Sight picture and anchor point

[Pat B]

Meso, try just concentrating on the target and not at all at the arrow. Let your brain take care of everything else besides concentrating on where the arrow will go.

[Mesophilic]

Thanks, Pat, I have done that a lot in the past but somewhere along the line I discovered that a brief focus on the shaft during the initial part of the draw gets my elevation and distance more correct.

I think I'm going to put on some pants and shoot in the yard for a bit,  not worry about accuracy, just technique and focusing on the target only.   See how it goes.

ETA: groups opened up a bit.

[Black Moshannon]

I made another small change and this was the tilt of the bow. Formerly when I shot instinctive I was shooting with the bow perfectly vertical, with the string bisecting the arrow. With my corner of the mouth anchor, everything was perfectly in line left and right, so I never had to worry about windage. All my shots were perfectly in line left and right, although I had issues with elevation, especially out past 15 yards. I just focused on the target center and executed a good shot. Now, with the higher anchor, which I implemented to gap shoot and aim the arrow, I have lost that in line arrow. Since I now draw to my cheekbone/thumb in ear, the nock end of the arrow is off to the right, instead of being lined up straight. So I’ve noticed my shots going left more. Also, I felt cramped up trying to shoot a vertical bow with this anchor. So today, I tried tilting the bow to around 45 degrees. For one, it really let me get the anchor more comfortably. Then I noticed with the canted bow I was able to line up the arrow so it appeared straight. I’m still playing around with it. Come to think of it, I don’t think there’s many shooters who anchor off the side of their face who don’t tilt the bow to some degree. Anyway, today I feel that I solved some issues. If anyone has thoughts on the tilted bow I would love to hear.

[SDBurntStick]

I will say, I never thought that I would be able to accurately shoot instinctively but through shooting enough and consistently, it all just comes together eventually.  I have never been able to accurately gap shoot or line up the arrow because I'm left eye dominant but right handed.  I never tried shooting left handed and just seemed to awkward so I just stare at what I want to hit and shoot.  Sounds like you are getting it all figured out.  What works for you is most important but that's the fun is figuring it out.

[Pat B]

The nice thing about instinctive shooting is eye dominance doesn't matter. Your brain figures it out.
When I started shooting Trad I bought and thoroughly read G. Fred Asbell's, INSTINCTIVE SHOOTING. From there I shot lots of arrows and tried to make each arrow count. I shot 50 to 100 arrows a day for a year. That got my muscle memory and hand/eye coordination in sink so after that a dozen or 2 arrows a day was enough to keep me in shape, physically and mentally.
 When I'm shooting I don't think about the bow or arrow but concentrate completely where the arrow WILL go.

[BJung]

I think archers all have their own way of shooting a bow and for most learning, it changes over time as we discover something that works best for us. For me, I think of instinctive shooting as being like baseball. The ball does not fly straight at the target unless it's at close range. After that you have to arc the ball and lean back. The bow is a machine that was invented to throw miniature spears.

To find my anchor point, I hold my arms at full draw without the bow. The crease in the web between my thumb and fore finger fits snugly under my right jaw while my drawing elbow is directly behind me and if there were a rod, it would run straight through my bow arm. Then, I practice form with my eyes not looking at the target to develop a habit of my form so I don't have to think about it. I don't like thinking about the string tension on my fingers so I reverse the pressure onto the bow and direct it to the path of the arrow. This might be towards the target or above it depending on the distance. As I've learned from a pistol shooter, the right sight picture tells your fingers to (in the case of archery) relax your grip on the string so it pulls free. You don't tell your fingers to relax, you're in the release mode and when you see "right sight picture" you release.

[bradsmith2010]

what BowEd said,,and you will never get it ironed out, its always a work in progress

[Black Moshannon]

I’ve gone through some different methods and ways and I have learned that there are some things my body won’t even allow. Since beginning the high anchor in late November and developing shoulder pain in my draw shoulder it became clear that was a very stupid thing to continue doing when it felt uncomfortable even shadow drawing feels uncomfortable!!! When I anchor like that. No, I have a long neck and my back cannot get fully in and take the strain when my shoulder is lifted so far up out of a straight line… so I am back to the old and very comfortable lower jaw anchor, which in turn once again allows a vertical, totally upright and in line bow and head position, arrow aligned directly under the eye, with string picture included. The gaps are going to be larger but I’m shooting a 700 something grain arrow which is about four inches longer than my draw out of a fifty pound bow so that’s gonna help. Once my shoulder feels better I’m going to get out and see how these gaps play out… meanwhile I’m playing with shooting left handed a little bit just because it’s hard to go without flinging some arrows

[Gimlis Ghost]

I found that my neck won't allow me to turn my head far enough to hold my bow hand and arm far enough back to get a comfortable sight picture using right eye only. This also caused my draw to be short at times.
Not something that can't be over come but it requires conscious effort.
Keeping both eyes open helps, otherwise I'd have to hold my head down to see past my nose, which is odd since I have a rather small nose.