Cross Dominant New Archer

Hi everyone, just have a question on cross dominance in archery. My wife wants to get into archery and we are looking to set her up with a bow. She is left handed so I thought we would be picking up a left hand bow for her but when we checked her eye dominance we found she is right eye dominant. Should she get a left hand bow as it feels more natural for her and she is way stronger with her left arm, or do we try and train her body to shoot a right handed bow? I have talked to a few guys that have been shooting bows a lot longer than me and have gotten different answers from them on which option to go with. Any help from the members out there with experiance in this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

A possible solution would be for her to wear an eye patch - or even get used to closing the left eye - when shooting. That way the dominant eye won't "take over" the aim.

Of course she could also just learn to shoot using her dominant eye and teach her body to hold/shoot the bow that way.

It's a matter of ease for her - ease of learning, ease of shooting, ease of repeatability, and what is more comfortable for her. Nobody can really answer the question for you (or for her) as it is an entirely personal choice.

Depends if your shooting traditional or compound. If traditional both eyes open and she should change to accommodate her eye dominance. If your shooting compound. Your using sites. Just squint a bit with the one eye.

I'm right handed and left eye dominant. I shoot right handed, and just close my left eye as I'm drawing the bow back. Works for me.

I shoot a right hand bow but am left eye dominant. I used to be right eye dominant. I close my left eye. Same with shooting the shotgun.

get equipment of her dominant eye .... her score will be better and she will enjoy it more .... if she is right eye dominant ... get right handed equipment

Thanks everyone that has replied so far for your advise, I should have mentioned in my OP that we are looking at a compound bow.

I am right handed and always shot right handed, even my first bow. At the time, a "more Knowledgeable" person noticed that I was left eye dominant and convinced me to switch. It was a real chore as it was more natural for me to shoot both firearms and bows right handed. I learned to shoot quite well left handed and have done so for over 30 years. I regret it. I am positive that I would be a better shot right handed and I really do not believe that you need to keep both eyes open. In fact I find that I close my right eye now most of the time.
Tell her to keep shooting right handed and close her left eye. Have you ever tried to sell a used left handed bow or firearm? Can't be done. All of my old bows are junk now instead of someone else being able to use them.
Just my experience.

Oh, and the kicker - just try find an archery shop with a good selection of left-handed bows to try. She'd have to order one and pray.

Hey 260 , I started Trap shooting and then Archery with "cross dominance" and got prescription glasses . They evened things out plus added to my vision .
Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brez

Have you ever tried to sell a used left handed bow or firearm? Can't be done. All of my old bows are junk now instead of someone else being able to use them.
Just my experience.

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Yes I have ... sold both leftys that I have had in my barn in under an hour ... for full asking price .... simply because they are relitivly hard to come by ....

If you are left eye dominant ... you will not do better shooting right handed equipment . your scores might suffer at first because it is not what you are "used to" (right handed stuff) but when you train your muscles properly ... your scores will be higher than ever before

There you go. Look into how much eye dominance makes a difference. Google it. Ask the pros. I seriously do not believe in it. One plus I've had is that I may have a little trouble shooting bows with either hand, but there are a few deer I've bagged because I am able to shoot a rifle both ways. Oh, with the internet, you may be able to get rid of left handed bows , but living in a small community, I had no luck. I still challenge anyone to be able to comprehensively try out left handed bows. It takes many tries to find the right one. It's like trying to find the perfect hunting boots.

As I stated in my post she is right eye dominante, so what I am gathering from the comments of most is that it would be better to get her in to equipment that is of her dominate eye (right) and let her body adapt to the right hand equipment. This will also be good as we will not have to look into left hand gear. Thanks everyone for your quick responses and insight into this matter. Now I need to get her out to a shop to see what bow, draw lenght etc. fits her best! Take Care and Thanks Again!

yes
what you said ^^^^^^^^^^

Depending on whom you talk to you will get a variety of answers.

The general thinking is it's best to set up your bow for your dominate eye however in the practical world of tradtitional archery my experience is most archers ignore this for a variety of reasons. Many top shooters are for example left eye dominate and shoot right handed. If setting up with good form and practice your brain makes the adjustments, with both eyes open.

I copied this from elsewhere but I thought there are some (not all of it) applicable points. "The trouble with people going by eye dominance is that having the arrow under your dominant eye is only a fraction of the whole picture. Someone shooting non-dominant has the front end of the arrow more in line with their dominant eye. The whole system is a converging triangle. A non dominant shooter could just as easily be lining up with his bow arm functioning exactly the way the arrow does for a dominant shooter. Both converge on the arrow point."