# A good eye patch for shooting?



## Tradbow Guy (Feb 9, 2007)

Guys I am one of the unlucky right hand left eye dominate shooters. Never bothered me in compound because I shot one eye. I am having to do the same thing and I find closing an eye with traditional to be very distracting. I remember reading about people using an eye patch or eye patch type device to shoot cross dominant and was wondering if anyone here knew of any good ones I should take a look at so I can keep both eyes open and not have to squint.


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## Stone Bridge (May 20, 2013)

Trad guy, I read that Howard Hill was cross-dominate. I don't know if this is true. If it is, it proves a point I've heard others profess, that being binocular vision is all you really need for sightless shooting. It helps to have the correct eye over the arrow but good shooting can be done as in your case. I would really work with both eyes open and try to train your other eye (weak eye) to do more work.


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## Tradbow Guy (Feb 9, 2007)

wow, that scrazy if thats true about howard. I started off trying both eyes open, i was getting decent groups but I kept getting a lot of flyers. When I closed one eye my groups got better by at least 3 fold. With both eyes open, i can shoot 100% instinctive, I cannot see the arrow in my vision at all. With one eye closed, i can stare at the target and have a great perephrial view of the arrow as well. I think this is why I shoot so much better that way.


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## timewaster (Mar 22, 2014)

I am the same, right handed and very left eye dominant. I started shooting lefty and my accuracy greatly improved. If you don't want to switch, don't try to aim just look directly at what you want to hit with both eyes open, same way you would throw a ball where you want it to go. I can now shoot left or right but shooting lefty gives me the best result.


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## Arcus (Jul 7, 2005)

Some of this depends on what type of shooting you like to do. Depth perception is important for unknown distances, e.g., 3D or hunting, so using both eyes is important. As for me, I'm strictly a target shooter who shoots known yardages, i.e., 900 rounds and field archery. Since depth perception is not as important, I partially occlude my left eye. I wear glasses, so my method might not work for you unless you wear non-prescription galsses while shooting. I put scotch tape or a post-it flag on the outer third of the left lens. This blocks that double image of the arrow, yet allows me to leave my left eye open to let more light into my left eye, which is better than closing the left eye or totally occluding it.


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## Tradbow Guy (Feb 9, 2007)

timewaster said:


> I am the same, right handed and very left eye dominant. I started shooting lefty and my accuracy greatly improved. If you don't want to switch, don't try to aim just look directly at what you want to hit with both eyes open, same way you would throw a ball where you want it to go. I can now shoot left or right but shooting lefty gives me the best result.


This is how I was doing it. I was getting good groups sometimes and sometimes not. I would shoot one round and get probably a 4" group at 10-15 yards, then shoot another and get maybe a pie plate group. I could not see the arrow at all with both eyes open. With left eye closed I still concentrate on target but can see the shaft in my perephrils and i am getting every arrow touching with maybe 1 slight flyer at 10-15 yards a round. I could maybe continue to improve and have somewhat decent groups with both eyes open but I dont think i'll ever be able to match what I can do with one eye closed.


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## spookinelk (Feb 10, 2013)

Tradbow, Just my .02 but if you are having that much trouble your eye dominance might be so strong that a switch to left handed shooting might be in order. I was in the same boat as you several years ago, the final straw for me was when I completely lost track of the biggest buck I had ever seen when I closed my left eye at full draw to take the shot at 10 yards, had to let down and spooked the buck. Ordered a LH bow a few days later, mothballed the right hander and made myself relearn how shoot left handed. Switching hands was the best decision for me, might not be best for you but I sure am glad I made the switch. I was shooting better left handed than I ever did right handed in a couple months and really started enjoying shooting more. If you can shoot a pistol right handed you can probably shoot a bow left handed, very similar if you think about it..... just some food for thought. Good luck!


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## Viper1 (Aug 21, 2003)

TBG- 

You do not want an eye patch, especially a "black" one that stops light from entering the the eye.

There's a physiologic process called sympathetic dilation, which means that when one eye is in darkness, the other eye (pupil) will dilate to some degree - effectively causing some degree of acuity reduction in the "open" eye. 

Even at "unknown" distances, like 3D and hunting, your ranging is done with both eyes open (binocular vision), but your aiming can be with one eye (monocular vision - think using a sight). 

How much does this matter? Honestly for casual shooting, probably not much. 
The better you want to be, the more of an issue it might become. 

My suggestion would be to find your target and quesstimate it's distance with both eyes open, then gently close the eye you're not aiming with. Enough light will get through your eye lid to prevent or lesson the dilation. 

Viper1 out.


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## JParanee (Oct 13, 2009)

Really good answer Viper 

You are a useful fellow  

All kidding aside I really apreciate the way you help people out


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## Stone Bridge (May 20, 2013)

Viper, I never heard before what you have said about pupil dilation caused by blacking out the other peeper. It is interesting. 

I read once that pirates used eye patches not because they had lost an eye, but for the ability to have one eye fully dilated once they got below deck where it was dark to fight. One eye clear for the daylight attack, the patched eye in the state of readiness to give the pirate some vision in the first minute or so below deck in the dark. Again, do not know if this is true. I tend to read too much crap. Fun crap, but crap nonetheless.

Another example of sympathetic processes in the human body. It's been shown in studies that an athlete can break an arm or leg and continue to weight train the opposite member. This has some measurable effect on the injured limb. It causes the injured limb to atrophy much less. Perhaps it has to do with chemicals released into the bloodstream from working the other body part. Understand it does not substitute for rehab after the limb is healed, it just seems to keep the injured limb in much better condition until it can resume work. 

Joe P., you have some knowledge of weight training. Have you ever heard of this?


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## Tradbow Guy (Feb 9, 2007)

Viper1 said:


> TBG-
> 
> You do not want an eye patch, especially a "black" one that stops light from entering the the eye.
> 
> ...


Hm, if this is true then perhaps something made out of a transluscent white plastic would do well since it would be bright.


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## larry tom (Aug 16, 2012)

Tradbow Guy said:


> Hm, if this is true then perhaps something made out of a transluscent white plastic would do well since it would be bright.


TradBow. One easy trick is to get a pair of safety glasses and block out the dominant eye lens with translucent scotch tape. That's sufficient to blur the view but allows for light to enter. Here's a video that describes this process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFyz3CUweh0 BTW, FWIW, I am left eye dominant but right handed. I shoot with a right handed bow and simply close my left eye part way as Viper1 describes. It's enough to let my right eye do the aiming, without having to squint. Regards, LT


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## Viper1 (Aug 21, 2003)

TBG - 

What Larry mentioned with the scotch tape is a very viable alternative for pure target work. I have a few of my students doing that already.
Certain shooting glasses (rifle) use a opaque shield to block the non-aiming eye - same idea, blocking the line of sight, without blocking the light. 

Only issue is that if you want to hunt or shoot 3D or do anything beside "just shooting", you really want/need a quick way to go from binocular to monocular vision. 

Viper1 out.


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## JParanee (Oct 13, 2009)

Stone Bridge said:


> Viper, I never heard before what you have said about pupil dilation caused by blacking out the other peeper. It is interesting.
> 
> I read once that pirates used eye patches not because they had lost an eye, but for the ability to have one eye fully dilated once they got below deck where it was dark to fight. One eye clear for the daylight attack, the patched eye in the state of readiness to give the pirate some vision in the first minute or so below deck in the dark. Again, do not know if this is true. I tend to read too much crap. Fun crap, but crap nonetheless.
> 
> ...


Stone 

I have not but I do know the difference between the average guy getting an injury and it effecting him his whole life compared to an athlete that rehabs it properly and shows no sign of the injury the next season is all in the rehab 

So I would surmise that the better shape you are in and the more you keep your body working around the injured part with in reason the better condition your whole body would be in hence a quicker recovery 

In my own life to my own detriment I'm sure at times have always tried working around injuries and maybe that is why I heal so quickly 

I sit here gimping around with a partial tear in my hamstring from doing weighted lunge walks thinking about how I am going to work around it this week and still do legs


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## JParanee (Oct 13, 2009)

P.S. 

I like the pirate story


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## Tradbow Guy (Feb 9, 2007)

Thanks for all the helpful info guys sometimes a lot of this stuff is frustrating for a new shooter such as myself. I decided to try and do some more shooting today with both eyes open despite the cross dominance. At a close distance of 10 yards I found if I made myself conciously pick up the arrow in my vision before settling on my target my accuracy greatly increased with both eyes open. Im going to continue to try this some more at longer distances and see if I can keep it consistant that way as I really want to be able to shoot both eyes open its a lot funner that way for some reason. Another thing I was wondering is i wear contacts, my left (dominant) eye is worse then my right. Im wondering if I remove my left contact while shooting and have the blurred vision if that would cause my right eye to takeover dominance while still allowing 100% light into my left.


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## Easykeeper (Jan 2, 2003)

Here you go, let as much light into your off eye as the conditions require...:wink:


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## bigbenjammin (Jan 2, 2015)

Shooting firearms competitively as a right hand shooter, if I had a problem with eye dominance I would coat the left eye lens of my safety glasses with vaseline. Since I didn't need to estimate range, this worked to force my right eye to see the sights. Shooting archery for practice or target we should be wearing eye protection as well (you are wearing eye protection right?), so if the distance is known, you might be able to use the same trick, assuming you are shooting with sights. For instinctive shooting it seems my brain needs the binocular input from both eyes, so I am forced to keep them both open. A quick trick I figured out goes like this: I focus on the target with both eyes. On the draw, I close my left eyelid until I set my anchor point and the arrow is aligned to target, then I open my left eye and let my brain make the final adjustments up to loosing the shot. In this way, my dominance stays on my right eye long enough to get the shot off while still seeing straight down the shaft. I only have to close my left eye for a couple seconds at most doing this, and my groups are staying within 6" at 20 yards most of the time (when I don't blow my technique otherwise). I also found that if I do this repeatedly over a few dozen shots, the next few strings my right eye retains dominance so I don't have to close the left on every shot. Since doing it this way doesn't interrupt or delay my shot sequence, I would suggest giving it a try. I don't think you need to keep the off eye closed through the whole shot sequence, just during the critical sight alignment/acquisition moment or so. If you lose shooting eye dominance before you release, you just snap your left eye shut again to reacquire sight alignment, then open it prior to release. Maybe someone can give this a try and give some feedback. Just because it works for me is not enough proof.


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## grantmac (May 31, 2007)

Removing the left contact lens would work very nicely.
In addition to that you could get a set of glasses made with a prescription in only the left side for use when you are moving between targets and judging distance.

-Grant


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## zu! (Feb 19, 2014)

Righty here but I shoot everything from pistols to bows with left hand. I only have the one eye. In high school I was the shortest guy on the team, but I outshot everyone by sheer muscle memory and willingness to memorize the court. 

With iron sights as well as with archery, I would guesstimate distances quite accurately just by "feel". I've shot 3D quite a bit now, but not yet in competition. My range has an amazing 3D course in the thick woods. Many many archers (binocular) lose their arrows just because they completely miss the distance. I haven't lost a single one yet. 

Maybe I'm just lucky. Or maybe if you're having so much trouble, just shut the other eye and see.


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