How do I aim with a recurve?

[pinshooter]

I tried to shoot a recurve back in the summer. I lost 5 arrows at 20yds and that was shooting a large target. I just couldn't seem to find a reference point. I put the bow down and haven’t tried since. I think I would like to shoot a little traditional but I stink, advice please.

[Jorge]

I suppose you are talking about barebow.

To begin, get close to a target and use the arrow poit as the pin to shoot.
You will have to guess a bit like "I aim the center and arrow goes to the bottom" or alike, so I have to aim at the top for it to go to the center.

Get farther from the target and repeat the procedure. Memorise your refferences regarding the distances.

This is the very basic; there are more sophisticated techniques, like finger walking, etc, but I'm not skilled on them.

[p8ntballnryan]

just look at the target...

just like throwing a ball...all through repetition.... :D

[p8ntballnryan]

honest indian....if you keep the football mentality...you'll be surprised how quickly you'll pick it up...

[p8ntballnryan]

this is gonna be a great thread in this forum..the first on this site in this section...


i can't wait to hear the other folks input...

i think that's how i progressed so rapidly...it's just from shooting...leaving all doubt behind....makign your bow and arrow an extension of you..like target pistol shooting....ya just do it...when you think about shooting..you're not focusing..

your body knows what to do...trust it.

[Tejas Raz]

I'm with Ryan. Guess we both use pure instinctive aiming. Jorge is talking about a style called gap shooting.

I just bore a hole into a spot on the target, come up to full draw, hesitate maybe a second and let the string slide out of my fingers. If you hold for very long, your conscious mind will take over and you'll find that you're shooting all over the place... second guessing where to hold.

Start at 5 yards even and don't worry about it. Try to get the feel of your form. If you have a nice large target, set it up close, like at 5 feet and blind bale practice with your eyes closed. Shoot slow. One or two arrows at a time, then retireve them. Whatever you do, STOP before you get tired. You want to be "hungry" for more when you quit. If you practice too long and get tired, you will reinforce bad habits that will creep into your form... BAD.

It is like throwing a ball. Let the mind worry about how to aim, you just worry about good form. It'll come. Trust us!

[p8ntballnryan]

TR i'm told our method of shooting limits our capabilities....


from numerous sources...you believe that?! i think it all comes down to the spot at which you aim....if you look at the animal..that's what you hit...if you pick a hair....that's what you'll hit. it's all about focus....


and hold long enough to let your eyes focus CLEARLY on where you want the arrow to go....solid bow arm through out the shot..and a clean release....and you're in the money.

[Tejas Raz]

Can you imagine that? Limit our capabilities! Well! I'll be! Humph!

Glad you brought up the solid bow arm. Don't forget that the bow arm is controlling everything. Like Ryan said, hold it until the arrow impacts the target. That's follow through. Don't drop the bow arm like everyone wants to do. Won't help you see the arrow any more than holding it up there and getting a clean arrow launch!

[p8ntballnryan]

just look how slow the arrow comes off the bow....and it stays on the string for quite a long time...


if you drop your arm...even slightly throughout the shot...it could mean inches....or even feet


and that could mean the difference between first and second place....

[pinshooter]

Well ya'll hit on all my problems. Let me make sure I understand I do not look at the end of my arrow just pull back and look at the target? How can you get it in the same place every time?

[Tejas Raz]

Lots of PRACTICE!

Stickbow shooting don't come to the faint of heart!* It's all hard won, one day at a time.

You have any buds to shoot with?* That helps more than anything.* And see if you can find G. Fred Asbell's book on "Instinctive Shooting".* Or Byron Ferguson's "Become The Arrow" although his is a form of gap shooting.* Still, a good book!

[pinshooter]

I will probably never be good at it because I am not willing to quit shooting a compound to learn. I do however want to tinker with it. I will try the tips all of you have given. Thanks.

[Tejas Raz]

Just hang with it pinshooter.* A stickbow is one of those you can just grab and go out back and fling a few arrows before feeding the dog type thing.* Just keep it real handy and go at it casually while noting the details.* It will never replace the speed or accuracy of your compound, but with time you will come to appreciate the stickbow more and more.

Remember, I'm doing the opposite as you.* I'm serious about my traditional gear while dabbling with the compound!* I get frustrated with the compound as well!* *:? PDT_Armataz_01_19

Addemdum:* I just added some very cool video links in the forum on another thread you NEED to check out! Click on the Ron LeClaire videos first. They are the newest and best quality so that you can see how he's shooting. The HH videos are quite vintage!* Proof that it CAN be done!

[max a2a]

For me shooting instinctive only works out to 30 yards or so and past that I have to use more of a point on aim. I can sometimes shoot well at farther ranges instinctive but my consistancy is better with gaping. It would be cool to practice nothing but 50 - 60 yards instinctive for a month and see what happens.

[SageCreek]

I just pick a very small spot and consentrate on it. The arrow seems to go there. I guess it's purely instictive. I know I started shooting better when I went to 3 fingers under instead of 1 above and two below.

I'll never forget getting a 10 on an elk at 60 yards at an all traditional tournament. We were just goofing, and noone thought we could do it. I was awesome.

[p8ntballnryan]

any updates on this?!

[TMB]

I look where I am wanting to hit, draw, let the arrow disappear out of sight and draw until the rear of the broadhead touches the riser and when the bow ,draw, arrow feels right just let go.
When the arrow left the bow I normally know alredy where where it hits before it even flies a few feet. Always puzzles me.

I never see 'arrow flights' below 30 yd.

[Vtecfan]

When I first started using a Recurve to hit anything, I had to use the Apache method. 3 fingers under and anchor with the finger next to the pinky. I did well with this and took several( 15 yards and closer) deer. However I could not hit a thing past 20 yards.
Then I read Byron Fergusons book and even called him to ask questions. Your going to be hard pressed to find a nicer .more helpful gentleman. Anyway, by using his form of gap shooting, I can easily keep 8 arrows in a 6" section at 40 yards now. Not the best shooting in the world, but after so much practice and tool, its great so see results. :D

[Oldaro]

I can't recall any real reason why I changed from recurve barebow to compound, but it had to do something with curiosity. But I do recall that in my best barebow days, I could see or imagine (hard to say which) a sort of trajectory the arrow is going to follow when I release.

It looked like a tube in the air, made of brighter than air air, so to say, and it corresponded with the experience of watching the arrow fly from the bow to the target. With practice, (and without too much theorizing which seems to be a prerequisite), I could put the other side of the air tube onto the spot I wanted to hit, and the arrow went there, no mistake.

If I tried to understand how it worked, or stopped to think about it at all, there was no more air tube, and the space between me and target was empty. No hit, or maybe just a lucky one.

We used to train by shooting series of five, watching each others' form and keeping that rhytm until it got outright boring. Then someone put some funny things on the (cardboard) buttress to hit, like juice bottle caps, paper cups, film containers, tennis ball on the rope... and the hitting was unbelievable! Almost everyone managed to hit what he/she "wasn't" aiming at - because it was NOT the rings, NOT the spot, NOT an obligation like your usual target; something that must be hit!

Buying a relatively large quantity of cheap (it was an occasion!) Beman arrows, there was times when we used to play catch, because we didn't mind breaking an arrow or two for fun. Ever played catch the archery way? The first archer picks a spot and puts his arrow there. The others try to get as close to that arrow as possible, even to hit the first arrow. Which often happens. That's why the first shooter picks his spot someplace dangerous, like at the very rim of the buttress, or near the top or bottom woodboards. Fun, and no obligation, there was the key. Relaxed shooting, that's what it's all about. And it works.

The spontaneity, and the instinctiveness are far better shooters than the technically minded part of us. Same as when we try and calculate distances, contrary to the fact that we seem to know it even more precisely the moment we step by the stake! If I only remember what my instinct told me and proceeded to shoot for that "distance" or that "number", I would always hit. When you disregard what your experience tells you and measure "scientifically" from me-to-tree and from-stump-to-bush-to-stone, I always doubted my "numbers" troughout the shooting! That's how you misjudge, miscalculate, mistrust, in short, miss!

Same with barebow aim. It can hardly be called aiming, but we have problem with wording in this area. Sometimes it is more like something out of Twilight Zone. Try to remember the trek of the fletching, etch-the-fletch into your memory, repeat it thousand times, and you'll see where your arrow will be going, no mistake! Remember how you weirdly happen to know you've hit before you even released? That's it! Trust that feeling, and you'll be okay.

:D

[p8ntballnryan]

anyone still having problems hitting where they're looking let me know...at least out to 15 yards or closer...there's alot involved and if you really have the time to try it i'll give you the info you need...if you're satifisfied keep up the good work! :D

[TMB]

Old method just invented new:

I always practice shooting with a single arrow at a time, take back the arrow and find a new postion. And again. Distances differ between 15 - 30 + yds.
I shoot mainly at the caps of empty soda plastic bottles. >75 % hits, max 1-2 " off the line.

Now came what I expected: FITA target area. All colors hit except gold. no clue, no clear problem, left, right, up and down full area, never shot that bad.

Fortunately my broadheads could be kept on the plate.

Close to giving up - bad day!?

Back to soda bottle: first shot: adjustment and 3" miss. Second: 0 mm miss full dead center as normal.

Reason: FITA target is just too big and allows the mind to define to go just somewhere there about.

Conclusion: as pointed at above: Don't aim, let hand and eyes find their co-operation. As mentioned in the FITA example: I just had my mind invovled.

The brain shall give the permission for release only!

[Oldaro]

You know how the first arrow in the target "draws" the other arrows? Same phenomenon in other words, I suspect. When something smaller than the yellow surface, like a nock and set of feathers, appears in the target, other archers' arrows just seem to get magnetically drawn to stick alongside.

That's why many instinctive archers try to concentrate on something small, not just on the ten zone, but they try to distinguish some former arrow hole there. Target faces with a rather worn centres are, thus, easier to hit than the new ones...

:)

[xring]

Here is another method of aiming. This is the method I used while shooting barebow with compound, but it can be applied to traditional shooting as well. It is a type of point of aim or gap shooting style. Use the blur of the string on the side of the arrow and use your arrow point as a reference. My point of reference when I was shooting compound was at the bottom of the 1 ring on a single spot NFAA style target when shooting 20yds. Here is a picture to better explain it.

http://usera.imagecave.com/stratocastermojo/BBpointofaim.jpg

[alex in germany]

Hi Guy´s



I'll never forget getting a 10 on an elk at 60 yards at an all traditional tournament. We were just goofing, and noone thought we could do it. I was awesome.


I guess, Sage hit it. That´s the "secret" behind Instinctive Shooting.
Look at your Target, concentrate on your Form, relax your Mind, and let your subconsciousness let do the Rest.

If you "want it to much", you will fail.

I allways try to find a small Spot to look at, and to see only this Spot. Not the Tree´s around, not the whole Target.
I try to concentrate on this Spot, look at it, and ..... sometimes i Hit it, sometimes im close to it, sometimes i miss. :-)

Sorry my english is to limited, to explain it better.

Greetings, Alex

[locksley]

Just look at the target dead center and concentrate on the bulls eye. Think about throwing that baseball to first base near the baseman's glove. Its just like throwing a ball its all through repetition but you must get 5 to 10 yards from the target at first. Start close and move to 10 yards after a couple of weeks of practice. :D

[Sagittarius]

I use the exact same anchor Rick Welch teaches on his instructional Vol 2 video.
Three under with cock feather touching my nose and knuckle of thumb touching my earlobe.
This puts the arrow just below eye level.
I use my arrow shaft to aim and shoot pretty well.
I have tried instinctive and did pretty well but could never shoot the groups I shoot using the arrow shaft as an aiming point.
Some guys use the arrow shaft to aim and deny it because it's not cool in some circles.
I prefer to shoot as accurate as possible and, for me, the arrow shaft method is best.
I've heard it's illegal in competition but, so far, I only compete with my compounds. :icon_wink:


Sag.