Index finger........pain......sort of.

[Matt / PA]

It's actually more of a "funny bone" feeling.......
I've been shooting the Pearson Hunter recurve probably way too much to start.
Finger tips are a little tender (if I tap them on my desk it feels like they are bruised)
No big deal there that'll go away, what is concerning me is the inside of my index finger at the 2nd knuckle. The knuckle itself is a little stiff which I'd expect but if I interlae my fingers of both hands and press inward from the sides I get a JOLT into my finger like there's an exposed nerve![:-]
I wouldn't call it "Pain" exactly but more like discomfort.
(And of course since I know it's there I keep doing it )

It's weird too because the majority of the string pressure slides pretty quickly to the middle finger for release. (There isn't equal pressure on all 3 fingers)
Think I should tone it down from about 100 arrows a night?

On a happy note I changed my anchor a bit because my highs and lows were erratic......I was anchoring split fingered with my index finger at the corner of my mouth.
So I saw a picture of Fred Bear and how he anchored.....split finger with his MIDDLE finger in the corner of his mouth. Index just about up his nose.
I thought "Well it worked for Fred"
And darnit didn't it work for me!Just bringing that arrow up that much closer to my eye had me clanking arrows together consistently.

Anyway, Anyone else have hand finger problems from shooting?

[Arthur P]

Yeah, you're having a little too much fun and shooting so much you've gotten a nerve irritated. Might want to slack off to about 50 shots a night for awhile. Your fingers will toughen up pretty soon and you'll be able to shoot as much as you want. Or you can get a thicker glove or tab to give that finger more protection. Even wrap a bandaid around it to cushion that area.

When I first used a fastflight string on a stickbow, I really bruised the nerve in my middle finger. The entire fingertip was just dead for about a month before it came back to life. Where Ionly needed a thin glove or tab with a dacron string, I had to have a thick SOB for fastflight. I've got thin fingers (as opposed to the rest of me [8D]) and the nerves lie very close to the surface. Makes my piddies real sensitive.

[BobCo19-65]

Yup, I've had that happen also, but it was my middle finger. I believe it is a nerve. It takes a long while for the feeling to come back completely, but it did for me anyway, and I don't think it ever happened again after that.

[LBR]

Yep--what they said--probably a bit too much draw weight, and a bit more shooting that your fingers are used to.

On the anchor point, try establishing a 2 point or 3 point anchor--this really helped me with consistency. My first finger is on a tooth (directly underneath my eye), middle finger basically in the corner of my mouth, and thumb under my jaw, laid straight and pressed against my face. With one anchor point, you still have room to move your hand around a good bit. With three, if you do it right, you can't move it around at all.

Chad

[Lilhunter]

Matt,

Welcome over to the "darkside" where fly fishing and stickbow hunting goes together as good as it gets.