# Does my little kid *really* need a left handed bow?



## drew_235 (Dec 26, 2021)

My son loves everything daddy does, so he naturally wants to shoot archery with me. He'll be 5 in a few months and already mountain bikes and cross country skis with us - so he has a fair bit of fine/gross motor skill. Anyway, he is left hand and left eye dominant. His little sister that is almost 3 is right hand and right eye, just like mom and dad. I have access to a range with a few Genesis bows that are left hand, but they seem too heavy to hold still for my son. I discovered a mini Genesis hanging on the wall last week, but it's right handed. He shoots it much better due to its reduced overall mass, but it made me wonder if his first bow _really_ needs to be left handed. 
I had been considering the idea of a Diamond Atomic for his 5th birthday. For a bow that I think he would use for 2 years, would it be too much of a problem to have him shoot a right handed bow left handed? The only benefit to this is that he'd be able to hand it down to his little sister and I would save ~$250. I can afford it, I just want to make sure I'm being smart.


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## jslove (Oct 10, 2021)

I recently went thru some of this myself with my sons, although it kind of resolved itself, albeit expensively.

In short, my younger LH son didn’t do the eye dominance tests correctly the first time we tried. After buying him a left hand bow, we discovered over time that he was actually right eye dominant. I thought about leaving him in the left hand bow, but ultimately decided to cough up the price of another bow and get him in RH while he’s young, 9yr old. My rationalization was that in the long run, he’ll be better off shooting right handed anyway as most every bow and gun he’ll come across is built right handed. He, his brother, and myself will eventually be able to swap and lend most all of our equipment (ignoring potential draw length issues, etc). It took some doing to switch, but he mostly caught up in strength and accuracy after a couple months.

In hindsight, I might encourage most people to shoot right handed at this point regardless of eye dominance since weapons and gear will always be much more readily available and often cheaper for you. That said, eye dominance is obviously important, so if they’re gonna grow up and be a champion archer, being able to shoot both eyes open will be of note.

Oh, and make sure they do the eye dominance test properly. Now I’ve gotta get rid of a LH bow. Not pointing fingers at anybody but me here…


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## Chris1ny (Oct 23, 2006)

Dominant eye side LH.

YES!


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## drew_235 (Dec 26, 2021)

jslove said:


> I recently went thru some of this myself with my sons, although it kind of resolved itself, albeit expensively.
> 
> In short, my younger LH son didn’t do the eye dominance tests correctly the first time we tried. After buying him a left hand bow, we discovered over time that he was actually right eye dominant. I thought about leaving him in the left hand bow, but ultimately decided to cough up the price of another bow and get him in RH while he’s young, 9yr old. My rationalization was that in the long run, he’ll be better off shooting right handed anyway as most every bow and gun he’ll come across is built right handed. He, his brother, and myself will eventually be able to swap and lend most all of our equipment (ignoring potential draw length issues, etc). It took some doing to switch, but he mostly caught up in strength and accuracy after a couple months.
> 
> ...


Can you explain how exactly your son did the eye dominance test incorrectly and at what age he did that?


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## hoyt66man (May 5, 2012)

At around 17 I bought my first bow from K Mart , a Polar LTD RH and I'm left hand left eye but I didn't even know they made bows for south paws so that's the way I shot a bow & hunted for the next 7-8 years until someone told me otherwise. I shot guns left hand/left eye without left hand eject or ambi safety , I just figured that's the way it is and I had to live with it. That being said , if you can get your son into a lefty hand model it would be much better.


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## TSal (10 mo ago)

hoyt66man said:


> At around 17 I bought my first bow from K Mart , a Polar LTD RH and I'm left hand left eye but I didn't even know they made bows for south paws so that's the way I shot a bow & hunted for the next 7-8 years until someone told me otherwise. I shot guns left hand/left eye without left hand eject or ambi safety , I just figured that's the way it is and I had to live with it. That being said , if you can get your son into a lefty hand model it would be much better.


Totally agree. LH and left eye dominant should be doing things with left handed tools.


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