Been practicing a bit with my first bow (ever) -- Hoyt Ultra Sport 50-60# shooting Gold Tip carbon fiber arrows with vanes and field points. I use a Tru-Ball release, 3-pin sight with a peep. The bow was set up for me by a good shop. I've actually been pleasantly surprised how easy this is to shoot -- of course with the peep sight and release it's a lot like a gun ...

I usually shoot 3 arrows at a target and try to keep them in a few inches. I work my way from the 10, 15 and 20-yard lines, on up.

Sometimes at the 10-yd line but even more often at 15 or 20, I will shoot some arrows dead on, but one or two will always go a couple inches to the left. This is driving me a little nuts because my sights are either dead on, or need to be adjusted. I just can't tell if I need to adjust left or right.

Adding to the confusion, sometimes when I've shot at 30 yds. everything works out just fine with a nice tight group, but still off to the left. But when I adjusted the sight to move the group, I still hit in exactly the same place. So it seems in that case, all my stray arrows sorted themselves into separate groups.

I suspect I am doing something weird with my left arm or hand, but am not sure what. Maybe clenching my hand, or locking or unlocking my elbow or shoulder differently?

I also notice some eye dominance issues -- I have a lot of trouble picking up the pin through the peep if I don't close my left eye. (I am right eye dominant, but not very strongly.)

I also notice that I've been having some trouble seeing through the peep since one of the segments of string goes across the aperture, and I wonder if it isn't something as simple as whether I look to the left or the right of that!

John,
A right handed, right eye dominant, shooter that is experiencing left side flyers may be getting some movement of the bow, left, hand upon the release. It is reccommended that you try to align the grip of the bow in the web of your left hand with the opposite, right, shoulder in as near a straight line of bone on bone connections as possible given your physical build. If your only pressure on the bow is directly toward the target and your not over torquing the grip, the release of the string will consistantly result in the bow traveling the same direction, directly toward the target. When we have an angle formed in our left shoulder pocket, the potential for the bow hand to spring left, throwing the shot left, upon the release of that energy is higher. Try moving your right foot and shoulder back to minimize the angle of your left shoulder pocket. Also, mark each arrow as individuals and note if the same arrows shoot left or not. It may be as simple as a bad spine or an arrow that is making some contact with the rest or other bow part. Are your arrows coming off the rest consistantly straight or are they fishtailing or flopping up and down? Have someone look at the arrow flight from behind you, in bright sunlight usually works best. If your peep is one that has the string separated into three groups, try one that is served into the string and splits it in halves. Also, you may have movement of your anchor point, on the drawing hand, and if it is a little away from your face the shot will go left. Don't be shy, there are some excellant archery coaches out there, you will be surprised how much a one or two day clinic will shorten the learning curve. Hope some of this helps. Oh, one last thing, allow yourself at least 45 seconds between shots to enable your body to restore the oxygen your muscles used to perform the previous shot. If you don't and rush through the shots, your muscles will fatique and you'll start to shake or quiver.

Make sure your not canting your bow........

Thanks for the advice -- I went back to the range today and discovered several possible factors at play.

I concentrated on keeping my chest more parallel to the target, plus turning my head a little farther (90 deg. to my chest) and a little less tension in my grip. All seemed to help. I think I'd been canting my release, too, which could torque the string.

The adjustment to my body and head seemed to help with the sight alignment issue, and I had fewer flyers with the loose grip.

I also checked out the arrows. After a couple of 10-yard groups with two very close together and a third 2-3" to the right, I yanked the right-hand arrow and shot it a couple times at a different target. Each time, it hit slightly to the right. I set it aside and grabbed a different arrow and put 3 shots into a target with the shafts touching.

Moved over to the 20-yd. targets and shot bigger groups but still to the left. Adjusted my sight and tried 30 yds. Way low and the groups opened up -- probably mostly because I was tired, but I also found the visible arrow flight distracted me from following through on my sight picture. (A bunch of years shooting pistols taught me some useful archery skills!)

Started to adjust the 30-yd. pin -- a frustrating procedure since there are no hash marks to know how much it's moved and judge moving it back. Next time I'll bring a scriber.

John

John

Make sure your not torquing the bow. Some bows/archers need an open and and wrist strap. Some can close the hand slightly, a very loose grip. Other can get away with a little tighter grip.
On the one arrow that was flying right, compare the arrow nock with the others. It may not be turned exactly the same and is getting some contac with the rest.

Don't shoot til exhaustion. I sometimes have that problem. I keep wanting to practice either because everything is going well and I'm having a ball. Or I''m diagnosing a problem and want to fix it. When you're tired and/or concentration isn't there. Stop. You don't want to pick up bad habits by shooting too much when tired.

Shoot straight and good luck.

John,
Glad things are going better. I know some folks don't pay much attention to the arrows but attention to detail in archery is no different than loading your own ammo for a bench rest shoot. The more variables that you eliminate, the more consistant the shot to shot placement, i.e. groups, will be. The only difference between an over the counter bow and the pro - shop bows is the tolerances that they are built to. With that said, when I, and most of the competative archers I know, set out to build another dozen arrows they will spin the bare shafts to check for the straightest ones, these become the competition shafts. When I was serious about this I would even place the bare shafts in a float tank, both ends plugged, and mark the shaft where it settled each time as the high side. Each shaft was fletched with the high side corresponding to the cock vane. I shot a lizard tongue rest so each shaft had the high side up when nocked on the string. More importantly, each completed arrow and point combination was weighed. The final step was glueing in the points and I would add a lead shot pellet, #9 or #10, or two to get the finished arrows all within .1 grain of each other. For hunting arrows this is a waste of time, but when your shooting competition the added confidence in your equipment means a lot. Weight is the most important when your shooting range gets beyond 40 yards especially at 60 and 80 yards where the effects of varying weights and hence varying velocities really become noticable in vertical groupings. I use ACC shafted arrows for competition and hunting. Once, I took a handfull of ACC's that I considered to bent, some were really questionable, for competition out to the 80 yard range and shot them. I was able to group every one of them in the 10 ring on a standard 122cm target face numerous times so I do not know just how critical the straightness factor is.

Usually when I practice indoors during the winter months I shoot groups of three arrows. If I am trying to built up stamina and muscle tone after a long layoff, like now, I will shoot more and walk and pull less but will still try to allow sufficient time between shots. I usually can get between 30 and 60 shots off in a one hour to one and one half hour session.

I don't know what is available in your area as far as clubs, but if you can find one that hosts "field archery" I would encourage you, or anyone to use it as the practice for whatever discipline you choose. It is shot on a marked yardage course with varying terrain and will challange your shooting skills to the max. At the same time it will give you an accurate measure of how your equipment is performing as well as yourself.

An old archer once told me, "If you want to shoot well at 30 yards, practice at 60." At our archery club I have a 100 yard range marked off for 50 yard practice. With most 3-D ranges not exceeding 50 yards, when you have practiced at 80 and 100 yards this distance is not intimadating in the least. If you have the range availability, note that the target butts should be much larger as the yardage increases, work up to long ranges quickly and forget about the short stuff afterward. I use the short ranges only to check yardage marks. If you practice at 50 you know you will hit at 20. Slight changes in form show up more readily and will alert you to a problem sooner. I know it is gratifying to shoot nice tight groups, but the longer distances make you focus more and you will improve quicker. When you get your 30 yard mark and begin to group consistantly, move back to 40 and work on consistant grouping at 40 etc.

Here is wishing you continued success and fun with your new found discipline.

Archer,

Your practice ideas sound a lot like what I did when I shot defensive pistol competition regularly a few years. Most people won't shoot service pistols at 35-50 yards, but I did, and it sure made the close stuff easy.

I'm lucky, my regular gun club for the past 10+ years has a very good field archery program -- I did go out and shoot some of the field course targets a few weeks ago. Lots of fun and I even jumped some deer back there!

John

So I was preaching to the choir. You obviously know of what I speak with regard to long range practice. Your concentration skills learned in handgun shooting will probably be very useful with the bow also. I too, like to walk the field courses for practice, especially when you see other game in the process. Even shooting 3-D courses has yeilded some of those experiences. Good luck and I hope you stick to it.

John you may want to invest in a level (bubble) for your sight. As touched on by mallard... one of the most common causes for left flyers from a RH shooter is bow cant..tilting your upper limb to the right. I shows up more the farther you are from the target. Ive shot both compounds and traditional bows for going on 25 years now and have done everything wrong imaginable.....
A bubble level is extremely helpful when hunting uneven terrain and or from a tree. I'm not a big gadget freak but poorly placed hunting shots are worse than unfortunate.
Good Luck.