Draw Length

In order to improve your form your bow has to fit your body. If it doesn’t fit your body the following steps will have a minimal effect. There are a few different formulas or procedures for calculating draw length but there is an easy visual method. With the archer in the full draw and anchored position the release arm should be straight and close to being horizontal and the shoulders should be over the feet. The release arm elbow should be above the arrow. The gain with this position is minimizing the muscles it takes to keep in the full draw position. If your draw length is too long more muscles are used and it becomes hard to hold the bow steady during aiming. It is best to have a friend observe you at full draw or video tape yourself. Most people shoot too long of draw and it will make a very noticeable difference on how stable one can hold the bow on target. No matter what a formula says though experimenting with different draws can be the best way to find your ideal draw length by finding which one you can hold the steadiest allowing you to shoot the best groups.

Draw Weight

Unless you practice quite a bit, lift weights, or are pursuing large game there is no big reason to shoot heavy poundage. Shooting a draw weight that is comfortable to draw and hold back will improve your accuracy. I must say I was guilty of this and truly felt I was accurate enough with a heavy draw weight. Moving down has helped my accuracy considerable because less muscles are used and I do not get tired as quickly in practice. Another thought is in the draw and aiming process you are often moving your joints in a loaded condition. The less force they have on them, the easier you are on your joints and the longer you will be able to enjoy archery.

Bow Hand Grip

First you will want to start off by placing the handle in the middle of the webbing between your thumb and pointer finger and it should end contact in the middle of your palm by the wrist. From your shooting position your knuckles will slant away from the bow at about a 45 degree angle with your pointer knuckle being the closest. I try to put most of the pressure on the base of my palm close to my wrist because it directly loads my arm. Loading too high close to your thumb can also cause the bow to be held slightly closer or farther away from you on each shot and cause inconsistencies. The fingers can wrap around the grip but should be relaxed and not gripping the bow. Gripping your bow or forcing your fingers outward are not good because both use muscle which can vary with each shot and cause inconsistencies. It is usually best to have a smaller grip to reduce the possibility of torquing the bow with your hand.

Locking Your Bow Shoulder

Most people do not lock their bow shoulder and I was guilty of this for quite some time. Locking your shoulder will help load more of your bone structure in your shoulder than muscle and you will have a steadier aim. It also helped move my elbow away from the string and prevented the string from slapping my arm on a particular bow.

The easiest way to see what it feels like is to lean against a wall using your bow hand to support you. Your hand must be above your shoulder and as you relax your shoulder should go into the locked position. By moving your hand down the wall you will be able to see how hard it can be to keep it in. The hard part is trying to recreate this feeling while shooting. You may have to play around with how you draw your bow because it has a huge effect on where your shoulder wants to go. If some one has a locked shoulder while they are shooting their two shoulders should appear level in the full draw position and shooting at level target. If not their bow shoulder can be significantly higher.

Feet and Leg Positioning

The best leg and foot positioning I have seen is to stand with your feet about shoulder length apart and have your back leg slightly out front. How much out front depends on each person but you can find your ideal position by standing at the full draw position and aiming at the target. Then close your eyes and hold the bow steady. Try to hold it for about 15 to 30 seconds and then open your eyes. If you have drifted off the target try bringing your foot either back or forward and repeat the process. Repeat the process until you find the foot position with little or no sight drift. You can shoot from other positions but know your body has to fight its natural tendency to drift in other positions if you are not in your ideal position.

Head and Eye Positioning

The most important thing to remember about head and eye positioning is your vision is blurred by looking out of the corners of your eyes. It is not entirely possible but the more you keep your head facing the target the less chance you have to look out of the corner of your eye. If you vision becomes blurred when shooting try a different anchoring position or reducing your draw length to allow your head to face the target more directly. Many of the top archers like to put the tip of their nose on the string as an anchor. If you anchor your string across the side of your nose it can be hard to have a consistent anchor point. It can also be a sign of too long of draw. Try to establish three anchors which will allow you to draw and anchor with your eyes but know when you open your eyes you will be looking at your pins and through your peep sight.

Release Hand Positioning

The main objective is to keep your hand, wrist, and forearm all aligned and relaxed. This helps to reduce any torque that could be applied to the string and allows for a smoother shot. It is also one less set of muscles you will have to use. Shooting too long of draw length makes keeping your hand, wrist, and forearm in line very hard to do as shown in the picture.

Back Tension

The goal of back tension is to allow for a surprise release on every shot and prevent your body from reacting to the shot differently in anticipation of the arrow being released. It is easiest to do using a back tension release and simply involves moving your release elbow back behind you by loading your back muscles between your shoulder blades. Each release is different but this small movement will set the release off. Your sensitivity is greatly reduced in this form so you typically do not know when the arrow will be released.

This can be a hard form to master for some people and some may never be able to shoot with back tension. If you cannot shoot back tension the other process could be only applying light pressure to the trigger while you are on the target. Eventually the release should go off without you knowing it is going off. The end result is not to punch the trigger because the jerking from the punch or the rest of your body in anticipation could throw you off your intended point of contact.

It can be best to practice either form by blind bailing. It is simply shooting your target with your eyes closed(stand close to your target) or at a blank target. The purpose is to concentrate on what the shooting process should feel like so it can be reproduced when aiming later. Do not worry about aiming during blind bailing.

Conclusion

If you are struggling with consistency or would like to improve your accuracy try some of these form changes. Not all of them are easy to make and I am still working on many to improve my form. Good form may not be for everyone but I believe by knowing what good form is and a good shot feels like, a person is better suited to substitute form changes and maintain accuracy.

Fig 1