A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I can' t believe this happened to me, much less writing to you all about it! But I actually dotted my eye shooting today, not once, but TWICE! Let me say it didn' t do myself a bit of good on this release aid thing. Some may recall about month ago I wrote asking several questions about switching from fingers to a release. aid. I' d been shooting fingers for at least 14yrs, tried a release here, and there. But I wanted to make a good honest effort, and see if I liked it better. I went with the Tru-Fire excaliber glove. I liked the relax trigger mode option. Anyways after playing around with it in the house, putting a string loop on. I went out today to do some serious shooting. Right off, the relax trigger mode started malfunctioning. When I released my finger from the trigger the jaws wouldn' t open everytime. I had to jerk it to fire. So I switched to push trigger mode, still wanting to shoot with the release. Took 3-4 shoots no problem. Next shot I began to draw, and wham the release let go at half pull, and I punched myself right in the eye, ouch. Pissed me right off. I thought maybe at first it was me, and I accidentally hit the trigger. Next shot I was very careful, made sure jaws were shut on the loop, drew with my trigger finger not even near the trigger, wham! It does it again, and I punched myself in the eye again!!!! I was so darn pissed I took off the release, and threw it across the yard. Put my bow away, and said thats it. I' m a permanent fingers shooter!!!!!!
Later I called my brother about the ordeal. He was laughing so hard over the story I' m sure I' ll never live it down. After that I figured why waste $60 on this release. I' m going to send it back to Tru-Fire, and see what they find with it. But I' ll be hard pressed to get the nerve to go through that again, but knowing me I will! Oh, and my eye its ok except for the shiner[X(]

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

Try a Scott release. After shooting fingers for 26 years, I bought a new bow and started to shoot release. It took a while to get used to it and everything that went along with it, i.e. new anchor point, etc. I have been shooting one for 6 years now and love it. I like a lite trigger and this one is lite and crisp.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

Don' t give up Buck, you' ll learn to love them when you find one that works like it' s supposed to. I have shot the Tru-Fire wrist strap Excaliber' s for more that 10 years and have never had a misfire or wore the serving. Your' s must be defective.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

That' s pretty funny!:D I ALWAYS put my finger behind the trigger when I draw the bow. It will save you some embarrassment and not to mention maybe some limbs. You might want to look at the Tru Fire hurricane glove. The trigger has a spring behind it that closes the jaw automaticly when you relax the trigger. I have this release as well as the excaliper glove and the hurricane is an excelent release, very smooth, no loading of the trigger (getting heavier at full draw), and very comfortable.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

Don' t feel rained on, BuckAlley. I' ve seen more than a few guys knock themselves plumb cookoo like that. I' ve seen ' em bust their noses and knock teeth clean out. One guy had a glass jaw and scored a KO on his ignorant self. The release went off as soon as he hit peak draw on that 80 pounder and his fist whopped him right on the point of the chin. He was clean OUT for about 5 minutes. It was the 4th or 5th time his release had pre-fired that day and he just kept on shooting it instead of pulling out his spare. It' s been some 18 years and he gets reminded of it regularly. Especially when it' s his turn to buy drinks. :)

Next time you decide to play with a release, don' t draw directly toward your anchor. Draw to your shoulder. When you' re at full draw, then - and only then - bring your hand up to your anchor. That way, when the release malfunctions (and they ALL fail, eventually - some sooner than others), you' ll hit your chest or shoulder instead of popping yourself in the eye or busting your own self in the chops.

But do send that release back. My TruFire has always functioned perfectly in both modes.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

A few hours and a few shots is nowhere near a realistic training period, and definitely does not satisfy your promise " But I wanted to make a good honest effort, and see if I liked it better."

Considering you have always been a finger shooter, the " glove release" might not have been the best choice for your first release. Perhaps you should have gone with a model that has a wrist strap and a longer barrel.

Until you became familiar with using a release, the wrist strap would help in pulling your string without putting your fingers to near the trigger, and the longer barrel would help keep the trigger out in front until the pull of the string put a stronger load on the trigger.

Put a steak on your eye and get back out there!

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

:D I SHOT FINGERS FOR 15 YRS AND THEN CHANGED. TAKES A LITTLE TIME TO FEEL COMFORTABLE, DONT GIVE UP. YOU WILL ENJOY THE END RESULTS. GO WITH THE SCOTT RELEASE.:D

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

:D:DYou are killing me.LOL
Ok Im alright now. Brings back some fun times.
5 years ago a buddy and myself are hunting on a wheat field. I have a tri pod and he has made a ground blind.
First day we see lots of deer but all does. At lunch he is taking a couple of shots and starts to adjust his release and looses a spring. After a short search and a few choise words he gets his backup and without trying it we go back to the field.
We had not been in our blinds more than a hr when the does start coming out. Then about 45 min. later a nice buck comes out but stayes about 60 yards from him but is slowly moving his direction.
Now I can see him start to draw his bow (80lb) when the deer gets about 40 yards out but then just at peak draw his arrow shoots off one way, his bow flies up and he flips out of the blind and is laying on the ground. I, being a conserned bud. am realy ticked he spooked all the deer. lol I watch to see if he is moving and where the deer went. After just a few min. and a couple of photo' s later (Im going to get somthing out of this) I go check on him, I mean the deer are gone so what the heck.
I know he is alive by the sounds that he is making and by almost being hit by a flying release that came from his direction.
He is still on the ground but there is blood all over his face. I have determined what has happened but have to ask, " Why did you spook all the deer" ! Well I cant tell you what he said and I am not sure it is possible to do anyway.
Bottom line is that at peak draw his release (that he had not used) failed and hit him right in the nose and knocked him out and out of the blind. More photos taken. More words and jestures when I ask if he hit the deer. LOL and no he did not even come close.

Test your equipment and use it MANY times before taking it out for the real thing. This includes all equipment and backups.

I still send him a card with one photo on his birthday which is 2 days before opening of bow season. Being a good friend I cant wast a good photo.
Rick

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

:)Thanks, I needed a good laugh. Hope everything works out and you can get the release to work for you.

But your story reminds me of a couple years ago when my brother-in-law tried shooting a bow. He was using fingers and the first couple times the arrow flew just fine. Then he went to full draw and let go of the bow and held his anchor point. Yep, the bow came back and smacked him in the face. He turned around to look at me with his glasses sitting cockeyed on his face and I almost peed myself I laughed so hard. But not to be discouraged, he tried it again. Let loose a couple of fine shots, and then....he did it again. Bloodied his nose. I had to make him stop...he was killing me! All he could say is, I sometimes don' t know which end to release! He' s a banker if that tells you anything. Hasn' t picked up a bow since. I' m laughing my a$$ off just thinking about it. Good thing he wasn' t seriously hurt.

Good luck.:D

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I feel your pain, literally. I have this release that I have had for 15 yrs and it has
always worked great. This year I started shooting with a loop really liked it. But, after about 3 month of hunting and practice the batting that is stuffed in the center of the loop material broke free and the loop lost its bulk. This allowed the loop to flatten and my old release has just enough gap to allow it through. Pow!! right in the nose and two lost arrows.

I laugh about it now, but keep a closer check on the loop. Im going to get a different release this spring.

Keep trying with the release, it will improve your accuracy, and when that happens you' ll wonder why it took so long to convert.

[Deleted]
 

[Deleted by Admins]

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I would advise you to pull the bow back in a manner that would not allow you to hit yourself inthe face.

What I would guess happened is the loop was pulling through the Trufires jaws.A lot of caliper head releases will do this and although Scott makes an excellent release,their caliper heads are one of the worst about pulling through,especially over time.You wouldn' t think they could pull through by looking at them but they do,trust me on this one.I would suggest going with a Scott Mongoose or a Truball caliper.You will never have to worry about these pulling through.The Mongoose would probably make the transition from fingers to a release a little easier.It only has 1 jaw that moves and allows you to put the release right on your face for a good solid anchor.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

Thanks guys I got tears in my eyes, laughing at some of your stories. I e-mailed Tru-fire, and waitng for a reply. On the loop thing I suppose its possible the loop slipped through the jaws. But a friend of mine shoots the same exact release, and string loop I have. He' s never had any problems with his. I' ll see what Tru-Fire finds out with it. If anything the relax trigger mode is definitly not working right. Thanks again guys!!!

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

haha.:D sorry[:' (] i am not bowhuntin yet but this summer am purchasing one. i think i am going to just start right off with a release. but will have to see how things go. hope you stick with it.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

It looks like they have addressed the situation of pulling through with a loop,atleast they say they have on their website.That release has a sensitivity screw on it and it is quite possible that it is set too light and that will also cause what you are battling.

Good luck with it and I hope you keep all your teeth while getting it worked out.:D[8D]

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I' ve shot Scott releases for probably 12 years. I' ve NEVER had that happen.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I got a good chuckle out of this one as well. (No offense intended) but it sounded like a 3 stooges movie.....clip on, draw back, punch in face...clip on, draw back, punch in face....:D I expected pictures darn it! ;)

Glad to hear you are ok. I do hope that Trufire takes care of you. I have been using their releases for many years now and have had zero problems with their druability or functionality. I hope the next one works out better regardless of which one you choose.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I bought a tru-fire two years ago. The first day I used it, it released early, about 3/4 draw. The first time I thought it might have been me. The very next shot, I made sure I had my finger behind the trigger and it still released early. Both times it almost tore my elbow off. I took it back and got a scott and havn' t had any problems since. It hurt my elbow so bad that I still wince when I pull my bow back, scared that thing is going to let go too early.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I have a brand new TruFire Hurricane and, yes, this happened to me as well. I lost two arrows as a result, but I didn' t hit myself hard enough to get a black eye.

I solved the problem with a little adjustment on the sensitivity screw. No more problems!!!:)

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

Any release with a trigger adjustment needs to be set to handle the draw weight of a given bow. To set the trigger weight, you can run a piece of cord through 90 - 100 lbs of free weights and then tie a piece of loop material (in a loop) on the end of the cord. Set your release trigger really light and keep adjusting until you can lift the weights off the floor without it misfiring. It is a very good idea to put some thread lock on the adjustment screw as some of them can work loose over time and cause it to start misfiring.

I' ve also had lint (yes the kind in your pockets) cause a release to misfire, believe it or not. Not sure where it even came from, but my release misfired on me a couple of times at a 3D shoot. On inspection, I found a tiny ball of lint had made it' s way between the calipers so they could not close all the way. Luckily for me, the first time I only caught a glancing blow on the chin. The second time, I was making a point to draw away from my face.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

Davidmill,the problem with the Scott caliper and a loop will show itself when using some of the smaller loop material.I have had this happen to me as well as some people that I know.If you are using the heavier loop material then it will most likely not happen.They make an excellent release but if you look at their caliper heads when closed you will notice a slight gap and believe it or not a loop can slide through it.I know a person that chipped his tooth because of this.

I' m not trying to bash their releases,I actually really like them(more than most).Just something that can happen.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I shoot the relax to fire . . . and you need to adjust the trigger pull to the lightest possible adjustment that still holds the string as you draw. I did have one problem, I need to check the jaws on my release because the jaws don' t always lock down right. I don' t know whether it is just me or my release is old and worn or what. It took me some time to learn but I complicated the learning curve by learning to do more than one new thing at a time.

So I' d like to offer a piece of advice. Learn to use the release in the pull trigger to fire. Once you are comfortable with it. Then switch to the relax to fire.

Work on learning ONE NEW THING at a time.

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

I agree with you on pitching the release. As you have experienced, this is just one more thing to go wrong when the shot of a lifetime appears 20 yards from your stand. I tried the Cascade release and shot it well, but just enjoy fingers shooting. Maybe someday my fingers will not work like the do now and a change must be made. At this time, I' m very satisfied with my accuracy shooting the basics.
[:-]

RE: A archery black eye, literally!!
 

Guys I never touched the sensitivity screw on the release at all. I test drew it a few times after I put the loop on, arrow nocked too of course. But I' ll try the adjustment screw. I like the testing of using weights, rope, and loop. Saves my face!!! See if that makes a difference. I just never figured Tru-Fire would have a release preset to a light sensitivity. I only draw 60lbs. I still haven' t recieved a return e-mail from them yet. But I' ll play with the adjustment screw, and if the relax mode still malfunctions I' ll give them a buzz.