I am right handed with the exception of shooting long guns which i shoot off my left shoulder. I shoot right handed guns though.I just can't get use to a left handed bolt.

My other problem is i am left eye dominant. How hard will it be to learn to shoot instictive if i shoot right handed with left eye dominance? Is it possible?

I havent bowhunted in years but im wanting to get back into it. Before i used a compound with sights and didnt have problems but i've always had an interest in recurves.

I'm not a bow hunter but it shouldn't be different from the guns. It's been found that it's easier to train your hand than your eye. So for you ,right handed and left eyed , shoot left handed.

If you could shoot left handed it would be best. I have the same problem and have't gotten around to shooting left. When you look at the target you'll see 2 arrown in your peripherial vision, line up the one on the right under your target. This is the one that the right eye sees and unless you're extremely left dominant it works fine.

Sometimes also wink my left eye a couple times and get the right one seeing "the most"

works for me

the chef

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
If you could shoot left handed it would be best. I have the same problem and have't gotten around to shooting left. When you look at the target you'll see 2 arrown in your peripherial vision, line up the one on the right under your target. This is the one that the right eye sees and unless you're extremely left dominant it works fine.

Sometimes also wink my left eye a couple times and get the right one seeing "the most"

works for me

the chef

+1

instinctive shooting with off eye dominance would be tuff I suppose.

The best instinctive shooter i know personally is Dan Fitzgerald. I have known him for many years and he is truly a killer. He is also almost blind in one eye.
He once told me that it is much like baseball or basketball. Keep both eyes open and practice practice. Also you don't close one eye when throwing a ball @ a target it just comes instinctivly.

quote:

Originally posted by Reyn:
I am right handed with the exception of shooting long guns which i shoot off my left shoulder. I shoot right handed guns though.I just can't get use to a left handed bolt.

My other problem is i am left eye dominant. How hard will it be to learn to shoot instictive if i shoot right handed with left eye dominance? Is it possible?

I havent bowhunted in years but im wanting to get back into it. Before i used a compound with sights and didnt have problems but i've always had an interest in recurves.

I am also left eye dom./right handed. I can shoot either right or left handed bolt action rifles. Hunting: I prefer a left bolt. Target/range, I prefer right.

I shoot a compound left handed. I can shoot instinctive either way with a recurve, but it seems easiest for me right handed. The difference is, when shooting instinctive, you eye pics a spot to shoot at and your hands do the work. There is no reason you cannot easily learn to shoot a recurve right handed while being left eye dominant. It works for pistol shooting, and I've done it.

I was at the archery range tonight. I shot beside some wheelie bow shooters and at 25 yards I soundly beat some of them.....they didn't say much. Obviously they could outshoot me at further yardages. The eye dominance thingy didn't seem to hinder me much.

the chef

quote:

The best instinctive shooter i know personally is Dan Fitzgerald. I have known him for many years and he is truly a killer. He is also almost blind in one eye.
He once told me that it is much like baseball or basketball. Keep both eyes open and practice practice. Also you don't close one eye when throwing a ball @ a target it just comes instinctivly

Good point. I do bowfish and seem to do ok but thats a lot closer. I read during a search of instinctive that the arrow should be under the dominant eye.

Im gonna borrow one and try it. Guess thats he only sure way to know.

I have the same problem, left eye dominance.
I shoot rifles and pistols both ways. I'm better right handed though.
My recurve I shoot right handed and like everybody else said...practice!
I have shot my wifes recurve a little, she's a lefty, and I can't hit anything with it. I guess I should take my own advice and practice huh?

I'm also left eye dominant but i can shoot a hand gun and rifle with almost equal accuracy. With my bow i shoot right hand and bow. I also contantly practice instinctive shooting with my bow. It is not that hard to train your weaker eye.

REYN YOU ANSWERED YOUR OWN QUESTION BOTH EYES OPEN AND PRACTICE PRACTICE AND PRACTICE

both eyes open can make it tuff to train the off eye.

I don't know what it's called but I can make either eye dominate. I shoot righthand but have never owned a lefty bow. If my shoulder keep giving me problems, I may switch though.

If youkeep both eyes open how do you know whick eye is doing the looking? Tough to know without finding some kind of trick. I do the squint trick or open and close the dominant eye a few times to get the non dominant eye doing the looking.

I think that having found out that you've got the problem is the most important part. Now you can find a way to work it out.

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
If youkeep both eyes open how do you know whick eye is doing the looking? Tough to know without finding some kind of trick. I do the squint trick or open and close the dominant eye a few times to get the non dominant eye doing the looking.

I think that having found out that you've got the problem is the most important part. Now you can find a way to work it out.

If truly shooting instinctive, you're focusing and concentrating at your point of impact and not at any part of the bow. You keep both eyes open and therefore you see only one object. If you are seeing double vision when focusing on your point of impact, you have problems other than eye dominance.

If you are using some form of secondary vision technique where you take into account the arrow tip. You then will have a blurred double vision of the arrow. This does not matter as you train yourself which of the two you'll see to use. Larry Yien shoots this way being right handed yet left eye dominant. He has won many World Championships with a longbow. Unlike shooting a rifle, with a bare bow your dominant left eye will be over the line of sight with the right handed bow when canted.

GVA

Gary that's not right, I didn't say anything about seeing double vision of the target.

You always look along the arrow towards the target. Whether or not you choose to use the arrow for aiming it will always be in your periphrial vision. Additionally the reason you see two arrows in your periphrial vision is each eye sees the arrow shaft from a different angle. So it makes sense to choose the one that is seen by the eye that looks along the bow shelf in line with the target (wow that sounds confusing).

Sure if you cant the bow enough your left eye will be above the arrow, but it just doesn't make sense to shoot like that. That's like saying that if you shoot a rifle right handed it doesn't matter which eye you aim with. If you bend your head over the barrel and use the off eye to aim it obviously isn't on the same plane as the barrel.

I'll concede that if you shoot purely instinctively you can simply look at the target and hit it. That only works at one distance-I do it at 25 yards. Otherwise you have to have some system to shoot at varying distances. Some people say they shoot instinctively at any distance but I don't buy that one.

I was playing around tonight at the range and really paying attention because I wanted to make sure I had given the right info. I think I said for a left eye dominant shooter to sight using the "arrow on the right" but that's wrong. The arrow on the right is the one you see with your left eye and so it's not in line with the target. Sorry about the boo boo It's important to understand the concept. It really does make all the difference.

hope that clears it up


the chef

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
Gary that's not right, I didn't say anything about seeing double vision of the target.

I'll concede that if you shoot purely instinctively you can simply look at the target and hit it. That only works at one distance-I do it at 25 yards. Otherwise you have to have some system to shoot at varying distances. Some people say they shoot instinctively at any distance but I don't buy that one.
the chef

What I stated is correct as the question was reference to "instinctive" where you do focus on the target. In addition, one does not need any reference whatsoever by sight of the bow, arrow, or hand. If one has developed muscle memory to the point of knowing the relationship of their hand to the target by feel, one does not need a visible sight for reference. In fact shooting arrows from a bow creates a long sight radius from the arrow over your knuckle to the nock under your eye which makes this method by feel very natural and accurate within hunting distances. Hence, this is why one can shoot out candles in total darkness or hit objects when shooting the bow from behind their back, or why one can sit at a table and place a spoon into their mouth with their eyes closed. Distance has no bearing other than it requires greater muscle memory with a greater chance of error at longer ranges.

GVA

http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/Frank_Addingto...nctive_printer.shtml

GVA

Most trick shots are "instinctive" if you've ever watched Byron Ferguson shooting aspirins out of the air it's pretty cool. Stacey Grosscup had the all time record of 6 in a row.

Interesting that Byron ferguson does his harder tricks at a measured 12 yards.

We could debate whether a shot is instinctive or not all day. It's been bashed to death. I've never seen a good instinctive shooter-at multiple distances. Howard hill wasn't instinctive, ferguson isn't, possibly Fred Asbell is true instinctive but I have my doubts there too.

I was simply telling the poster how he could shoot with the off eye. And believe me it will work, I outshoot compound shooters a lot.

the chef

The greatest shot of all time, Howard Hill was left eye dominant, Fred Bear was left eye dominant, Glenn St. Charles switched to left and was cross eye dominant,I am left eye dominant and shoot easily with or above most I shoot with. As mentioed Dan Fitsy is a cyclops. Stop worrying abotu it and just go shoot. I found out I was cross eyed after shooting for about 25 years. Bought a left hand bow and shot and did NON see an improvement.. preactice practice practice