# Missing Left...WAY Left...



## mcdavies (Oct 20, 2021)

I'm an experienced barebow shooter who is now trying out compound. Picked up a quality bow and accessories, had the local pro shop set it up for me, give me some pointers, all is good. On the range and figuring it out, the arrows are grouping reasonably well at 18M. However, reasonably frequently I miss left...I mean WAY left, like 4 feet off the target. And this is consistent...when I let off one of these shots, it misses the exact same amount. If I shot 20 arrows, I'd have two groupings...one on the target and one 4 feet to the left. I have NO idea what is causing this...any ideas?


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

mcdavies said:


> I'm an experienced barebow shooter who is now trying out compound. Picked up a quality bow and accessories, had the local pro shop set it up for me, give me some pointers, all is good. On the range and figuring it out, the arrows are grouping reasonably well at 18M. However, reasonably frequently I miss left...I mean WAY left, like 4 feet off the target. And this is consistent...when I let off one of these shots, it misses the exact same amount. If I shot 20 arrows, I'd have two groupings...one on the target and one 4 feet to the left. I have NO idea what is causing this...any ideas?


Post a full draw photo
dead level arrow
No hat..No jacket..No long sleeves (wear short sleeves.
Tape camera phone to a ladder so lens is at arrow height.
Slide ladder far away enough that camera can see the ground, can see your shoes, can see all of you and all of the bow.


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## mcdavies (Oct 20, 2021)

nuts&bolts said:


> Post a full draw photo
> dead level arrow
> No hat..No jacket..No long sleeves (wear short sleeves.
> Tape camera phone to a ladder so lens is at arrow height.
> Slide ladder far away enough that camera can see the ground, can see your shoes, can see all of you and all of the bow.


As requested...let me know if this is showing what you need...and thank you!


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

mcdavies said:


> As requested...let me know if this is showing what you need...and thank you!


1)Drop draw length 1 full inch shorter


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

mcdavies said:


> As requested...let me know if this is showing what you need...and thank you!












2) rotate right hand clockwise, until knuckles for right hand are horizontal. You are shooting a WRIST strap release, not a handle release. So, back of hand should be horizontal, not twisted counter-clockwise against your cheek.

More like Dudley.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

nuts&bolts said:


> 1)Drop draw length 1 full inch shorter
> 
> View attachment 7529395












3) OPEN hand technique for the bow hand does not work, as you have discovered.
Make bow hand rotated 45 degrees, so LESS of the bow hand thumb oozes past the edge of the riser grip.

MORE like this.





SIDe view of the bow hand, how it NEEDS to be. When you rotate bow hand 45 degrees,
the pointer finger knuckle rises ABOVE the thumb joint,
pointer finger knuckle rises ABOVE the arrow shelf.



CURL finger tips (middle finger, 4th finger and pinky finger into palm of the hand).
WHY?
CUZ your SIDEWAYS miss pattern will shrink AFTER you rotate knuckles to 45 degrees.


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

mcdavies said:


> As requested...let me know if this is showing what you need...and thank you!


Get you ankles only 6-inches apart.
With ankles only 6 inches apart, then, you will FEEL how much you are leaning backwards, falling over backwards.
You need to drop the draw length at LEAST 1-inch SHORTER.

BUT, then the string will be 1-inch away from touching tip of my nose!!!!
ONLY if you continue to lean BACKWARDS. GET ankles TOUCHING each other,
and then, you WILL fall over backwards, leaning backwards that much.

PUSH hips away from the target,
bend FORWARDS at the belly button
to touch string to nose, with 1-inch SHORTER draw module.


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## mcdavies (Oct 20, 2021)

Wow, a LOT to work on...that's GREAT! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain...it makes a lot of sense. The bow has an adjustable cam so I can drop the draw length easily. I'll work on the changes over the holidays. And BTW, I did figure out why I was missing SO far left...somehow was not picking up my dominant eye correctly. Honestly, I'm not sure I understand the physics of it but, if I close my left eye, I'm bang on target. Not a long term solution, want to learn to keep both eyes open, but at least I know what was causing the huge misses!


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

mcdavies said:


> Wow, a LOT to work on...that's GREAT! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain...it makes a lot of sense. The bow has an adjustable cam so I can drop the draw length easily. I'll work on the changes over the holidays. And BTW, I did figure out why I was missing SO far left...somehow was not picking up my dominant eye correctly. Honestly, I'm not sure I understand the physics of it but, if I close my left eye, I'm bang on target. Not a long term solution, want to learn to keep both eyes open, but at least I know what was causing the huge misses!


You can close left eye,
you can wear an eye patch over the left eye, so you don't have eyestrain.
If you wear sunglasses, you can put scotch tape over the left lens, to blur out the vision from the left eye,
and then you can keep both eyes open for less eyestrain, and cuz vision is clear out of the right lens of the sunglasses,
your right eyeball will do the aiming.


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## Flyinhawaiian (Nov 2, 2018)

Now that Nuts & Bolts has corrected your form… this may be an obvious question, but were all 20 arrows identical shafts matched in spine and point weight, or are you shooting two different sets of arrows which are grouping according to the two different sets? People sometimes underestimate the importance of arrows in the equation.


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## GZeus (Feb 24, 2017)

nuts&bolts said:


> pointer finger knuckle rises ABOVE the arrow shelf.


Interested bystander here. I appreciate all the help you provide and I have been putting many of the things I see in your posts into improving my form.
I have seen you give this advice on bow hand placement many times and I see is used by competitive archers. Adopting it has helped reduce my side miss issues a lot when practicing with field points. 
However, I worry about getting sliced when hunting with a broadhead due to the pointer finger being above the shelf. Comments?


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## nuts&bolts (Mar 25, 2005)

GZeus said:


> Interested bystander here. I appreciate all the help you provide and I have been putting many of the things I see in your posts into improving my form.
> I have seen you give this advice on bow hand placement many times and I see is used by competitive archers. Adopting it has helped reduce my side miss issues a lot when practicing with field points.
> However, I worry about getting sliced when hunting with a broadhead due to the pointer finger being above the shelf. Comments?


You can wear a kevlar glove on the bow hand.
You can use a longer arrow, next time you purchase arrows.






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