RE: Question for those who shoot without sights.
I like to get newbies to barebow started out shooting a gap. As you're aiming at the target, you are concentrating on the center of the target, but you're also consciously aware of the point of the arrow in your peripheral vision. There is a 'space' between the tip of the arrow and the target - below the target for close range and above the target on long range. At one specific yardage, the combination of your arrow length and draw weight will have the arrow impacting exactly where the point of the arrow is pointed while aiming. That is your 'point-on' distance. Some call it 'point blank' but it's the same thing.
Some people imagine the target and point are on the same vertical plane and judge the gap between their point and the target in fractions of an inch. Others in point widths. But they each judge their gap at the point of the arrow. Others judge their gaps on the target and think in terms of feet and fractions of a foot. A, 3/4" gap for one guy is the same as a two point width gap for another guy and it's a 3 foot gap for another. Same gap for all three, just different methods of mental imaging. Use whichever you're most comfortable with.
First thing you've got to do is establish an anchor that puts the nock end of the arrow directly under your eye, and the closer to the eye, the better. Canting your head and the bow at the same angle might make that easier to do, especially using a release. Then you point the pointy end of the arrow at what you're shooting at, make your best guess for elevation, note the amount of space between your point and the target, and fire for effect. If the arrow hits low, you need to make the space between the point and the target smaller when you aim. If it hits high, you've got to put more space between them.
Then it's trial and error, figuring out your gaps for each distance. You can learn your gaps as far as you want, in 5 yard increments or whatever. Learn where your arrows hit when using the top and bottom of your arrow rest for elevation reference. You can wind up with more sighting references shooting barebow than you ever had with pins.
Anyway, after awhile you get your gaps all figured out. After a little while more, you will find yourself consciously using the gap less and less as it becomes natural for you. You pretty much know you hold the bow just like this for a 20 yard shot and your brain automatically handles the elevation without your involvement. So, eventually, you find you've become an 'instinctive' shooter.
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