Holding shakey

[Elkaholic]

I have problems when I try to hold dead center on a target that I get shakey and cannot hold steady, yet if I am lower I am able to hold right on. Now I should say this was with my old bow, I have since ordered a new bow for xmas and still waiting to recieve it, but I am sure it will be the same problem as I get it when ever I shoot. Any ideas, and I was only drawing 50 lbs at the time which was very easy to hold.

[greybark]

Hey Elkaholic , Years ago when using a compound sighted bow I read an interesting artical on sighting by the then US olympic archery coach by the name of Henderson , Basicly he stated that it is impossible for anyone to hold the sight dot in the center of the ten ring . He further instructed Olympic archers to accept the sight dot moving across and around the center of the target and to time the arrow release as the sight dot moved across the ten ring . He stated that two things happened when doing this . The first was that any sight movement would get much less as the archers skill improved . The second part is that an "Instinctive" part of your mind will to a great extent move the sight to the center as the release takes place . When the above two points take place you on occassion will execute a perfect shot and leaves you wondering what happened as when the release took place the sight dot appeared to not be on the target center .
Also when you use the above method the improvement in your scores allows you to relax more (again another improvement in scores) during the whole shot sequance .
I hope this simplisic approach helps out...


REMEMBER -- Keep Your Fingertab On --

[Bow Walker]

I have problems when I try to hold dead center on a target that I get shakey and cannot hold steady, yet if I am lower I am able to hold right on. Now I should say this was with my old bow, I have since ordered a new bow for xmas and still waiting to recieve it, but I am sure it will be the same problem as I get it when ever I shoot. Any ideas, and I was only drawing 50 lbs at the time which was very easy to hold.

Try following greybark's advice and see if it helps you at all. While doing that, get someone to take a full body length picture of you as you shoot. What I would like to see is a pic of you at full draw. That pic will give a better idea as to how you hold and shoot.

Also - read willyqbc's post about stance. http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=9668

Make sure that you are not "fighting" just to keep your sight picture on target in the first place.

Dan.

[willyqbc]

Yes, i agree that we need to see a picture to really help you. Personally I suspect that the problem may be in your bow arm shoulder not being kept low. if you allow the front shoulder to "bunch up" toward your cheek you will eliminate most of the stabililty that using the strengths of the skeleton provides, as you are moving the bones out of alignment and transferring all of the holding weight to the muscles and ligaments. When you drop your arm to aim at a lower target you are most likely dropping the bow arm shoulder down into its strength position of bone to bone to joint alignment, thus steadying you again. Of course this is just a guess as i have not seen your form.

Chris

[Elkaholic]

WOW I did not expect the responses I got, once I get my new bow I will see how it is, and if it is still there I will try all your advise. As well I will try to get a picture of me at full draw once my bow is recieved. Thanks to all for the great info!!

[Franko Manini]

Hey Elkaholic , Years ago when using a compound sighted bow I read an interesting artical on sighting by the then US olympic archery coach by the name of Henderson , Basicly he stated that it is impossible for anyone to hold the sight dot in the center of the ten ring . He further instructed Olympic archers to accept the sight dot moving across and around the center of the target and to time the arrow release as the sight dot moved across the ten ring . He stated that two things happened when doing this . The first was that any sight movement would get much less as the archers skill improved . The second part is that an "Instinctive" part of your mind will to a great extent move the sight to the center as the release takes place . When the above two points take place you on occassion will execute a perfect shot and leaves you wondering what happened as when the release took place the sight dot appeared to not be on the target center .
Also when you use the above method the improvement in your scores allows you to relax more (again another improvement in scores) during the whole shot sequance .
I hope this simplisic approach helps out...


REMEMBER -- Keep Your Fingertab On --

FYI, Jack O'Connor, one of the great sports writers and shooters of the day cited using this method in his classic Rifles and Shotguns.

[Tuffcity]

In pistol shooting it's called "arc of movement". It's something you can't totally elliminate but your brain will compensate with practice (as mentioned above). Being an "instinctive" shooter you might have to take my analogy with a grain of salt but the mantra of "front sight, front sight" is probably applicable.

Basically what that means is that you concentrate fully and completely on the front sight (in this case your yardage pin) and try to align it inside the centre of the peep (which I'll assume you're using). Your down range target will appear fuzzy.

Your brain will automatically centre the clearly seen pin on the centre of the fuzzy target at which time your brain should say hit the trigger.

If you're focusing on the target, then on the pin, back and forth, then you are "ranging" and most likely your shooting will head south in a hurry.


RC

[Eagle1]

you let your site pin FLOAT, don't force it, if you force it to the centre you will hit right where you forced it from to get on centre, you can't, no one can hold the pin perfectly solid on gold, you relax and let the pin FLOAT. With practice you will notice your pin floating get smaller.
At the PSE dealer school I was at Terry Ragsdale used a laser dot. and even as good a world class shooter as he is the laser showed he floated on the target and yet it didn't look like he was moving.

[Nails]

Great info guys,