# Shooting with non dominant eye



## EJhunter (Oct 2, 2015)

Hello,

I am right handed, but left eye dominant. I have shot left handed bows from get go but recently I had to switch to shooting right handed. I made the switch in late August but its been a slow going. The fact that I don't have as much time as I used to doesn't help either. I am able to get out and shoot once a week. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I seemed to have good 3 arrow groups but my point of impact changes almost with every group. I even tried IQ sight but it didn't help me much. I thought about doing private lesson at our local shop but their "instructors" are high schools kids with couple of months in industry. I know this subject has been covered before but any advice is welcome. I have gone from enjoying to shoot to being frustrated almost every time I shoot. If it helps I can post pics of my current form shooting right handed...

Thank you in advance!


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## ahw (Dec 4, 2019)

Some people use an eye patch, might be worth a try.


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## Dehoyt (Aug 31, 2011)

Following


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## Chris1ny (Oct 23, 2006)

I would lower the draw weight. Less is more right now.


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## joeking (Jan 7, 2010)

I assume you used to shoot with both eyes open. I am a right hand shooter but left eye dominant. I have to close my left eye to shoot accurately, been shooting that way my whole life so it easy for me. Keep that left eye closed or wear glasses with the left blacked out or fogged over, common answer for many shooters. Good luck.


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## RedNeckBowHntr (Jan 9, 2009)

joeking said:


> I assume you used to shoot with both eyes open. I am a right hand shooter but left eye dominant. I have to close my left eye to shoot accurately, been shooting that way my whole life so it easy for me. Keep that left eye closed or wear glasses with the left blacked out or fogged over, common answer for many shooters. Good luck.


Same boat here. I’ve shot guns and bows with my left eye closed since I was a kid. I guess I’ve just made it work for me. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Chaoscreature (Jan 5, 2020)

I think rifle scopes are more natural to shoot one-eyed. I know I shoot my rifles one eyed, but my shotguns and bows with both eyes open.
My wife is in the same boat as the OP, shoot left handed, but is right eye dominant. The first time we tried out archery she was craning her neck to try and see over the arrow with her left eye. It was admittedly pretty funny to watch. She just closes her left eye now and is fine.


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## N&N Waterfowl (Jul 14, 2015)

I am a right handed shooter and strongly left eye dominant. Growing up, I always shot rifles and bows with my left eye closed. That is how I learned to shoot and don't feel that it is a handicap at all; however, I really struggled while wingshooting. About 5 years ago, I made a concerted effort to shoot with both eyes open. I believe that there is a huge difference when shooting both eyes open on a moving target. I tried everything...eye patch, squinting, etc. With some help from shotgunners that have had experience with cross dominance I am now able to shoot sporting clays and wingshooting with both eyes open. But it was a real struggle at times. Long post to say...keep at it and it may just take more time and practice. I still shoot rifles and bows with my left eye closed or at least squinted to force my right eye to be dominant


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## EJhunter (Oct 2, 2015)

Thank you all for the feedback. Its greatly appreciated.


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## 99Light (Dec 10, 2019)

joeking said:


> I assume you used to shoot with both eyes open. I am a right hand shooter but left eye dominant. I have to close my left eye to shoot accurately, been shooting that way my whole life so it easy for me. Keep that left eye closed or wear glasses with the left blacked out or fogged over, common answer for many shooters. Good luck.


How does that end up working long term? my g/f and i just started in December and just this week practicing in the garage we noticed that i instinctively close my right eye, Turns out i am left eye dominant, my right eye is also almost a full point worse in vision. I have already purchased 2 right handed bows and am not going to take the $ hit right now to switch them over. I was thinking an eye patch or tape over my glasses to help me learn to work the right eye.


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## N&N Waterfowl (Jul 14, 2015)

99Light said:


> How does that end up working long term? my g/f and i just started in December and just this week practicing in the garage we noticed that i instinctively close my right eye, Turns out i am left eye dominant, my right eye is also almost a full point worse in vision. I have already purchased 2 right handed bows and am not going to take the $ hit right now to switch them over. I was thinking an eye patch or tape over my glasses to help me learn to work the right eye.


Plenty of top class skeet and trap shooters shot with some sort of device to occlude their cross dominate eye. Just about anything will work...tape, small dot, even Vaseline (this is assuming that you are shooting with glasses). However, I wouldn't try using an eye patch that totally blocks your vision from the one eye. You would lose any depth perception and even walking around could be challenging. The idea is to only limit your left eye vision when you are on target and then can look around the occlusion other times. I would try this (this is assuming you were glasses when shooting your bow)...come to full draw an anchor with your right eye open only. Once you are anchored, open your left eye and place a piece of scotch tape (or something that is opaque...doesn't need to be black or solid. Think fuzzy vision) horizontally on your glasses that only blocks the vision on the level of your target. This will force your right eye to take over. After you shoot a handful of arrows, you can try to adjust the size of the tape. The smaller the better...as long as can't look over, under, or around while on target. After you shoot for a period of time, there is a chance you can remove the tape. It could be days, weeks, or even months. If you want to shoot with both eyes open, there is a possibility that you will always have to shoot with an occlusion. I have always squinted my left eye when shooting my bows and rifles, and never thought it was a hindrance; however, I believe that there is a difference in shooting abilities between one and two eye shooters when it comes to moving targets. I was able after several several months to shoot my shotgun with both eyes open and remove the occlusion.


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