new archer with eye dominance question

some folks do.... you should head down to your local archey shop andor range and try out a few bows.. shooting both left and right handed..

i shoot instinctively, where i basiclly just stare my target down, raise my bow and shoot... it's a lot like throwing a ball.... how do the balls always go to where they're supposed to...
 
mtnfolk mike said:
you should head down to your local archey shop andor range and try out a few bows.. shooting both left and right handed..
Click to expand...

This is exactly what you should do! There is no way to tell which side will work better for you until you try.

BTW, don't be put off if shooting left-handed seems better but you can't pull as much weight as right-handed - that will just be a matter of developing the muscles you need. Same for your left hand not being as agile as your right - if you are shooting instinctive, you want the side that puts the arrow colosest to where you are looking!
 
Grampa gave you some great advice. I shoot a simple recurve, with no sights, etc, so like Mike, I use both eyes. I was taught to look at the target, not the bow, and to shoot instinctively. A good analogy is the shooting of a shotgun vs. a rifle, where the shotgun is both eyes open "reflexive" shooting, and the rifle is "aimed." This technique has worked well for me, but to each his own...
 
They've shown in rifle and shotgun shooting that it's easier to train the hand than the eye. So shoot to your dominant eye.
 
Shoot with the dominate eye. It is not hard to retrain your hands. Muscles will grow, as a new archer the strength difference in on hand/arm over the other are negligible. I shoot both eyes opened. The dominate eye still plays the most aggressive role in shooting performance. I can also shoot left or right handed. It is possible to adapt your shooting to accommodate, however, the most effective path to learning to shoot well will be to go with the dominate eye.
 
What I am hearing over all is I should highly consider getting a left handed bow. Trouble is,.... I already have a right handed one. It was a poorly researched christmas investment,... I wonder if I should sell it and go leftie or stick with the purchase and see how things can shape up.

My shooting development is not as good as my friend's who got into it the same time as me and already is hitting a bulls eye no problem at 50yds. His bow is superior to mine in design though....

Its a strange situation b/c I shoot guns rightie and am a decent shot. ... shouldn't this be the same?....

Just FYI I have a compound bow with sights. Its a Parker Buckmaster XP. Its funny that the guy at the store didn't even mention eye-dominance...

I suppose I will take my rightie bow to the archery shop and try out a different leftie... side by side, and see how things go. Worst case scenario, I will lose a little money on a trade in.

That all being said, what does everyone think?...
 
Between you and your friend...

it ain't the bow!



The archery shop, in a perfect world, would have asked about eye dominance, but most folks are dominant for hand and eye together.

Try a left-handed - even with sights, it will make a big difference.
 
I'm left eye dominant and I shoot righty with my bow...I shoot traditional.
I've shot lefty with my wifes but I'm better righty.
Rifles, shotguns, pistols...I shoot either way, not much difference.
Can also write and throw lefty, just not as good as righty.
I guess I'm Ambi, but it feels more comfortable to shoot righty.
Definately try a lefty and see what feels better.
When I shot compound I shot it righty and didn't feel like I was suffering, its just like using the peep sights on my Sharps rifle.
I'll stray from the norm and say don't give up on your righty bow just yet. I've also heard folks tell me that I need to swap over to lefty.
I'm damn near 40yrs old...I ain't swapping, its been working good for me for this long!
I ain't gonna swap and wait 40yrs to get this good again! :)
 
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