Christophe of Grey
Leathersmith/Archer
Proper Technique
In this next series of articles I’m going to discuss each aspect of good archery technique. Remember, the secret to good shooting is consistency, doing the same thing every time.
Let’s begin with how to stand, the stance. Imagine a line going straight from your position to the target. With the closed stance the toes of each foot are touching this line and perpendicular to it. With the open stance your front foot is moved back off this perpendicular line and at a slight angle to it. This causes a slight twist in your upper body which often manifests holding the draw with your arms and not your back muscles. The last stance I recommend is a modified open stance. Your front foot points at the target. Your back foot is perpendicular to the line to the target. Think more open than the open stance.
The closed stance is very good to start with as it forces a bone on bone alignment of bow hand, arm, shoulder. As you draw the bow, pop your chest out. This forces you to hold the draw with your back muscles. When we first start out most of us just use our arms to hold the draw and this causes bow hand shake. With the open stances the upper body has a slight twist to it. While the open stance is great for quick shots and the instinctive shooting technique (future article) due to the upper body twist it tends to cause us to hold the draw more with our arms. Remember, pop your chest out.
How do you hold the bow? Point your bow hand index finger at the target. While holding your hand out, have someone else place the bow in your hand. The bow center line should be lined up with the Y webbing between your index finger and thumb. Whether you hold your bow vertical or slightly canted to one side is again a personal choice. Most recurve bows work best held vertically. Most long bows work best with a slight cant to them. Here’s the logic: If your bow uses an arrow rest as you rotate the bow around center you are rotating the point of aim/arrow point off target center. If you shoot off the shelf of your bow as you rotate the bow the point of aim remains centered on the target. Try it. Point your index finger at a target. Rotate your arm. Point of aim remains constant. Now raise your thumb of the extended “bow” hand. Using the top of your thumb as the aiming point, rotate your arm. See how the aiming point moves?
When you draw the bow your objective is to have the bow hand, bow arm, draw hand, and draw arm all in a straight line with the arrow on the bow. Lots of times we hold our draw elbow too high or out away from our bodies.
To practice this anywhere, pick out a target. Quickly raise your bow hand and point your index finger at the target. As you do this, bring your draw hand to your anchor point. If you raise the thumb of your draw hand you now have two sights, index finger and draw hand thumb top. Practice bringing these rapidly into alignment, “sighting” on the target.
“How do I hold the bow string?” Common question. There are basically five different methods for holding the bow string in a draw. The most common technique is referred to as the Mediterranean method. The index finger is over the arrow nock, and the middle and ring fingers are below. A variation on this method is to use two fingers, index over the arrow nock, middle finger below. Some archers further modify these draw styles by placing all the fingers, either three or two, below the arrow nock. This works only if your arrows are fitted with snap nocks such that the arrow will follow the string back in the draw. Most self-nocks do not snap on the string and the arrow will fall off if not held in place by the draw fingers. With these techniques the bow string bisects the PADS of your fingers. Most books say to hook the string in the first joint of the finger. If you do this, on release you tend to pull the bow string to the side, thereby ruining your aim.
Another method common with the horse bows is using the thumb. That is, you catch the string across the pad of your thumb and hook your index finger over the nail of the thumb. This draw, as do horse bows, allow you to draw your draw hand to your rear shoulder. This technique is usually not recommended for non-horse bows as they are not designed to be over drawn. If you use the thumb hold, typically the arrow goes on the outside of the bow. That is, the arrow rests on the thumb of your bow hand, not the base of your index finger.
Next is the draw and anchor. Anchoring simply means you draw the string to the same location every single time. The objective is to have the bow string bisect your aiming eye without having to lean your head in extensively. Fred Bear and other great archers of the past anchored by placing the nail of their draw hand middle finger on their eye tooth in the upper jaw. The lower jaw moves, the upper jaw does not. Some archers just touch the corner of their mouth with the tip of their middle finger. Both of these anchor positions put your eye almost directly in line with the arrow shaft. Another anchor point is placing the web of your thumb and hand nestled into the corner of your jaw. This moves the line of sight down a bit. Other archers anchor with the web of thumb and hand just under their chin. The point here is pick a method and stick with it. Moving your anchor point on each shot is like changing your sights for each shot!
Do not release the bow string for a shot. Instead stop pulling the string with your draw hand fingers. All you need do for a good release is simply relax your draw fingers. i.e. hold a bucket half filled with water with your draw fingers at your side. Just relax your fingers and the bucket drops to the ground. Same thing with a bow string. After release your draw hand should be in ONLY one of two places. Either at your anchor point or behind your anchor point off your rear shoulder. It should NOT be away from your body, ballerina, or your draw hand fully extended behind you.
Practice these techniques one at a time until they become instinctive.