Back tension definitely has a different feel with a traditional bow vs a high letoff compound. You've trained your body to use back tension in perfect uprighttarget form, like you have to use with a compound and all the doodads. When you make the cant and lean, you have changed several angular relationships with your musculoskeletal structure. It's not been trained in that way, so back tension feels odd.

Another thing that weirds you out is you're using much more back tension in the lastfew inches of draw than you do with a hight letoff compound. The feel of pulling back tension from a holding weight of 20 pounds or less is way different from what you feel at 50 pounds. With a low holding weight, there is a lotof muscle reserve to be called on for the release, so you feel back tension a lot better.

With a traditional bow, much more muscle is required to bring the string to anchor, leaving much less muscle in reserve to be used for back tension release. The back tension is still there, but it feels a lot more subtle.

I'm not sure I'm explaining it well. Darn pain pills still have me kinda fogged out... [&o]

Say your muscle strength is a max of 60 pounds. With the compound holding weight of 20, you are using 20 pounds of your strength to hold the string at anchor. That leaves you 40 to call on for the back tension release. With a 50 pound traditional bow, you use 50 pounds of strength to get the string to anchor, which leaves you only 10 pounds of reserve strength forback tension release. So, what I'm trying to say is, it's easier to feel 40 pounds than 10 pounds.

I hope I'm making sense. [&:]

Just concentrate on feeling the back tension when you release. Push your bow hand straight at the target while making sure the release comes as you're pushing the drawing elbow back into the wall.