Hold at anchor, or not?

[burchett.donald]

    I gap shoot and hold sometimes as much as 3 seconds. You must be in archery condition to do so or it will cause many problems. Been shooting 52# hickory flatbow for 3 yrs. and haven't seen any damage to bow yet. No visible set or weight loss anyway...My bow is near 68" and draws to 26" I can see where it could damage a shorter bow though.
                                                Don

[crooketarrow]

 I would say there's no right way.  You have to do what feels natural and works for you.

[PEARL DRUMS]

My only concern is the bow itself. As mentioned self bows dont like to be held at draw for long. I watched a mulberry bow I gifted a guy go from a solid bow to junk in a weekend. He held for 4-5 seconds each time and the lower limb had enough and just took on 3" of set. It still shoots, but its ugly. Not his fault by any means, just an observation of mine.

[crooketarrow]

  I'VE NEVER HAD A BOW BROTHER BY IT. But I've never sold a bow that someone held for 4 or 5 seconds when shooting. But

[crooketarrow]

  But I guess 5 seconds over time would ,could make that happen. I can't see a second or 2 hurting your bow. But to hold 2 seconds is a long time to hold.

[PEARL DRUMS]

It was odd to see Roy. Ive watched 1000's an d 1000's of people shoot all kinds of bows, none held that long. Even wheely folks dont hold that long. But hey, if it works do it.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Yah, five seconds is a long time, you know it may have been longer? All of us in the group cringed, a few where ready to yell, "Let it go!" like it was a grenade!

[gstoneberg]

It was odd to see Roy. Ive watched 1000's an d 1000's of people shoot all kinds of bows, none held that long. Even wheely folks dont hold that long. But hey, if it works do it.

I've shot with wheelie folks that held for well over 30 seconds on each shot.  I believe that is primarily due to back tension releases.  If it weren't for the "2 minute rule", 3D shoots would be so slow they'd not be worth the trouble.  My brother, who shot for PSE, used to complain all the time about feeling rushed to get his shot off in 2 minutes.  Of course, that included the time he spent staring at the target trying to guess the range.   In my experience, the more serious the compound shooter, the slower they shoot. That's why there are time limits imposed.  At a 3D they almost always let us shoot through since it only takes a whole group of traditional/primitive shooters just a few seconds to shoot.  We have a lot more fun too.

Having said that, I think many traditional/primitive shooters would benefit from shooting a little slower.  A lot of us aren't really making it to full draw.  But, 5 seconds is a loooong time to hold a primitive bow at full draw.

George