Very good advice above. There are a lot of things that can cause inconsistant shooting. I'm going to assume you've got a draw weight you can handle easily and go from there.

First item on the list is arrow spine. Compounds are so adjustable that you can match the bow to the arrow during the tuning process. Stickbows don't work that way and the arrow has to be matched to the bow. Current Easton charts give arrow sizes that are too stiff for shooting off the shelf, and that makes it hard to get the right size aluminums. Go to www.bowjackson.com and click on arrow charts. Look at the old Easton charts from 1980 and 1984.

Get a consistant anchor. Ferguson says to pick a tooth in your upper jaw that puts the nock of the arrow directly under your eye and touch that spot every time. Your lips can move around which can make a corner of the mouth anchor inconsistant. A tooth in your upper jaw won't move in relation to your eye (unless you're wearing dentures ). That one change helped my shooting a bunch.

Release is a killer on accuracy. I like a dead release, meaning my string hand doesn't move from my anchor position when I shoot. It doesn't move back, like many authorities suggest it should do. It certainly doesn't fly out sideways from my face. I don't make any effort to turn loose of the string, but simply relax my hand and let the string leave. Asbell says that the best way to get a good release is to forget about the string hand and push the bow hand directly at the target. He also says that if you're spraying arrows all over the target, then you need to push that bowhand right at the target. I agree with that.

Follow through is just as critical with a stickbow as it is with a compound. Keep aiming that bow at the target until the arrow sticks.

Another thing I do to help my stickbow shooting is to go back to the compound and shoot it some, preferrably shooting fingers with no sights. Compounds with their letoff are excellent training aids for doctoring up your shooting form.

Just my opinion, but instinctive shooting is something you have to learn. Ferguson's aiming method will get you hitting better and quicker than Asbell's method, with a lot less trial and error and frustration. After getting those different sight pictures ingrained into your subconscious and into your muscle memory, then you'll find that you don't pay so much attention to the arrow tip any more. You've 'become the arrow' as Ferguson calls it, or turned into an Asbell-style instinctive shooter.

Edited by - Arthur P on 12/23/2002 16:02:54