7 things you can do NOW to improve your archery FOREVER

Archery being fun for years has become more challenging today. No matter if it’s done for any competition as a sport or in target shooting, you surely have to LOAD, AIM and FIRE the bow properly which obviously makes a GREAT DIFFERENCE. When you want to learn archery with the proper techniques, the most important question which arises is how to aim and shoot properly in archery for getting the overall accuracy.

As the backbone of archery is a correct shooting posture, so developing a proper form for archery is equally critical as tuning a bow. Even the WELL-TUNED bow won’t perform accurately without a proper posture as it aids your body in working effectively and efficiently with your bow.

This guide will cover all the form aspects from STANCE to RELEASE and guide you on how to aim and shoot properly in archery. Every section has the basics illustrating the dos and don’ts along with offering useful TIPS and ADVICE. For aiming you have two options, either uses a bow sight or shoot instinctively.

Introduction

Being in good form is not the only key in target shooting. You need to be able to make every shot as effective as possible and have a consistent repeatable form for performing the same actions repeatedly in a comfortable and relaxed manner. Forgetting this consistent flow while aiming and shooting properly in archery, the unnecessary effort or stress needs to be eliminated. Mastering the elements involved in good archery form is a tedious process but once practiced and mastered, it will be second nature to you. So the basic key is to practice often while maintaining good skills.

Handedness

Shooting with the correct handedness of the bow is very vital when we talk of how to aim and shoot properly in archery. You should hold a right handed bow in the left hand WHEREAS a left-handed bow should be held in the right hand. If you are a left or right dominant person, you will easily know the correct handedness of the bow but if you have got a right dominant hand and a left dominant eye, you are usually left handed for the bow. If you have a left dominant hand and a right dominant eye, you are usually right-handed for the bow.

If you are ambidextrous (people who can do everything easily with both hands) with a left dominant eye, you will have left-handedness of the bow and with a right dominant eye, you will have right-handedness of the bow.

If you are cross dominant you can choose according to personal preference or age. If ambi-ocular, you have to try both the ways to find out which one is comfortable for you.

Proper Archery Stance

Foot placement also known as stance can AFFECT your arrow flight, in fact, the base of aiming and shooting properly in archery with every shot is a good stance. It assures stability while allowing repetition with CONSISTENCY.

If your feet are not properly positioned with the natural centering point of your body, your shots will automatically be directed within a second towards your centering point.

How to determine a proper archery stance?

Stance in normally determined where your hip and shoulder are pointed naturally. Your stance along with affecting your feet position also balances your body with the center of gravity. So your stance should be solid and consistent from arrow to arrow.

1. Basics

Here are a few basics you need to consider for achieving a good stance. Stand straight with your shoulder and feet wide apart along with evenly distributing your weight between your feet. Now stand and relax your legs. Your knees should not be bent or locked out if you don’t need to do so due to the shots nature. Don’t let the bow lean you forward or backward and keep your back straight.

The basic stance of archery is performed by placing each foot parallel to the shooting line. Now rotate your chin as close as possible to the shoulder of your hand holding the bow. Now rotate your hips in a way as to flatten your lower back. Lower your ribs and chest down towards your stomach and push your shoulders down.

There are many foot positions with different names in archery and you need to learn about them before shooting an arrow. Each one of them is slightly variant from the other.

There are five-foot positions you must know to aim and shoot properly in archery.

2. Open stance

This is a popular stance used everywhere. It will take your front foot closest to the target by turning your front foot outwards. Turning your foot also opens your shoulders and hips to the target. It mostly has a 30-degree outward angle of turn. Increased string clearance is introduced past the chest and arms with the hip and shoulder rotation, as the bow’s position is further away from the chest now.

An open stance is difficult to perfect and you can experience misalignment of shoulders and hips if it’s not properly executed. Many advanced archers use this stance.

3. Square stance

A square stance is the best position to start off in archery as it’s simple and easy to learn along with being consistently reproductive. It places the shoulders and hips in line with the direction of the aims or even perpendicular with the targets face, thus facilitating a good biomechanical alignment.

Your feet should be parallel to the shooting line in a square stance. Stand straight while rotating your chin to the shoulder as close as possible to the arm holding the bow. Your feet will adopt this stance naturally once you imagine facing an oncoming tackle. That’s why it’s the best stance for outdoor target disciplines like hunting and 3D archery etc.

This is the best foot position which keeps you stable in windy conditions and it produces comparatively fewer variations in the shot execution by helping you to achieve accuracy in a shorter time.

4. Neutral stance

It increases the feeling of engagement with the shot even more than the open stance thus increasing the clearance between the chest, bow, and arm. This can also be called ‘ready for anything’ stance as it opens the shoulders and hips more towards the target than the open stance, ultimately making you more stable.

5. Closed stance

Being only used by few archers, it’s simply opposite to that of open stance as in this stance you pull your foot a little back behind the shooting line. This stance staggers the archer’s feet slightly, keeping the front foot ahead of the rear while the hips are closed to the target.

In this stance, the archer is slightly facing away from the target and the non-dominant foot is placed a foot positions a foot in front of the dominant foot. It provides great stability along with excellent alignment of shoulder and arm lining directly to the target.

6. Oblique stance

In this stance, the dominant foot is placed one foot ahead of the non-dominant foot and placed at a right angle to the drawn line. The body is in total equilibrium and the target is easily and clearly visible in this stance.

Once released this stance provides a large clearance space for the bowstring. It is utilized solely by expert archers as it’s the hardest stance to perfect.

How do I know the proper archery stance for me?

Once that you have known about all the stances, it’s time to choose the proper archery stance for you. None of these stances is the best or worst no matter what your coach or others say.

You need to try them all and then select which fits you the best. It solely depends on how comfortable you feel with a particular stance. The type of stance which an archer will adopt is vital to his performance. So choose it wisely!

7 Must Do things for making a good stance:-

The most important aspect of this practice session is repetitions. In the beginning, a student can handle 1-1.5 hours of shooting by focusing on stance. This number of repetitions for focusing on the basic archery stance will determine how well and fast you progress in your learning cycle.

The more time you exercise this entire process physically and mentally, the more aware you will get of your posture, stability, and COG.

Keep your practice time and number of repetitions to an easily manageable level in the beginning. Start with 30 repetitions and increase the repetitions over the period of time. In a single session, advanced archers shoot almost 30-60 arrows WHEREAS competitive archers shoot 120 or even more.

You should remain mentally focused on the stance otherwise the purpose of practicing is pointless. Mentally focus on every step of the basic archery stance with every arrow you shoot.

1. Foot

The foot which is behind the shooting line should be parallel to the shooting line or rotate slightly few degrees towards the down range. If the foot is opposite of the shooting direction, the excessive load will be applied on the knee which prohibits proper hip alignment.

The foot which is forward of the shooting has to be parallel to the line or point slightly in the targets downrange direction. Similarly, if your feet are spaced too wide apart or too close together, you will become unstable so the proper distribution of your body weight is the key to proper stance.

2. Lower back & hips

If you arch your lower back, you will get unstable as your center of gravity will shift forward to your knees. So clench your gluteus muscles which will roll your hips under your body and make you more stable.

3. Posture

Proper posture ultimately facilitates a better power transmission from the muscles strengthening you to perform the shot execution while maintaining consistency.

4. Proper alignment

You must maintain proper alignment in order to shoot accurately and consistently throughout the shot execution. Your body’s alignment along with the mass weight of the bow will assure a solid and stable shooting platform.

5. Center of gravity

Lowering your ribs or chest will stabilize your center of gravity. Normally the beginners thrust their chest upward, raising the center of gravity, leaving less stability behind.

6. Nocking

Nock simply means loading your bow with an arrow. The nock saves the arrow from loosening from the bowstring or even moving unintentionally up and down. Thus it makes it much easier for the archer to keep the arrow in its place.

7. The nocking point

These days most bows have a nocking point on their bowstring. The nocking point is a small brass band for marking the correct position on the bowstring. Once the nocking point on your bow is set attach the nock locator so whenever you shoot an arrow, you can attach your arrows at the same place to the string. As a beginner, you can take a finger saver as the nock point of your range. You can easily grasp this little rubber thing with your finger.

How to nock the arrow in right way?

• Grab an arrow from your quiver and on the arrow, you can see three groupings of feathers.
• Point the bow towards the ground with your bow limbs vertical.
• Set the arrow on the arrow rest.
• If you are a right-handed archer, grasp the arrow between your index finger and thumb of your right hand.
• Hold the bow with your left hand about a waist-high parallel to the ground.
• On the bow’s arrow rest lay the arrow shaft.
• Align the nock of the string with the slot and make sure to point up the cock feather holding the bow parallel to the ground.
• Pull the arrow back to snap the string into the slot.
• When the bowstring connects to the nock of the arrow, there is a satisfying catch you might hear.
• You must be certain that the bowstring is securely attached to the arrow before firing.

A nock is a point on the arrow which receives all the energy from the bow. Point the index feather away from the bowstring and place the nock of the arrow under the nocking point. A nocked arrow must be positioned a quarter inch above the bow handles arrow rest. If you are in doubt, you better ask someone with experience about nocking an arrow the right way.

Hook (The correct finger position)

Another important step of how to aim and shoot properly in archery is to hook the bowstring properly. To do so you need to place your fingers correctly. It involves the string hand and string forearms. The hooks power should be kept in the middle knuckles of your string fingers.

To hook the bowstring, you need to place it in the first knuckle joint of the fingers of your draw hand. By doing so, you get a good grip of the string and it doesn’t shoot forward uncontrolled as you have to decide when to let the bowstring go. You can use a finger tab to save you some pain.

How to hook a bow?

Place the string on the middle finger, one string width closer to the palm than most of the distance knuckle. Place the string in the middle of the pad on the tip of your ring finger. You can now put the hook on the bowstring. Place the string on your fingers without curling them. Now curl your fingers at the middle knuckle.

The string pressure on the middle finger should be about 50%, on the index finger 30% and on the ring finger 20%. You should put the string fingers in very specific places on the string.

How many fingers should I use to hold the bowstring?

All the good shots get started with the proper hand position on the bow. The hand with which you draw the string is your tab hand. If you are planning to shoot for a long time, you need a plastic guard or a finger tab to save your fingers to sore. There are 2 bow string finger positions

1 over 2 under

This is the most commonly used string finger position used even by Olympic target archers. In this, one finger is over and two are under position, your index finger will be above the nock of the arrow whereas your ring and middle fingers will be below it. Your thumb and little finger should stay relax and should not hold the string.

3 under

In this position, your index, middle and ring fingers all are below the arrow. Here again, your thumb and little finger must relax. This position is easier for the beginners to grip while aiming the bow.

Deep grip or fingertip grip

Your fingers should hook up to their first joint on the string, which is known as DIP joint. Many people even prefer holding the string with an only fingertip grip. By using less part of their finger, they get accurate shots upon release.

What are the protective gears in archery?

Certain equipment are essential to ensure safety and make your SHOOTING EXPERIENCE more SAFE and FUN. Check all Protective Gears.

Gloves & tabs

A three fingered archery glove is available to protect your hand and fingers. Another accessory is known as finger guard or tab also have the same function. Tabs are used by the professionals as they tend to cover the necessary parts of your hand and fingers. You can get permanent nerve damage without a finger tab even with a 20 lb bow.

Choosing these aids depend on the size of your fingers and draw weight. You might not prefer to use anything at all.

Mechanical release aid

Many hunters especially the compound bow hunters prefer using a mechanical release aid for increasing their accuracy. It attaches to your wrist and hooks on the string’s loop before the draw. Then a trigger is used for releasing the arrow and string.

Common mistakes to avoid

Applying too much finger pressure to join the bowstring can trigger many problems. A common archery mistake is to rush and place your fingers on the bowstring. A second look at finger placement can pay huge dividends for your shot. You should get the right grip of your bow by placing it inside the meaty part of your hand. Read seven common shooting mistakes.

Hooking the bowstring with excessive finger tension or the wrong placement of fingers can cause problems from developing painful finger blisters to entirely missing the target. Proper and consistent hooking creates tighter groups.

What is a proper way to hold a bow?

For a good shot, a proper hand position/grip is critical as its having an incredible effect on your PERFORMANCE. It forms a vital part of the whole procedure of how to aim and shoot properly in archery.

Your grip should be very gentle on the bow. Your fingers should fully grasp the bow although being lightly placed on the front of the bow, preparing it for the shot. Along with having full control of the bow, the fingers and hands of the archer should be relaxed.

What is the correct position of your bow arm when shooting?

Extend your bow arm as you will hold a bow. Flex out all your fingers and make a ‘V’ with them by turning your wrist slightly. Either if you are left handed or right handed, make the universal gesture of stop so the lifeline of your palm is vertical.

Then set your bow at the middle of the V and pull the bowstring a little back with your other hand. Once you draw, its tension will hold the bow in its place but make sure to relax your fingers at full draw. You may press your index finger on its riser if you are worried about dropping it.

Instead of sitting in the middle of your palm, it sits more on your thumbs meaty part. At almost 45 degrees angle, the knuckles will taper away from the bow parallel to the grip. It forces to turn out your elbow by taking your forearm away from the bowstring. Your grip should ideally give you full control of the bow while seeming not too forced.

How an improper grip happens?

Using a death grip for holding the bow is a common mistake most of the archers make. When you release an arrow and pivot your bow hand, it causes the riser to twist or turn due to the force of the bow creating hand torque.

A tight grip results in torque. If the grip of your bow is not properly placed its results in bow torque and you will end shooting up to either left or right of the desired target as the bow springs back to its original position.

Once you clench the muscles of your fingers, wrist, hand or forearm, they start to shake which ultimately moves your bow. As it wiggles back and forth when the arrow leaves the bow, its movements affect the path of your arrow making your shots inaccurate.

How can a proper hand grip eliminates the bow torque?

YES, A proper hand position eliminates the bow torque. Your hand should be placed on the bow in a way that is repeatable because your hand is the only thing touching the bow during the shot sequence. For the most effective grip, you need to rest your bow on the pad of your thumb, the area left of the lifeline as fewer muscles get involved here.

1. Extend your bow arm

The next step of how to aim and shoot properly in archery is to raise your bow to its target. Relax your shoulders and gently bring up your bow to align it with the target.

Get it in the general vicinity and don’t hone in on the target yet. On the bowstring place your other hand but don’t draw yet.

2. Maintain your elbow alignment

For best practice, elbows with 9 and 3 rules should be followed. The inside and outside of your elbow should be parallel to the ground. They should be pointed at 9 o’clock and 3 o ‘clock respectively to bring consistency to your shots.

3. Elbow rotation

With your bow hand, grip the bow so your knuckles are visible to you with a 40-45 degree line to the floor for positioning your elbow correctly. Position your elbow in a way that if your arm is bend, it should bend towards the side and not to the floor.

4. Hyperextend Elbows

If you are having hyperextended elbows- that is, bent inwards- the bowstring might contact your inner arm once you let it loose which results in painful inner arm injuries.

How to draw a bow in 7 Steps? Recurve or Compound!

Draw in archery simply means to pull the bowstring back. You are basically “drawing” when you are pulling the bowstring back to yourself. This is the most important part of aiming and shooting properly in archery sequence.

Related: Compound Bow Vs. Recurve Bow : Basics

In this step, the bowstring is brought backward towards the side of your face. For drawing, you should push with your bow arm while pulling with your tab hand. You should be able to push and pull both and avoid overly focusing on any one of them.

Steps for drawing the bow:-

1. You need to keep your head straight and up.
2. Keep your shoulders in a good form by relaxing and keep them as low as possible.
3. Using your back muscle is pretty important because a good draw also you’re your back along with your arms. When you are about to full draw, squeeze both the blades of your shoulders together. Don’t jerk, rather do it gently.
4. Keep the wrist of your drawing hand as flat and straight as possible. Avoid the “break your wrist” position with a straight line from your wrist to your forearm and elbow while you are at full draw.
5. The center of the bow should be lined up with the bowstring as you draw. Don’t pull it left or right.
6. While you are at full draw, your chest should be perpendicular to the target while your index fingers near your mouths corner. Directly behind the arrow should be your elbow on your draw arm, roughly parallel to the arrow.
7. Keep your draw smooth from the rest position to full draw.

How can you correct your draw weight?

You should select a bow with appropriate draw weight. For a quick refresher, it’s the amount of force needed to draw a bowstring. If you nock an arrow and pull the bowstring back with 10 pounds draw weight of the bow its easier than to nock an arrow and pull the bowstring back with 20 pounds draw weight.

If you choose a bow having a draw weight too low, you will end up overdrawing the bow resulting in slow and inaccurate shots. If you select a bow having a draw weight too high, you will have difficulty drawing it, ending up with injuries and developing bad habits.

Compound draw Vs. Recurve draw

For a compound bow, you need to draw the bow to full extent before finding the anchor point because a compound bow has a backstop. In a compound bow once you are in a full draw it’s easier to hold back the bowstring. This drip in the draw weight is called the valley making it great for hunting as you can aim longer without holding full draw weight of the bow.

Be careful not to lean forward on the bowstring once you are at full draw because the bowstring gets a lot HEAVIER and you can lose control of the bowstring.

On the other hand, for a recurve bow, you naturally drawback to your anchor point.

What is clicker? Why it is use for?

This device is used by experienced and competitive recurve archers. When you draw back the arrow to its best length for that specific bow, this device simply clicks. You might get distracted by using it as you hear its click and force yourself to shoot early.

How can I Find my anchor point in archery?

Anchoring could be a big challenge for beginning archers in the whole process of how to aim and shoot properly in archery. The specific spot on your face where the bowstring is pulled each time or the point of reference on your face is called an anchor point. An anchor point helps the archers to put your draw hand in the same area every time you shoot.

It helps to tell you if the string is aligned or not the way it needs to be. You should have several touch points like lips, nose, cheek, mouth, neck, and chin. Increased points of reference mean increased consistency. It is absolutely impossible to hit the target consistently without an anchor point.

Anchor points are different for different people. You can build your support point with the advice of your trainer. Even the anchor points of different bows are different like a crossbow, compound bow and recurve bows. All these differences depend on factors like draw length, size of the bow or the protective gears used.

The most common anchor points taught by the trainers are:-

1. Corner of the mouth

Also known as side anchor, this is probably the most commonly used anchor point especially for beginners its easy to remember and achieve. You should pull the bowstring back in a manner that the index finger of your draw hand touches the corner of your mouth. Your top finger should rest under your cheekbone while your thumb should tuck in the back of your jaw bone.

This might seem a bit strange at first but you will very quickly get used to it with practice. This gives you three reference points.

When you are planning to shoot with sight or shoot long distance, this position is more preferable to a corner of the mouth.

2. Under the jaw

Also known as a low anchor, In this method, the bowstring is pulled back and positioned under the jaw.

Its often used by the professional archers in the Olympic games. In this type of anchor, your index finger of the tab hand rests along your jawline while the string contacts with your chin.

It gives three reference points, finger to jaw and string to nose and chin.

Anchor points and Recurve bow

The side anchor is helpful with a recurve or traditional bow without a sight. Whereas a low anchor gives you a better line to sight the arrow and is a good spot for beginners as its easy to remember and reach time after time.

Though the low anchor is a bit advanced after extensive practice, you get a sensory memory of where the string must be every time. It also gives the archers more reference points.

Anchor points and Compound bow

We usually use a release aid while shooting from a compound bow, so corner of the mouth anchor point won’t fit with it. A kisser button is sometimes used by compound bow users on their bowstring for helping them out. The kisser button is attached to the bowstring and while at full draw connects to the side of the mouth for securing an anchor point.

However, if you are using a mechanical release, you can use side anchor as your anchor point. You know you have the bow at right anchor if it touches your mouth.

How to find the best anchor point in archery?

The only way to find the best anchor point for you is to try different ways. No anchor point is wrong, what matters is which one suits you the best. Its worth-while to test different anchor points as one might feel good for one archer but not for you. By trying different ways, you may even find something else even better.

Do not try different methods in the same session. Try one method and have a record of your successful shots along with the ease of finding the anchor. Then in the next session, try a different method and record. Continue trying and recording and then review which one worked best for u.

Here are some tips to improve your anchor points:-

Aiming

Aiming tends to be one of the most important aspects of how to aim and shoot properly in archery when it comes to improving the overall accuracy and learning proper techniques.

There are 2 different ways of aiming:-

1. Traditional way

This can be very complicated to master as it’s not assisted in any way. If you aim without sight, you trust your senses and training for hitting the target. That’s basically instinctive archery as you know from your experience where the arrow will fly and you don’t really aim it.

The archer simply draws, looks towards the target, takes a comfortable decision that it will end up where it’s supposed to and then the arrow is released. It’s a long process of trial and error where the archer’s instinct is eventually perfected to the point where the arrow actually hits the bull eye.

You need to start using this technique with short distances to your target. Once you are confident enough to hit the bullseye mostly, it’s safe to move your target back.

A great advantage of using this technique is all you will need is your body, bow, and arrow and you don’t rely on any technical equipment. You don’t need to carry a sight and don’t even bother if it even breaks. This is a great way of improving your archery skills and you are a true archer exercising your own ability. You know how to adapt, how high/low to aim and can easily guess the distance to your target.

2. Using a Sight

Sights work in archery similar to those of guns and rifles. It’s common more with modern bows like a compound or recurve. It makes your aim more accurate when you fix sight on the bow. There are many different sights available in the market which you can choose from. The ones which are more adjustable are obviously more expensive and the ones which are less adjustable are the cheaper ones.

Being a beginner, you can choose a simple pin sight. These beginners sights start at shorter distances. If your target is far, you need to aim higher and if it’s near, you aim lower. Like if your target is 50 meters away and you have adjusted your site to 50 meters, all you have to do is to hold the pin over the target directly and let the arrow fly.

Some sights even have multiple pins for one sight and you can site those pins for different ranges. Once you get to know the distance to your target, you choose the pin which was sighted in for that target. Though in my opinion, the single pin sights are the best as you can easily adjust them to the distance of your target by only turning an adjusting screw.

The sight gliders they have are already marked with distances. So you only need to set it to the distance without aiming it higher or lower but to your target directly. Often you will find your arrows grouping to the left/right or below/above the bullseye, in this case, you need to re-adjust it to align your sight with the target. Chase your arrows and move your scope to the direction of your arrows to fine tune your scope.

For recurve, the archer should always look down the string whereas a compound has a peep sight already installed on the string. Once aligned with the sight, it assures being in the same position always.

Should I use a sight or opt for the traditional way?

If you want to become an amazing archer without using sight, you have to practice for a long time. Once you have gained enough experience, you can hit the bullseye consistently and quickly as compared to the archers using sight.

Using a sight can be a bit quicker but still, the decision depends on all what you want to choose.

By choosing, either way, you can still become a great archer. You can even switch between both the ways and have great experiences both ways. Either you decide to use a sight or aim instinctively; it needs a lot of time and effort for developing proper aiming techniques.

How to aim a Compound bow with sight?

An arrow released from compound bow travel faster than the conventional bow as it uses a set of pulleys for propelling an arrow towards the target. Aiming a compound correctly is the key to using it successfully.

Here are a few steps you need to follow while aiming a compound bow:-

• Adopt a good form by warming up and relaxing your body.
• Adopt a shooting stance by standing with your shoulder and feet wide apart with a 90-degree angle towards the target. Step with your lead foot a bit forward and turn it outward. Now evenly balance your weight without leaning.
• Hold the bows handle in a natural position by resting most of the pressure on the lower part of your thumb. Slightly rotate your hand so that your fingers and palm are relaxed.
• Nock the arrow on your bow string then draw it back by keeping your wrist straight and relax. Now look for anchor points for shooting more consistently.
• Then look through the peep sight which is already attached in a compound bow
• Sight your target through the forward sight which is attached to the front of your bow. The forward sight and target should be visible through the peep sight once the bow is aligned.
• Close one eye as its easier to focus especially for beginners or you can keep both eyes open as it provides a complete view of the target and deep perception.
• Align the correct pin with the compound bows forward sight with your target.
• Check the bubble level and float the pin off target before you shoot.

How to aim a Compound bow without sight?

Planning to be archery pro? Aiming a bow without a bow sight is generally a cool skill to have. It helps you to become a fast hunter with precise skills and movement. The key is to practice for long periods of time.

You need to follow these steps for aiming a compound without a sight.

1. Before starting check and test your equipment. Analyze the arrow and bowstring alignment. Once the components are properly placed, you are ready to aim and shoot.
2. Stand up straight so that your body and feet are perpendicular to each other.
3. Create your target and ensure that your aimed targets are safe to shoot arrows.
4. Ensure not to move your position or any body part after aiming for your target especially your head, wrist, hands, and neck.
5. You need to learn several different tactics from your instructor and by watching videos on the internet and practice them all and find which one works best for you.
6. Once the difficult areas you personally struggle with are mastered, you get primed for the target and it becomes easier as time passes by.

How to aim a Recurve with sight?

Using a sight for a recurve bow can help you aim more precisely and accurately. Here are a few steps you need to follow while aiming a recurve without sight.

• First of all, get in the right form. By right form I mean the right posture, draw style and anchor points.
• Perform the pull and don’t divert with moving the bowstring and your hand.
• Adjust your sight. If you think your arrow is a bit off to right, adjust your scope to the left and vice versa.
• While adjusting your sight, don’t shift it left or right like a lunatic. Customize the sight by paying close attention to where your arrows land.
• Trying shooting from different distances and hit the practice range. Master one distance then move to the other.

How to aim a Recurve without sight?

Being a weapon of choice, recurve bows are gaining enough popularity. You can hit your target consistently and accurately by selecting the right bows and arrows along with some coaching and practicing.

• Select an ideal draw weight and get the desired bow. Measure your draw length and choose arrows for your bow.
• Then find the right stance by standing perpendicular to the target. Your left hip should point towards the target if you are right handed or vice versa.
• Straddle the shooting line and turn your heads towards the target.
• With a comfortable grip hold the bow and load an arrow onto your bow while lifting the bow to the height of your shoulder.
• Pull the bowstring back and aim.
• Now relax your fingers off the string and stay in this position until the arrow hits the target.

How to aim a Crossbow with sight?

A crossbow shoots projectiles called bolts like the traditional bows. Being deadly accurate, a crossbow is used for different types of hunting. The set of instructions given below will teach you how to aim and shoot a crossbow properly.

• Once you find the right crossbow, cock and load it and then flick the crossbow off the safe.
• Once you are ready, take an athletic stance while aiming down the sights or scope of your crossbow to the target.
• Sight in and Aim the crossbows to the intended target and prepare to shoot.
• Examine your shot placement in the target. If necessary make some adjustments to your sight. Make sure to maintain your bow string with wax.

How to aim a Crossbow without sight?

A crossbow has a built-in pin and peep sight but its removable. Most people aim a crossbow by using these sights but if you want to remove and use it without sight, you can do so.

Aiming at a Recurve bow vs. a Compound bow

Aiming with a compound bow has a very different experience to that of aiming with a recurve bow. Compound archers take a few seconds to aim as they tend to come to a full draw whereas recurve archers release their arrows quickly. It’s very difficult to draw back a compound bow further after a certain point because they have a specific bow length.

On the other hand, you can easily overdraw a recurve. To avoid so, a tool called clicker is used to tell them their correct draw exactly. The clicker helps the archer to maintain a consistent draw length on each shot. Read Compound bow Vs. Recurve bow.

Release your arrow

Once you are all set to aim and you go to full draw, you should stay hard on the changes in your muscle mass. For a reliable release with a high aim, you need to use your muscle mass. While focusing at the right time is the ideal approach in the steps of how to aim and shoot properly in archery.

Once you are ready to shoot, let the arrow fly by releasing the tension of your bowstring fingers. At once relax all the three fingers and allow the string to jump forward itself. You don’t need to do anything as the energy which is stored in the limbs put the string forward with force.

Once you release the string and relax the tension in your fingers, three things will happen.

• Your hand falls back a little.
• Your chest will open a little bit and will expand slightly.
• Your shoulders will come a little bit together and your back muscles will contract.

What are the Forms of Release?

The process of release which lets you hand brush past your face is dynamic release whereas the release where your hand doesn’t fall gracefully backward is static release. To start with a follow through release is the best practice.

Aids

There are many different styles of release aids and arm guards available in the market today. You can get yourself hurt if the string hits you. So better use an armed guard before you injure your arm.

When the string is released, it moves slightly around your fingers. The arrow will flex with the sheer weight of force imparted on it. Archers use mechanical aid so there should be no finger to overcome.

How to Analyze your shot in archery?

This perhaps is the most important of all steps in the process of how to aim and shoot properly in archery. After each shot ends, take a second and thoroughly analyze each part of your shot.

Practicising for hours without analyzing your shots is useless because the main key is to pay attention to what works for you and what doesn’t. Only then you can improve. You need to ask yourself:-

Step 1:
How your stance was? Was the shooting line parallel to your feet? Your head was facing the target? Your knees were slightly bent or no? were your muscles relaxed? Did your body drift during the shot?

Step 2:
Was your arrow knocked correctly? Did your bow point towards your ground and were the limbs vertical before the shot? Was your index vane pointing the right way?

Step 3:
Was the bowstring grasped correctly?

Step 4:
How was your grip on the bow? Was it relaxed? Did it shake upon the release?

Step 5:
How was your form while raising your bow arm? Were your muscles relaxed? Were your shoulders scrunched up or low? Your elbows position? Was it hyperextended? Was your bow below the target once you raised your bow arm?

Step 6:
How was your draw? Was it too heavy or too light? Did your bow arm shake? Was your grip maintained?

Step 7:
Were you properly connected with your anchor point? Did you take precautions not to alter your anchor point?

Step 8:
Was your aim accurate? Is there any need of adjusting the bow sight or chasing the arrows? Did your arrows group well?

Step 9:
What about your release? Did you allow your string hand to gracefully release the bow? Did your chest expand a little or you felt your back contracted? Did your bow arm move during or after the release?

Step 10:
Did you review your shot? Did you figure out what went right or wrong?

Follow through

In this process of aiming and shooting once the string is released, everything must remain the same as you are still aiming. The tab hand should not drop and finish behind your neck. The bow drops forward if it’s held correctly. These pull and push action should not stop through your back and bow arm.

You should have a good arm position and throughout the shot, keep them both in a push/pull configuration. Thus a good follow through will automatically happen at the time of release. Your hand will rise automatically and move behind your neck once your shoulders close those last few inches.

Repetition: The heart of Archery

Archery rewards exact repetition. With a lot of practice, a dramatic uplift can be seen in your accuracy. Even your anchor point becomes a sense memory and when the drawstring is pulled to the same spot hundreds of times, you automatically meet your anchor point. These are some basics of how to aim and shoot properly in archery we explained.

This sport gives you a zeen like feeling of peace along with developing the muscles of your back and arms. Archery is about having an accurate and complete hold over the bow. Another typical mistake which the archers commonly make is they fail to finish the shot with strength.