What is the secret to accuracy with a traditional bow?

[President Obanana]

Is it the type of bow? Or is technique everything?

[ncboman]

I think genetics might have something to do with it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/Israel/Indianbowhunterr.jpg

:)

[GF.]

Two things - Mechanical and Mental

Mechanically, the biggest trick is to get the arrow as close to your hand as possible, and to make sure that it contacts the riser only directly above the pivot point in the deepest part of the grip. So a good riser design has a radius to the shelf, as well as to the 'sight window'. You look at a recurve like the PSE Impala, and you'll see a prime example of what not to buy. At least, unless they've wised up.....:rolleyes:

But anyway, those two characteristics accomplish two things; the contact points above the deepest part of the grip reduce the effect of any torque you may have on the grip, and getting the arrow really close to your hand makes the arrow go right where you're pointing.

And then Mental... is pure mental. The biggest trick is focusing on a small enough spot. On rabbits, I like shooting at eyeballs. On big game, you just have to focus in so tight that the whole animal disappears and all you can see is that one, small spot where the arrow needs to go. That's hard at longish range, because you can't help but see the whole animal. I can hit a tennis all at 45-50 yards, but a deer is perfectly safe....:D

And the second half of mental is the confidence piece. When you know you're gonna hit it, you do. You doubt, you don't.

And the key to that is practice. Nothing else will get you there....

[ncboman]

And the second half of mental is the confidence piece. When you know you're gonna hit it, you do. You doubt, you don't. ...

I think... therefore; Siam. :)

[Greywolf]

I think... therefore; Siam. :)

pass the cheese plz:D

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Glasshoppel, The seclet to acculacy with a tladitional bow cannot be achieved untir one has raunched 10,000 allows.

Obsessive practice.

Alan

[GF.]

Ten sousand?

I wishu!

When I was a kid, we had 'pocket rockets'... The fold-up-&-stash-in-a-pocket version of the old wrist rocket sling shots. And we used the original non-toxic shot alternative - dried peas. By the bagful.....:D


Lots o' bags full.....:rolleyes:

Now, of course, those don't really meet the 'close to the hand' criterion for good accuracy, but we got to be pretty OK with 'em.

[My buddy]

To start off with, your arrows need to be tuned to the bow.

Or in other words, you need to have the right spined arrows.

Without tuned arrows, you with never be able to achieve consistent accuracy.

[GF.]

Well, that ain't the whole of it... Especially not if you're gonna hunt with it....

Any center-shot bow ought to be able to tolerate just about any straight shaft that is in the right neighborhood at the individual's draw weight and length. Provided you get it tuned right, of course, but some bows are just less fussy than others.

For example.... The Martin/Howatt Hunter will shoot a variety of shafts into one pretty large group. Not bad for instinctive shooting at a paper bullseye, but I pretty much use all of it :o The Bighorn shoots the same mix of arrows into two tight groups, sorting the shafts for me with 100% accuracy. :D And that's at basically the same brace height and draw weight.

But yesterday, just for grins, I lowered my brace height a bunch. Didn't affect target points with 5" shields, but then not much can throw shaft like that off kilter. Other than a broadhead :eek: I put a 2-blade on one and man, oh man! At 10 yards it was shooting a little high and left. Not way off the mark, but consistently so. Field points were generally grouping into a couple inches, so probably not just me....

At 15 yards the groups were definitely expanding fast - enough so that I'd be happier hunting with this rig at about 10-12 yards until I get back in the groove a little bit. On the other hand, though, I could hardly keep the broadhead in the target :eek:

So now I've got to twist it back up to where I get decent flight again. Really ought to check the height of the nocking point, too, because it seems awful high.

But ultimately, you've gotta start ridiculously close and aim at the smallest thing you can stand to. Fred Asbell recommends a cotton ball out on the grass, and that's a good option.

Then practice, practice, practice.

[My buddy]

while I still defend my comments on lack of consistent accuracy with the wrong spined shafts.

When it comes to hunting, the spine is even more important.

Even if you can get a improperly spined shaft to hit in the same general area, an improperly spined arrow takes longer to recover and if the arrow is not flying straight upon impact penetration will suffer.

[GF.]

And just to be clear - I'm not suggesting that you can get away with having the spine all wrong or even mostly wrong; I'm just noting that spine only gets you just so close. After that, if you want your broadheads to fly straight and drive deep, there's a fair amount of fiddling to be done. I've had the Bighorn shooting exactly where my field points and Judos had trained me to expect them to hit - but into tighter groups - and then I've had it doing some really odd stuff with the exact same arrows. Not the same make & model, mind you, but the same individual arrows right down to the serial number on the shaft.

As a rule, though, You can start with the brace height on the high side and get good flight, provided that the spine's close enough. Then you go on to fiddling with brace heights and nocking points.

But the good news is that once you've got it dialed for a particular bow, you're basically set for life unless you really change your release. A bow square is important for setting the correct height on the nocking point, but you can just make a mark on your shafts in permanent ink and that allows you to check your brace height any time there's a shaft on the string...