Raised bow shoulder?

[Mistake]

After having a look through some photo's of me shooting various locations through out the last outdoor season... i noticed a bad habit thats crept into my shooting.

I seem to have a fairly obviously raised bow shoulder, and i was wondering if anyone had any idea about how i can remedy this... as raised my raised shoulder is obviously costing me drawlength, and almost definatly points as well.

I will try posting some pics that highlight this issue at somepoint.

[Jay.g]

I use to have this problem too the way I fixed it is by: before even drawing the bow I set my bow shoulders low by inhaling and then exhaling feeling both of my shoulders drop to minimum position. Then During the draw I focus on pushing with my bow arm's back instead of anything else and by doing this the scapulae keeps the shoulder low as it pulls downward.

[cliveanne]

It works for me. It might work for you.

As a Right handed archer shooting recurve I used to hold the bow slightly above shoulder hight, with the string hand keeping the arrow parallel to the ground/floor, pointing at 2 o'clock above the target. On drawing back to my reference point, the bow comes down to the Gold, & the bow shoulder is set. You could always try a variation on that theme if it does not work.

Strangely, I do not have to use that method shooting compound

[Mistake]

Originally Posted by cliveanne

It works for me. It might work for you.

As a Right handed archer shooting recurve I used to hold the bow slightly above shoulder hight, with the string hand keeping the arrow parallel to the ground/floor, pointing at 2 o'clock above the target. On drawing back to my reference point, the bow comes down to the Gold, & the bow shoulder is set. You could always try a variation on that theme if it does not work.

Strangely, I do not have to use that method shooting compound

Thanks...

I'm thinking that the fact i also use a t-draw and don't load any pressure before hand might not be helping my cause of keeping a low bow arm shoulder

[archeryal]

As I raise the bow to draw it, I try to pull my shoulder down by lowering the bottom point of my left shoulder blade. (Lowering the shoulder directly activiates a less effective set of muscles).
This works for me, but you're supposed to do this after raising the bow but before the draw.
Also, I tighten the muscles behind and under the arm near the shoulder (triceps?) to set the shoulder.
They also find that your bowarm is much stronger if your head is directly over the arm, rather than angled somewhat more forward (to the right for a rightie - catching the corner of your glasses or nose in your vision while sighting is a good tipoff that you're doing it wrong).
You can test this strength by having someone try to pull your arm down as you resist it in both positions.
If you maintain the muscle tension, you have a steadier arm and lower shoulder (especially critical for clicker shooters.)

[grimsby archer]

Originally Posted by archeryal

As I raise the bow to draw it, I try to pull my shoulder down by lowering the bottom point of my left shoulder blade. (Lowering the shoulder directly activiates a less effective set of muscles).
This works for me, but you're supposed to do this after raising the bow but before the draw.
Also, I tighten the muscles behind and under the arm near the shoulder (triceps?) to set the shoulder.
They also find that your bowarm is much stronger if your head is directly over the arm, rather than angled somewhat more forward (to the right for a rightie - catching the corner of your glasses or nose in your vision while sighting is a good tipoff that you're doing it wrong).
You can test this strength by having someone try to pull your arm down as you resist it in both positions.
If you maintain the muscle tension, you have a steadier arm and lower shoulder (especially critical for clicker shooters.)

Ok

A high bow shoulder often is a result of hauling the bow arm up to the t draw position using the muscles at the top of the shoulder (and into the neck).

Solution for many is 2 part:
1. Pre-load the bow shoulder as follows. With the bow arm at 45 degrees, pull back on the bowstring to about 10% of the draw and push the bow towards the ground to form a "pre-draw" position. The push should come from the bowshoulder.
2. Instead of using the muscles high on top of the shoulder to haul the bow arm up, as one would pull a rope with a bucket of concrete up to knee level, you will find there are muscles under the arm around the ribs (latissimus thingyii) which when contracted, miraculously pull the shoulder blade down and out (towards the target) which will cause the bow arm to raise. It does seem strange to consider that pulling the shoulder downwards should make the arm raise, but it does work. This sets the shoulder in a much lower position, but extends the shoulder blade giving the necessary push towards the target.
It is difficile to explanate, and tricky to find, but once found, never forgotten

[Mistake]

Thanks for the tips... i'll have ago at implementing them over the next couple of weeks (as uni work allows) to see if i can get the idea of what's been said

[not dead yet]

mistake, i new you were

hold your arm up level with your shoulder as if you were facing the target,
(without the bow) numpty....lol

rotate your shoulder feeling the top of your shoulder with your other hand, this will allow you to feel when the shoulder is in position.

let me know if this helps