How still should your sight remain while drawing

[Mistake]

Originally Posted by phil_r_58

Another tip he got from an Olympic pistol shooter was to come down into the centre slowly from above. Raising the arm up in the final adjustment creates tensions.

rifle shooting in cadets taught the same thing.. and my bow as more mass and weight to it than an SA80 does

[Noble Savage]

[quote=tel;228677]then you are asking an awful lot IMHO. QUOTE]

Thanks Tel. One of our top archers(olympiad etc)who gives me the odd lesson, mentioned
this, and said to imagine drawing through a tube, while keeping your eye on the target. I tried, but failed. Hence the question.

[Good Sir Pete]

sa80s are fun

but anyway, yes i only focus on aiming once i've reached my anchor, then squeeze through the clicker once i've got it floating on gold. trying to keep the sight on gold throughout the draw will not be easy, and in all likeliness you'll concentrate too much on the aim and not enough on the draw.

[Chris B]

Originally Posted by tel

There are many great archers on here that will give you the whys and wherefores - but if you want to bring your arm up, sight on gold, and maintain that 'sighting' through the entire draw then you are asking an awful lot IMHO. If someone has the method to do this then please share!

Agreed. Its going to require immense control, the likes of which very few club level archers will ever attain.
I am under the impression that we are not talking about the steadiness of the aim (not a problem?), but rather the position throughout the draw?

Some archers will pre-align the sight with some part of the target, as James described, in the hope that the pin will end up on the gold at full draw. Others might pre-align the sight on the gold, draw, and hope that the pin is still in the gold at full draw (but this may require arduous adjustment of the tiller of your bow to be able to do it comfortably).

Many good archers divert their eyes to the clicker for a moment when nearing full draw, to verify that they have attained the correct draw length (the clicker itself is NOT primarily used as a draw length check). And some of the archers that do this like to put the sight on the gold, draw, check the clicker, then affect any fine corrections to the aim.

I tend to stare off blankly into the direction of my right hand shortrod, with an overall awareness of my posture and structure, and the clicker in my periferal vision, then divert the eyes to the clicker. When the time comes to aim, the pin can usually be found at 9o'clock on the target, so I move it to the gold.

Whatever you choose, forget about the sight pin; changing that wont change anything. A sight pin cannot bestow extra control and steadiness on its user... not even a Titan can do that..

[tel]

Originally Posted by Noble Savage

....imagine drawing through a tube, while keeping your eye on the target....

exactly what I try to do, but am getting close to realising it is not going to happen - for me at least. One day (when the lottery is kind and I have the funds for a range and a coach) it may all change - 'til then I'll keep trying to improve under my own steam!

[grimsby archer]

One thing to consider is making sure that your aim is close to the center when you reach full draw. This should be a natural process.
Draw your bow with your eyes shut. When at full draw, open your eyes. Is your sight on a center line of the target? If it is either left or right of the center then your feet are not aligned with the target, so turn your stance and try again. Done well, reaching full draw should only require a small adjustment up or down. Less adjustment in aiming means better shooting.

[Meddler]

Some of the comments above have suggested moving the sight on to the aiming spot by moving the (bow) hand.

When you are at full draw you should be moving from the centre of your mass moving the whole upper body as a unit (aka unit aiming).

If you move your hand down through the gold or up through the gold, on release, you will magnify that action, so that hands will either drop or rise up on release, and leads to snap shooting as you go through the gold.

By moving as a unit, you preserve the "line"/"shape" for full draw.

Eventually your mind will put the body into the position it needs to be in to get the sight on the gold before you start the draw.

[King Custard]

Whilst having everything aimed on the center of the gold- from pre-predraw to execition Would be Ideal.........it's 'practically' impossible without incredible strength and focus.
In practice- as has been said there is 'a time to aim'...a moment to focus attention to the pin/aperture / string position / gold....that moment is after you have the shot set up( for me and many others anyway). the tube odeology is for After the shot is set up.

Kinda like 'loading your pistol...cocking the hammer...(uptil this point any real aiming is futile isn't it- general direction is good enough)...and then when you are 'primed and ready to explode'...thats when it's best to aim..think TUBE..click!- bom! -pip!

[Tropicalshot]

KSL former Aussie coach and now team USA coach recomends drawing just above the gold and settling into the shot and comming down into the gold.

[phil_r_58]

Originally Posted by Tropicalshot

KSL former Aussie coach and now team USA coach recomends drawing just above the gold and settling into the shot and comming down into the gold.

Just like we said LOL, the mate I quoted using the drop into the gold after settling in made it work quite well, 6 European and one World championship gold medals, plus more silvers, in both re-curve and compound. He did switch from IFAA field, to GNAS target in later years. None of the GNAS elite could beat him either, so his methods must be sound. Even in his sixties, he is a hard man to beat. Using a clicker, he never released on the click. Draw, settle in, zero on spot, relax, open up into clicker, ckick, hold on spot, relax mind, shot goes off unconciously.

I often wonder why, after switching to GNAS, and not just beating the top archers, but leaving them standing, he was never asked to shoot for the GB. Funny old world. Would have made a good coach, and he could spot a good archer, from a potential gold medallist at 50 paces. In fact, several of his students in EFAA field became World and European champions after him.

He came out of retirement last year, shot a memorial hereford for an old friend, Reached MB scores with a new bow, old second hand arrows, no training after a 15 year layoff. Just one afternoon setting up bow and getting sight marks.