Short Bow, Long Draw

Arthur P · 09-13-2003, 10:58 AM

For those that aren' t familiar with my knuckle dragging ape arms, my draw length is 32 1/2" with a recurve. I' ve always had a problem with finger pinch on ' curves less than 64" long. About 3 months ago, I got an old beater recurve that is 62" long. Refinished it and worked the horrid twist out of the limbs and started shooting it.

Pinch was killing me until I remembered seeing some pictures of a guy shooting a short compound 2-under. That got me to thinking, definitelya dangerous exercise in itself. After my headache stopped

, I decided to start dropping the index finger off the string when I hit anchor.

It winds up that my middle finger carries most of the load and the ring finger assisting.It felt wierd at first and it took a couple weeks to work into it. I' m even using the technique on my longer bows, seems completely natural, and am shooting better now than I have in a long time.

I did some shooting with a friend' s bow at the range last week. It' s a 58" Cascade, 55#@27" , a bow length I' d only dreamed of shooting since I got all growed up. Imagine - a 58" recurve drawn to 32 1/2" ! No finger pinch to speak of and the arrows were flat screaming downrange! Didn' t scale the bow, but I' d estimate I was shooting my full length 2216' s at around 73 pounds draw weight. My 2216' s should have been way underspined for it, but they were shooting great. Maybe the smoother release let me get away with it, but I don' t know.

I don' t think I' ll ever buy a bow that short, but just knowing I CAN go that short if I have to opens my possible selections up to a whole lot of bows I' d never even considered buying before.

Just thought somebody out there would be interested in the technique, especially if they had bought a shorter bow than they really wanted (like, maybe, lamb1647). Eh, Bill?

LBR · 09-13-2003, 05:05 PM

Cool Arthur! I' ve seen this done on a video--think it' s " Dead On Traditional" or something like that. I didn' t give it much thought, because the guy in the video has more gadgets on his recurve than I used on a compound. Wondering how much stack you felt on that Cascade? I shot the 58" Hunter II with around a 32" draw and it didn' t stack much at all--I thought maybe it was a fluke or I just didn' t feel it on a bow that was quite a bit lighter than I was used to shooting. I still find the shorter bows too dang touchy for me, but like you said--it' s nice to know just in case.

Chad

Arthur P · 09-14-2003, 07:19 AM

There was some stack at the tail end, Chad, but not all that bad. I' ve pulled some 58" bows that simply came to a screeching halt at 29" and refused to pull any further. This' n came right on back with just a hint of getting stubborn in the last inch. And that might have been due to the draw weight. Hadn' t shot over 60 pounds in a good 5 years.

lamb1647 · 09-14-2003, 12:26 PM

Arthur,

Thanks! I' ll have to keep that in mind. I have been shooting three fingers under and dropping the ring finger on my shooting hand. But as I understand, you are talking shooting split fingers and dropping the finger on top of the arrow. Right?

I' ll have to try it!!

Bill

lamb1647 · 10-02-2003, 12:58 PM

Arthur,

I' m shooting split fingers with my 56" recurve and experiencing no problems at all. One thing that has helped is the bit of heavier weight in the recurve has permitted me to shoot with the Bateman single seam cordovan glove that I found impossible to shoot with the lighter longbow. I' m getting a much cleaner and crisper release with the glove than I have with any other.

Bill