The Truth About Aiming
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
7/15/2010 12:00:00 AM
One of archery’s most persistent misconceptions is that you need to become a shooting machine with a rock steady hold in order to
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Floating the pin around where you are trying to hit has a centering effect on the arrow, |
STEADY ENOUGH
I have invested a lifetime of study in this subject and I have learned that you can shoot very well even if your pin is moving. Granted, the less it moves the tighter your groups will become, but in all reality, you don’t need a fist-sized group at 60 yards to make great shots at normal bowhunting ranges each season. Most bowhunters would benefit tremendously if they worried less about shot timing and more about shooting form. Here is what I mean.
As long as you put your body in the proper positions during the shot, relax fully and squeeze off a surprise release you can hardly go wrong. Your pin will float around the aiming point and, seemingly, with a mind of its own the arrow will find the center. I will cover the very important subject of body positions in an upcoming column. Here, I am going to focus on the movement of the pin.
Some archers try to ascribe a figure eight pattern with their pin - the center of the eight being the aiming point. Others try to circle the aiming point very slowly with the pin. Still others do not use a specific system; they just let the pin select its own pattern. All of these methods will work. Seemingly, the only system that will not work well is the one that most archers choose: consciously trying to hold the pin rock steady.
You don’t really try to move the bow physically. It will move on its own. Here is a very interesting experiment that illustrates this concept. Hang a paper clip at the end of four or five inches of string. Rather than trying to move it, simply visualize the paper clip moving through a small figure eight pattern. It will soon be following the pattern. Now stop the clip and choose a new pattern. It will quickly follow that one too.
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Bending your elbow slightly when shooting will absorb some of the shock and make |
While you are at full draw aiming, visualize the pin moving through a tight pattern around the aiming point in whatever pattern you like - and it will soon be doing it. You do not have to force it to happen.
If you are punching the release trigger, the floating pin won’t work. In the first place, you’ll never be able to let it float. That will drive you crazy. A surprise release is the key. I think this is because humans have an innate centering tendency. We are always subconsciously trying to center things. Archers work the pin toward the center without even trying, and when the shot occurs on its own, the arrow naturally moves in that direction.
CONTROLLING THE SIGHT PICTURE
You can aim with both eyes open, one eye closed or one eye squinted. All three methods have tradeoffs.
Both eyes open: Aiming with both eyes open produces the greatest possible field of view, an advantage while hunting. But, unless your aiming eye is clearly dominant, this will also produce visual conflict. Further, under low light, the restriction of your peep sight slightly diminishes the acuity of your aiming eye. It is very common for the non-aiming eye to seize total control of the sight picture. When that happens you’ll miss by a mile. You can learn a lot about visual acuity and dominance by practicing under low light conditions for a couple of evenings.
Closing one eye: When I compete, I wear a blinder over my left (non-dominant) eye. I may look like a character from a pirate film, but that is a minor issue. If it improved my shooting, I would wear the sword too. My goal is to eliminate all possible variables from the sight picture. By closing my non-aiming eye while shooting, I remove several.
Sure, I give up some field of view, but I focus so hard on the pin and the target that I really do not want anything on the periphery of my sight picture distracting me anyway. I do not consider the lost field of view to be a negative.
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The best spot to place your bow in your hand is where there is no hinge motion. (Click |
Squinting one eye: Some archers have found a compromise by squinting their non-aiming eye. This permits a fuller field of view while greatly reducing the acuity and possible cross-dominance of this eye. A possible lack of consistency is my only concern with this style of aiming. At tournaments, I’ve seen shooters whose aiming style changes as they get tired or pressed. Your accuracy will change when your sight picture changes – and not for the better.
CONCLUSION
My choice of aiming is but one of the many styles I see used successfully at tournaments. In the final analysis, consistency is the key to all aspects of archery and aiming is no different. After you have experimented to find the best aiming style for you, keep it the same on every shot.
