and one dot.* Hmmmmm.
Now I must digress a bit.* Being an experienced rifle and pistol shooter and quite accomplished with both open sights and scopes, I knew what to do and didn't put the first arrow into the wall or the target next door.* I closed my left eye and the right pin dissapeared.* I opened my left eye again, put the left pin in the dot and drilled the X.
I thought, "wow man, this is just like shootin' bullets", and it was for a while.* With pins and/or a scope with no magnification you only have the paralax of your eyes focusing on the target and the one pin or pin set to deal with.* It also makes it easier for you to aim and does away with one of the huge causes of Target Anxiety, and that is the pin or dot covering up the aiming point.* You can minimize this in open classes by using a circle aon your lense or an aperture sight, but pins limit you to a dot or fiber optic.
Panic is the blinding and unreasoning fear in the face of real or imagined danger.* No target has ever walked up to me and threatened to do me bodily harm.* I have been anxious about the shot and that has cause me to score badly on more than a few, but I have never thrown down my bow and run willy nilly through the woods because a target scared the be-jezus out of me...BOO!!!
So started my quest to be a Both Eyes Open Shooter.* I looked cool, scored a few more points, the squint lines around my left eye were going away and did I say I looked cool, oh yeah that too.* Over the next few months I was busy looking cool and enjoying some very good scores.* I could concentrate on the target and the pins just seemed to float into place.* The best part of shooting pins with both eyes open is that they are seemingly transparent and do not block the target.* This allows you to gap your pins more easily or put the pin dead on the spot without blocking your view of the aiming point.
Oh my gosh, the ability to see through...pins...not quite Superman but it's a good start.* The cause is the binocular effect of your vision and the right eye looking through the pin and focusing on the target and the left eye looking past the pin and focusing on the target.* The brain sees the distant object in focus and the pin becomes seemingly transparent.* This also freaks some people out so it's not a cure-all.
If your a pin shooter or if you're shooting a scope without magnification you can probably just stop reading here and go out and practice.* Draw the bow, focus on the target, the peep and pin(s) will be fuzzy, transparent images that you can align subconsciously and aim with.* You may need to blink your left eye a time or two at first to make sure that you are seeing the correct images but you are well on your way to success.* If you are shooting a scope with magnification or are having a hard time concentrating on the target with the distraction of "ghost pins" then please read on, it gets much more exciting.
When I decided that I wanted to miss more accurately by using a scope, I had to start over with my "both eyes open shooter training".* The problem was that the scope magnifies the image that you are seeing with your shooting eye and the other eye is seeing an unmagnified image.* What I was seeing was a LARGE target superimposed over a smaller target.* Talk about some whiffs and wild shots.* When the two images overlapped I had no idea which one to aim at.* I lost the aiming point and concentration.* What started was a quest to find the coolest cap flap made so that I had a modicum of self respect left at the end of the day.* I tried a patch and kept bumping into stuff with my whole left side of my body.* I tried the little blinder flaps that hang from your cap brim and those worked good, but I kept forgetting to flip them back up and I would run over people and trees and whatever else was on my left side.* I tried the rapid left eye blinking during aiming technique and just got a tired eyelid.* It was going to be a long summer.
What I decided that I could live with was the cap flap the I got from Lancaster Archery that said, "Useless Things: Speed you don't have; Yardage you don't know; A five; Just outside the 12 but a good line."* I decided that these things pretty much summed up a day of my shooting so I bought it and made up my mind that I was going to look cool again or get old trying.
The flap worked good because it blocked out everything that your left eye would see but still let in light.* The problem was that now the pin was a solid object once again and I had to deal with target anxiety once more because my fiber was covering up my aiming point.* Dang, I just couldn't get it to all come together.* My scores were going up (I was practicing a lot with this flap thingy) and I had a cool looking eye flap gadget, but I wasn't back to where I wanted to be.* Then one day I had an Epiphany.* I went outside and forgot my Eye Gadget.* I had picked up the wrong cap and it wasn't on there.* I thought that I would just squint my left eye and everything would be OK.
I drew and squinted and my right eye started to water and blur and I got shaky and I tried to fight through it and I finally let down.* Whew!* That was close, must be a lot of pollen in the air or something.* Start over.* Draw, squint, blur, watery, fight through it...let down.* Man, I really bite today!* OK, draw, anchor forget to close left eye, see two targets...Dee you big dummy...shoot the BIG one...twang...thump...12!!!!!!!* WooooHooooo, do a little dance, make the neighbors look over the fence, run inside and tell my wife!* *She's all cool like, "good job dear".* Oh, man, I need to call somebody...
That's how I did it.* I finally trained myself to ignore the small image and just shoot the big one.* Simple as that.* Sorry, no big secret here.* *After a while you will be able to do this unless there is a very dark target in a very dark spot in very low light and then you might as well just squint and make the most of it...everyone else is too.
If you're shooting dots, the problem you may have is when the pin comes to the center of the dot the two images will overlay and you can lose focus and pick up the unmagnified image.* In that case just blink your left eye or barely squint it for a second an make the little dot go away.* Be gone dot!* It takes practice and for me it took about 7 months to get it all straight.* Some folks are very comfortable with the flip-down-flap.* Spectre is one of the few shooters that actually looks GOOD with that thing on his cap.* My wife used a piece of opaque plastic so that it didn't block the light coming to her eye, and she's still working on shooting with both open and no vision blocker...2 1/2 years now she's been at it.
Regardless of how you have to do it, it's always better to have both eyes open.* If it takes an eye patch for you to do that then start there.* You will be less fatigued and will shoot better in the long run.* Good luck.
Dee
Hey anyone have some helpful tips on shooting with both eyes open? I`ve noticed most of the better shooters seem to shoot this way. Why and what are the advantages besides like me shooting the wall instead of the target.Maybe someone* could write a article.
Thanks
Advantages-Disadvantages-And My Story* :D by LDFalks
The advantages are a reduction in eye fatigue, you have more available light and you don't look like a squinty geek...
The disadvantages are that you'll put a bunch of arrows into the wall, dirt, neighbor's yard and the next county.* You will probably walk around with a little flap on the bill of your cap or an eye patch that identifies you as a "both eyes open shooter in training".* Besides all that I learned to do it in about a year.* And it only cost me a dozen or so arrows...
I always shot open sight rifle and pistol with both eyes open.* The difference there is that you have a linear reference (the barrel, stock, back of your hand etc) to guide your vision and insure that you are using the correct image to aim with.
I'll tell you how I did it and you can go from there.* My wife has been trying to learn for a couple of years and still can't get the hang of it.* Some shooters just opt for the patch/flap and quit fighting it.* There are advantages to all of these techniques, but if you can learn to shoot with both eyes open you will be a better shot on the competition range and in the hunting woods.
My Story...or better named "The 40-Week Lost Arrow Blues"
I was shooting an indoor 5-spot round in the Bowhunter Freestyle Class and scoring my usual 290/42 when I noticed between ends that I could see the dot, the ID Line between the 4-rings (and all of my arrow holes in them) the X-Ring and the X clearly while standing on the shooting line with both eyes open.* When I closed my left eye, sure enough, the target was a little darker and slightly fuzzy.* Being a rookie (a few months in the sport) I didn't pay it much attention.
I drew down on the target and with my left eye closed (I'm right handed) I looked at the target and saw what I was used to seeing, a blurry 5-spot with a big red pin covering up most of the white and dancing around like a whirling dervish or leaping gnome (take your pick).* I opened my left eye and BAM!!!* The pin stopped moving and the dot was clear and the world looked like someone had turned on a spotlight.* The only problem was that I had 2 pins and one dot.* Hmmmmm.
Now I must digress a bit.* Being an experienced rifle and pistol shooter and quite accomplished with both open sights and scopes, I knew what to do and didn't put the first arrow into the wall or the target next door.* I closed my left eye and the right pin dissapeared.* I opened my left eye again, put the left pin in the dot and drilled the X.
I thought, "wow man, this is just like shootin' bullets", and it was for a while.* With pins and/or a scope with no magnification you only have the paralax of your eyes focusing on the target and the one pin or pin set to deal with.* It also makes it easier for you to aim and does away with one of the huge causes of Target Anxiety, and that is the pin or dot covering up the aiming point.* You can minimize this in open classes by using a circle aon your lense or an aperture sight, but pins limit you to a dot or fiber optic.
Panic is the blinding and unreasoning fear in the face of real or imagined danger.* No target has ever walked up to me and threatened to do me bodily harm.* I have been anxious about the shot and that has cause me to score badly on more than a few, but I have never thrown down my bow and run willy nilly through the woods because a target scared the be-jezus out of me...BOO!!!
So started my quest to be a Both Eyes Open Shooter.* I looked cool, scored a few more points, the squint lines around my left eye were going away and did I say I looked cool, oh yeah that too.* Over the next few months I was busy looking cool and enjoying some very good scores.* I could concentrate on the target and the pins just seemed to float into place.* The best part of shooting pins with both eyes open is that they are seemingly transparent and do not block the target.* This allows you to gap your pins more easily or put the pin dead on the spot without blocking your view of the aiming point.
Oh my gosh, the ability to see through...pins...not quite Superman but it's a good start.* The cause is the binocular effect of your vision and the right eye looking through the pin and focusing on the target and the left eye looking past the pin and focusing on the target.* The brain sees the distant object in focus and the pin becomes seemingly transparent.* This also freaks some people out so it's not a cure-all.
If your a pin shooter or if you're shooting a scope without magnification you can probably just stop reading here and go out and practice.* Draw the bow, focus on the target, the peep and pin(s) will be fuzzy, transparent images that you can align subconsciously and aim with.* You may need to blink your left eye a time or two at first to make sure that you are seeing the correct images but you are well on your way to success.* If you are shooting a scope with magnification or are having a hard time concentrating on the target with the distraction of "ghost pins" then please read on, it gets much more exciting.
When I decided that I wanted to miss more accurately by using a scope, I had to start over with my "both eyes open shooter training".* The problem was that the scope magnifies the image that you are seeing with your shooting eye and the other eye is seeing an unmagnified image.* What I was seeing was a LARGE target superimposed over a smaller target.* Talk about some whiffs and wild shots.* When the two images overlapped I had no idea which one to aim at.* I lost the aiming point and concentration.* What started was a quest to find the coolest cap flap made so that I had a modicum of self respect left at the end of the day.* I tried a patch and kept bumping into stuff with my whole left side of my body.* I tried the little blinder flaps that hang from your cap brim and those worked good, but I kept forgetting to flip them back up and I would run over people and trees and whatever else was on my left side.* I tried the rapid left eye blinking during aiming technique and just got a tired eyelid.* It was going to be a long summer.
What I decided that I could live with was the cap flap the I got from Lancaster Archery that said, "Useless Things: Speed you don't have; Yardage you don't know; A five; Just outside the 12 but a good line."* I decided that these things pretty much summed up a day of my shooting so I bought it and made up my mind that I was going to look cool again or get old trying.
The flap worked good because it blocked out everything that your left eye would see but still let in light.* The problem was that now the pin was a solid object once again and I had to deal with target anxiety once more because my fiber was covering up my aiming point.* Dang, I just couldn't get it to all come together.* My scores were going up (I was practicing a lot with this flap thingy) and I had a cool looking eye flap gadget, but I wasn't back to where I wanted to be.* Then one day I had an Epiphany.* I went outside and forgot my Eye Gadget.* I had picked up the wrong cap and it wasn't on there.* I thought that I would just squint my left eye and everything would be OK.
I drew and squinted and my right eye started to water and blur and I got shaky and I tried to fight through it and I finally let down.* Whew!* That was close, must be a lot of pollen in the air or something.* Start over.* Draw, squint, blur, watery, fight through it...let down.* Man, I really bite today!* OK, draw, anchor forget to close left eye, see two targets...Dee you big dummy...shoot the BIG one...twang...thump...12!!!!!!!* WooooHooooo, do a little dance, make the neighbors look over the fence, run inside and tell my wife!* *She's all cool like, "good job dear".* Oh, man, I need to call somebody...
That's how I did it.* I finally trained myself to ignore the small image and just shoot the big one.* Simple as that.* Sorry, no big secret here.* *After a while you will be able to do this unless there is a very dark target in a very dark spot in very low light and then you might as well just squint and make the most of it...everyone else is too.
If you're shooting dots, the problem you may have is when the pin comes to the center of the dot the two images will overlay and you can lose focus and pick up the unmagnified image.* In that case just blink your left eye or barely squint it for a second an make the little dot go away.* Be gone dot!* It takes practice and for me it took about 7 months to get it all straight.* Some folks are very comfortable with the flip-down-flap.* Spectre is one of the few shooters that actually looks GOOD with that thing on his cap.* My wife used a piece of opaque plastic so that it didn't block the light coming to her eye, and she's still working on shooting with both open and no vision blocker...2 1/2 years now she's been at it.
Regardless of how you have to do it, it's always better to have both eyes open.* If it takes an eye patch for you to do that then start there.* You will be less fatigued and will shoot better in the long run.* Good luck.
Dee