You absolutely MUST maintain that pull!!!

[Double Creek]

When I'm spraying arrows all over the target and can usually stop and evaluate things and 9 times out of 10, I am forgetting to maintain that pull while at full draw.... I know to you old timers this is not news.. But for some of the new guys it's absolutely critical to understand and remember.... If maintaining proper "pull" or back tension, I may not hit the bullseye everytime, but on average I am MUCH closer than when I just hit anchor and stop....

The push with the bow hand is also critical, but for me, it's about half as important as the pull...... If done together, correctly, it's amazing what we can accomplish with just our brains and muscle memory!!!!

I've vowed to spend lots of extra time up close working on the push and pull..... Alot of times when shooting blind bale I find my self concentrating mostly on holding the bow arm still and getting a clean release.... From now on it will be double time on the push pull....... I've got to get that engrained in my skull......

[the Razorhead]

it's also called "creep" or "lack of back tension"

if you do it with your bow arm, it's called "relaxing" or "collapsing"

and yes, it raises hell with your accuracy...

you have to be a friggin' ninja... when you get to full draw, you need to lock up tighter than Ft. Knox... you need to turn to absolute granite...

then, quit hanging on to the string...

[BobCo19-65]

If maintaining proper "pull" or back tension, I may not hit the bullseye everytime, but on average I am MUCH closer than when I just hit anchor and stop....

Good point, if you stop pulling at anchor, you'll get a nice "soft" release. What I really try to concentrate on is keeping the alignment of my arrow and my drawing arm.When I help my son out I use two arrows to demonstrate the relationship, one arrow representsthe actual arrow, one arrow representsdraw arm, when one arrow lines up directly behind the other, the alignment is correct. When his alignment goes off, I can show him with two arrows what things looked like when he shot. Usually, he will not hit the mark when things are not lined up properly. When they are in direct alignment things usually go well. It's pretty much impossible to get this alignment without using back tension. Your arms/shoulder will only get you so far. That little extra that is needed can only be done from back tension.

[The Mind]

I've watched a few Fred Bear films and the really great shooters who shoot a lot KNOW how to short draw and still hit what they want to .

Amazing if you think about it.

[ewolf]

What most people fail to understand is that short drawing at a near target will cause the arrow to go high. So just because you didn't miss low, doesn't mean you didn't short draw.