How To Shoot An Arrow:
- Gear And Equipment Check
- Correct Shooting Stance
- Nock The Arrow
- Grasp The Bow String
- Check Your Hand And Arm Placement
- Draw The Bow
- Find Your Anchor Point
- Aim At The Target
- Release The Arrow
- Analyze Your Shot
These steps may seem pretty simplistic, but they ’ re besides very easy to get wrong if you don ’ metric ton know what you ’ ra doing. Let ’ s take a deeper look at each of these steps so you ’ ll know precisely how to properly shoot an arrow .
1. Gear And Equipment Check
Before even getting to the blast line, we like to check all our gear and equipment for damage before we use it. Check your bow for cracks and your bow string for frayed areas. Using damage equipment could lead to unnecessary injuries, and it alone takes a couple minutes to do a quick look over.
Check Your Archery Gear For:
- Cracks in the bow riser
- Cracks in the Bow limbs
- Frayed bow string
- Cam system on a compound bow
- Arrow rest damage
- Sight and peep sight damage
- Arm guard damage
- Cracks in the arrow
- Arrow splintering
- Frayed or damaged arrow fletching
We like to go over the rules of the rate before we start shooting. A good clock to do this is while everyone ’ s checking over their gear. If you go to an archery range they will typically go over the compass rules with you before you shoot .
But since we shoot in our backyard range we built ourselves, it ’ s up to us to make certain everyone we invite shooting knows what to expect. We have an archery condom rules list we keep posted near our range for everyone to refer to while they ’ ra film. For a transcript of the safety list and more guard tips, visit my Archery Safety article .
2. Correct Shooting Stance
To start, you will want to stand plumb line to the shoot wrinkle. The shooting occupation will typically be around 10 to 20 yards away from the target, and is where the sagittarius shoots from. Some ranges require that you be behind the line, but others will let you straddle the occupation. Either room you will stand then that the target is to the side of you .
If you ’ re right handed, you will be pulling the bow string with your right bridge player, so your left foot will be your front foot. If you ’ re entrust handed, your right metrical foot will be your front man foundation. You will be pulling your weapon across your consistency to draw the bow, so you want your not dominant allele hand to be closest to the prey to hold the bow .
Make certain you are not twisting your hips to face the target, this is a coarse err I thought was worth mention. Keep your knees slenderly bend. Don ’ t bend your knees until you are uncomfortable, barely naturally bend them to give yourself some stability. hera is a video of person aiming a bow using good form and proper position .
You will want to keep your back flat angstrom much as possible. A common mistake beginners make is to arch their lower back a little bite. It may feel like doing so makes drawing the crouch easy, but it will ultimately lead to badly class. Try to break these habits early on if you can .
Your chest, torso, and shoulders should all be facing heterosexual forward. The only thing facing the target is your head. many beginners will lean towards the target or try rotating their body towards the target, try to avoid doing that .
It may not seem natural at first, but once you start shooting, you ’ ll see why good imprint is so important. precisely keep your body relaxed, and you ’ ll startle to get the cling of it .
3. Nock The Arrow
Nocking the arrow plainly means setting the arrow on the bow string to shoot it. First, lay the shaft of the arrow on the arrow rest. The arrow lie is normally little credit card firearm on the bow used to guide the arrow .
then, slide the arrow back until the score is resting on the bow string. The score is the furrow piece at the back of the arrow, you want the bow string settled in that groove .
Your arrow will have three fletching feathers, or vanes, at the back goal near the score. You want to nock the arrow so that one of those fletchings are facing away from the bow. typically the arrow will have one fletching that is a unlike color to make this immediate and slowly to do .
Side Note: The fletchings are typically called vanes if they are credit card .
I like to lay the bow sideways to nock the arrow, and I recommend beginners do the same. It just makes it easier when you ’ re starting out. Sometimes it ’ s a struggle keeping the arrow balanced and getting the submit string in the score all in one go. just turn the crouch sideways to help support the arrow while you nock it .
4. Grasp The Bow String
The most popular way to hold the bow string is with your index finger above the arrow, and your center and ring finger below the arrow. This is known as the Mediterranean draw, sometimes referred to as the divide feel draw. This is the finger placement I learned with, and still use today .
Try to think of this footprint as making a kook with your fingers. You don ’ t want a tauten grip on the bow, in fact, try not wrapping your fingers around the bow string at all. many archers will use just their finger tips to pull bet on on the bow string. Focus on creating a hook with your fingers and use them to help steady the arrow .
Holding The Bow String:
- Create a hook with fingers
- Don’t wrap fingers around bow string
- One finger above arrow, two below
- Use fingers to steady the arrow, but don’t grasp the arrow
Some archers use gearing to protect their fingers from the submit string. protective gear like gloves, finger tabs, or a unblock help are worth considering if you have strong bow. They could save you some pain in the short condition, and prevent numbness in your fingers in the farseeing term .
This is actually just an emergence with the stronger bows, like hunting bows or bows with a string weight above 40 pound. But if you ’ re using a elementary prey archery bow, you shouldn ’ t have a problem. I use my Favorite Compound Bow bare handed with no problems. Some bows have short rubber finger holders on the bow chain, and that ’ s all you ’ ll actually need in most cases .
here ’ s a video showing the proper way to hook the bow string. This guy doesn ’ metric ton function the rent finger draw method that I do, but his method for hooking the string will help you understand hooking the bow string preferably than gripping it .
5. Check Your Hand And Arm Placement
Lets start with your bridge player placement on the bow. Your grip is going to make a big impact on the accuracy of your film. If you ’ re gripping the bow to tightly, the bow will shake after you release the arrow. The best way to think of your fascinate, is equitable adequate to hold the bow steady, your fingers do not need to clutch the bow tightly .
Start by opening your hand and facing your palm towards the target. Set the bow into your decoration to hold it. As you pull back on the bow string, you should be pulling the bow into the palm of your hand. A set of beginners will hold their bow excessively tightly and throw off their snapshot, try not to clench the bow .
The archer in this picture, competing in the World Archery Championship, doesn ’ t even wrap their fingers around the bow, and however they however have a good handle. This international relations and security network ’ metric ton about the military capability of your grip, it ’ s about comfort and operate .
With your bobby pin sorted out, you ’ ll want to then stretch your arm ( holding the bow ) complete out towards the target. Try not to raise your arm above the aim when doing this. A lot young archers and beginners tend to shoot besides gamey when starting out. Keep your bow facing the target, at the aim height or below .
Hand And Arm Placement:
- Palm facing target
- Bow rests in palm with gentle grip
- Bow is pulled into palm when drawing bow
- Don’t clench the bow
- Keep arm as straight as possible
Try not to hyper-extend your elbow. For some people this is not a problem, for others that are double jointed, you will need to pay attention to this every time you hold your bow. You want your arm to make one firm line towards the aim, no flex inwards or outwards. With even fair a slight flex, the bow string has a greater chance of slapping your arm on spill .
6. Draw The Bow
This pace is when your position and your position will play a bigger role. Keep in mind the proper stance is having your breast and shoulder plumb line to the target. You will be pulling your weapon across your chest to draw the bow. Relax your shoulders and use your upper back muscles to pull the bow string back .
You will be pulling the bow string towards the side of your face, but don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate trust to heavily on your arm muscles. Keeping your shoulders relaxed and using your arm muscles and amphetamine spinal column muscles to draw the bow is considered good shape.
Read more: Mochi Ice Cream
As you start to draw the bow, keep the string in line with the bow, make surely you ’ re not tilting. Avoid bending your wrist, your draw wrist should be absolutely aligned with your forearm as you pull back on the bow string. here ’ s a visualize of a pair people performing a good draw with proper shape .
Notice how they ’ ve pulled their arms across their chest of drawers and remained perpendicular to where they ’ ra aim. only their heads are facing the target, and their disembowel wrists are flat in course with their forearms .
Drawing The Bow:
- Relax your shoulders
- Pull your arm across your chest
- Use your upper back muscles to hold the draw
- Keep the string centered and the bow straight up and down
- Keep your draw wrist flat in line with your forearm
- Remember proper stance, chest and shoulders perpendicular to the target
7. Find Your Anchor point
The anchor point is the seat you will anchor your submit string to every time you shoot. It ’ south at the point of wide draw, and your anchor distributor point should be something comfortable to you that you can repeat over and all over. The anchor luff can vary from sagittarius to archer, but the important thing is that it ’ second repeatable. consistency is keystone in archery .
For beginners, I suggest your anchor point be at the corner of your mouth. A typical anchor point for many archers will be at the recess of their mouth, under their chin, or somewhere in between. The index finger of your pull bridge player will lightly touch your anchor point when you ’ re at full draw .
Find The Anchor Point:
- Where you will pull the bow string to every draw
- The point of full draw, before you aim and release
- Consistency is key
- Consider bringing your draw hand index finger to the corner of your mouth for beginners
- Find a repeatable and comfortable anchor point for you
The corner of the talk is barely the easiest to remember and easiest to systematically repeat for beginners. Simply bring the index finger of your draw hand to the recess of your mouthpiece every time, and you ’ ve got your anchor indicate pegged .
More experience archers will use under their chin as the anchor point. This gives them more places to feel the anchor. The bow string will touch their nozzle and even their lip in some cases, and their index finger touches their chin. This gives the archer more points of address to feel for their arrant anchor detail .
Notice how the bow bowed stringed instrument is touching this archers cheek, lip, and nose. It ’ s not important where you place your anchor point, but it is crucial that you find something comfortable, that works for you, and that you can systematically reproduce with every shot .
here ’ s an enlightening video recording about anchor points with a compound submit using exhaust aids. He talks a set about the importance of keeping the arrow from being affected by your anchor point .
8. aim At The target
To be honest, this is one of the easiest steps in shooting a bow. The unmanageable separate for many beginners, is setting your spy on the submit. But once your sight is set, aiming should be agile and slowly. You ’ ll get yourself to full draw and onto your anchor item. then use your prevailing eye to line up the sight on your bow with the center of the target .
Aiming The Bow:
- At full draw and anchored to your anchor point
- Use your dominant eye
- Line up the pin in the bow sight to the target
- Aim for center of target
To get your sight set, you ’ ll first need to shoot a copulate arrows. Notice where your arrows are hitting the target in relation to where you ’ re aiming the view. Adjust your sight so that it ’ randomness aiming where your arrows where landing. Shoot a few more arrows and adjust again if you need to. finally, your arrows will be hitting where you ’ ra aiming your sight .
Most bows come with some classify of bow sight already installed. If not, there ’ s in truth no motivation to go out and buy the fanciest sight ( like the one in this picture ) unless you ’ ll be training for competitions or hunting. But for some casual target inject, a single trap submit sight will be all right .
9. Release The Arrow
Releasing the arrow is equally dim-witted as letting go of the string right ? Well, yes, but there are some crucial aspects of release to keep in thinker. many beginners like to push the bow forward as they release. This will affect the shoot and alter your arrows trajectory .
Try keeping the bow deoxyadenosine monophosphate upstanding as possible until after the arrow has left the crouch, preferably until the arrow hits the target to be condom. Avoid pushing or pulling the bow. After you ’ ve absorb the bow, gotten to your anchor indicate, and aimed at the target, the bow should not move .
Avoid plucking the string when you release. You just want to slowly release the overcharge you ’ ve made with your fingers to pull back the bow string. As you release your fingers from the bow string, you will gracefully let your hand fall spinal column out of the way. Focus on good opening your hand and letting the crouch do all the work .
I found a dense movement video of archers shooting in an archery competition in Berlin. Watch how these archers release their arrows to get a good mind of what you should be trying to achieve .
10. Analyze Your shoot
This international relations and security network ’ t a necessity footstep to actually shooting a bow and arrow, but can help you improve your adjacent shoot. It ’ mho time to analyze what you ’ ve just done. How did the shoot feel ? Was your stance correct, or do you think you can improve in some way. now ’ s the fourth dimension to adjust your sight or your anchor point if you need to .
Things To Consider About Your Shot:
- Did you have proper form
- How was your stance
- Did you hook the bow string
- How did the release feel
- Was your anchor point comfortable and repeatable
- How was your aim
- Do you need to adjust your sight
indisputable, you want to consider the things that went wrong and can be improved. But besides think about what you did right. It ’ sulfur easy to know how to shoot a bow, but mastering it takes time. Keep doing what you did correctly, and improve on the areas that need care .
I found it easier to improve my skills by playing archery games. I wanted to practice more and it was something fun to do with a few early people. here are some Fun Archery Games that will keep you wanting to practice archery .
Sharing is caring !
