aiming a longbow

[stevezodiac]

I had quite some success at Target with my L/B and having shot very high scores at almost all distances and the Portsmouth being my ace round (average score 535 and on a very good day 550) I figured I should also win everything at field in short time- I was a dyed in the wool POA shooter.
I came very badly unstuck however, shooting reasonable scores but not hitting everything in the Kill where I wanted them, the trouble with field is that you have hit or missed before taking the shot if using a POA, estimate it right and in it pops, estimate distance/POA wrong and you look like a muppet, hunting for arrows that have sailed over the top, I was not prepared to admit that Instinctive existed let alone worked, nobody could explain the science behind it, and without some notion of how it worked I couldn't begin to try to do it as it all smacked of Magic and use the force crap !
I tried to learn every aim point for distances (which I became very good at estimating) also for elevated and downward shots, but a good course layer will fool you with dead ground and obstacles, 30 yards in the wood can seem like 50 if the target is facing you and down a hill.
I played with the instinctive method as it had been explained to me -"you throw a stone right!!!!!!!"-- meant nothing to me as I can't hit a thing with a stone and know no one who can!
Anyway, I persevered because despite 2 years of POA and estimating distances I still wasn't able to take on a good course and give it a hiding--
Here is my version of instinctive- it works for me and those I have explained it to, give it a chance and you will start taking the heart and lungs out of all those 3d's- it's not the definitive guide to Instinctive and there is more to add but I originally wrote it for beginners who come to me. the full article including the pictures referred to are here
http://www.robinhoodevents.co.uk/res...stictively.htm

Instinctive is perhaps the wrong word to describe this method of archery, in the same way a snooker player instinctively pots a ball the archer shoots his arrow. After some practice a snooker player will pot more of his shots, he does not feel he has learned all the angles in the conventional method of learning but the information goes into the brain and in time he is able to replicate a difficult shot seemingly without thought. In fact what is happening
is that the brain receives the information gained from the shots that didn't work out and makes adjustments, after the brain has received enough input, i.e. missing shots and shots that did work it is able to guide you in what seems to be an instinctive way but is learnt as you would learn anything.

So what does this mean in terms of archery?, I could tell you that you need to shoot more, which is true, but, endlessly shooting missing shots will in some ways make you very good at performing bad shots if you follow me. As much thought has to go into the practice as in learning anything and as with so much of what we learn it is always best to start right. Key in all this is stance, draw and anchor, I mean by that standing in the correct position, drawing up in a smooth and balanced manner and coming to a hold position with a point of reference or contact on your face, I use the middle finger of my draw hand to the corner of my mouth. This is a common anchor point, there are many others, but what is really important is coming to that same place each time, performing the same draw and stance to gain consistency, this is especially important whilst learning the instinctive method. Get it right at the beginning and it will pay you back in spades.

Check out the picture below, this is what your anchor point should look like

Then we come on to how to aim, this is tricky and a bit longwinded but in essence simple. We have all been training to be instinctive archers since we could move our arms, one of the first things we do as children is point, even before we can talk we point to things which we want. At first it's just an arm wave in the vague direction of the thing, as we grow and get used to pointing at things we use our finger and our arm straight to point quite definitely at an object. In fact do it now, point at something across the room, notice how you just point from the shoulder, you don't use your arm like a gun, you are not looking down the length of your arm, you are looking at the object and just pointing, you trust your instincts that your finger is pointing in the right place. But lets just check if you are right, leave your arm where it is and bend your head down to it so that you can look down its length, were you pointing dead on the object?, if you were then that's just great, if you were not then move your arm and finger now so that you are.

Now we are sure you are pointing at it, put your head back into it's normal position without moving your arm and look again at the object, you will note that if you look at your finger, well across your finger really, that it appears to be below the object, it may even be slightly to the right (for a right handed pointer), you know you are pointing at it but it looks below, you have trusted your instinct that you are pointing at it correctly- in fact you even checked. This is a key part of the method

So we have established a useful thing, when we point we don't expect to see our finger on the object (like a gun sight), we expect to see our finger below it and maybe a little to the right.

it's quite impossible to focus on your finger and the object, so we focus on the object and learn to use our peripheral vision to ensure we are pointing right, this is something we do unconsciously usually but we are going to start to do it consciously now to give our brain a head start in gathering the information we want it to assimilate. so lets point at the object again and whilst focusing hard on the object see how much of the sight picture we can notice and memorise, it's amazing how much we can actually see in our peripheral vision, I bet you could even take in detail from all around the room. If you can be bothered and you have read this far so I guess you might be, get a small torch and use it as your finger, with it switched off point at an object, when you think you are bang on turn it on, if you are right the beam will light up the object, if you are wrong try again.

Before you get too carried away though, check out the pictures, get your stance looking something like the fool in the photos, notice how my head is tilted slightly, this is to minimise the effect of the arrow coming from the corner of my mouth and my line of sight which obviously comes from my eye, it's quite a calculation for the brain to make for the offset, but happily our brains were designed for just this kind of task, as a predator both our eyes are positioned on the front of our faces to give depth of field. The perfect release would leave your draw hand in the same place it was after the shot as it was before- see the perfect release above ;-)

What I am in fact doing is looking at the object and shooting right down my line of sight, you will find that in very short time you will hit what you look at, but like I said the stance and anchor has to be consistent so that you can learn to shoot instinctively.

There are many anchor points but this is where to start. The Instinctive method is just one style in a good archers armoury of methods, it is effective up to 35 yards depending on the weight of bow used and relies to some extent on a flat trajectory, however with practice it is possible to shoot over much greater distance once the trajectory path has been learnt, again by practice, although I prefer to switch to a point of aim method over 40 yards. Now that you can draw and anchor how long should you hold?, don't shoot till you are good and ready, for some this may be longer than for others, I used to hold for longer but now I tend to hold for just a second or two to make sure I am where I want to be. One thing is certain, you need a second or two to get all the information into the brain and ensure a good shot, after all there is no rush. Now you are ready to take to the field with renewed confidence that you can hit what you look at

The two pictures above show the angle of cant on the bow, for a near shot, more cant, for a longer shot less. Practice is the only thing that will help you get the angle which works for you

Over time you will develop your own style which works for you, there is no real right or wrong, whatever gets the arrow into the target is the right thing- so ready for a game yet? come on you know you want to, give me a bell and get booked in!!!!!!

Phew!!!
Cheers Steve

[steve58]

For what it's worth I offer what has worked for me. I shoot exclusively target at the moment and have been getting up to second class scores in the second half of this summer, so I don't claim to be any sort of expert! I use the rubber band to get the elevation roughly right and frame the target between the edge of the bow and the string. Once I am happy with this I forget about it, concentrate on the link betwen the back muscles and the gold and keep pulling and pushing until the shot happens. When it works the shot releases all on its own and goes somewhere that makes me smile. (I like the image of snow off a leaf!) When I try hard and interfere I find myself shooting on the arms, or consciously letting go, this does not feel as good and does not work as well.

[Yew Selfbow]

550 for a Portsmouth with a longbow...MMmmmm that beats Russell-French's national record...... I find that a little difficult to believe

[stevezodiac]

Yeah, sadly this was the usual response to many of my scores, i once shot a 700 Hereford in the company of 3 other archers one of whom scored for me only to find him later telling folks i had cheated the score!!
This is why i left GNAS 3 years ago. i suppose i should not have been surprised to get the same response here
Mind you as this will be my last post here, i may as well tell you straight
you are welcome to come and say it to my face and i'll put you on your back.

[clickerati]

Take it easy fellas!

[gino]

Originally Posted by stevezodiac

you are welcome to come and say it to my face and i'll put you on your back.

Let's calm down a bit shall we? There's no need to make threats here.

[private sponge]

Good Grief! my first post and I'm straight into controversy. Regarding the point of aim, Steve Zodiac speaks a lot of sense and I agree with much of what he says, this has been my experience too! I know Russell French very well and have shot against him on many occasions, to my cost. Russell shoots all his target faces, whether Portsmouth or a York with a rubber band on his longbow, nothing wrong with that, it is allowed in the rules of the GNAS. However I discarded the band in favour of POA which I find much more satisfactory and could be transfered to the field archery of the NFAS. But as to the scores mentioned by SteveZodiac. (550,) it is not unusual in training, once you have the technique of shooting Portsmouths, these scores are the norm if the time spent practising is dedicated. SteveZodiac seems to be that kind of archer,( bit sensitive though!) HMMMMM ,but if I was called a liar, I think I would get a trifle hot under the collar! you should opologise at once Yew self Bow, clearly, you do not know, or understand, the techniques under discussion. I have shot a 482 Portsmouth with a longbow, that is not in Russells class, but it ain,t bad either, and that was with POA. It is replicating that score in competition that 's the key, Russell doe's it with a rubber band which takes a lot of the stress out of POA.
You seem to be a bit thoughtfull visa- v the archery SteveZodiac, did you by any chance shoot a few years ago, I think it was at Guildford, come close to beating Russell. Ithink his score was in the 540's and the chap pushing him was on 520, Russ was getting very agitated, I don't know of any one else whoever came close, was that you?
Private Sponge

[andrew.paterson]

Originally Posted by Yew Selfbow

550 for a Portsmouth with a longbow...MMmmmm that beats Russell-French's national record...... I find that a little difficult to believe

A gentleman at our club has moved over from Recurve to Longbow about 8 months ago. Indoors he is consistantly getting scores above 540 for a Portsmouth round, and is disappointed with anything below 530.

He very much has in mind the National Record as a target for his scores, and I am sure there are many other archers out there that are close to acheiving this. I am also sure that most national records have been beaten by archers when they are in club sessions or non-record status shoots. This particular gentleman has difficulty attending competitions due to the limited time he can spend away from home, so even if he does beat 550 it may never get recorded anyway.

It is quite impressive seeing a longbow archer getting three in the gold end after end, and certainly makes the recurve archers concentrate on what they are doing.

[alanesq]

stevezodiac - I hope you will post again as I am very interested in what you have to say and I really appreciate all the effort you have put into replying to my question

[Macbow]

Originally Posted by ...as this will be my last post here, i may as well tell you straight
[B

you are welcome to come and say it to my face and i'll put you on your back[/b].

bye

I usually need at least three personal attacks before I get hot and bothered .
Yew Selfbow has a point, albeit made a bit bluntly. If high scores are shot in a recognised competition and recorded for all to see then by all means post them with honour. Otherwise expect any world record breaking claims to at least be questioned. Me, I shoot like Howard Hill while having a relaxing day on the course but as soon as it comes to any competition I become Harry Hill.