RE: proper bow arm position
 

RICK;You may be right,but I shoot only to hunt,now if I was trying to burn up the 3-d circuit I would most likely get a coach and try to perfect my form,but for hunting I'm not to worried about it as long as I'm shooting as well as I am.I'm too darn old to worry about changing my form at this stage of the game,besides I know that in a lot of hunting situations perfect form is not an option at times,sometimes you have to make it up as you go along to get the shot off,it's kinda like hunting with a backtension release,sometimes you need to shoot when you need to shoot and can't wait for the shot to suprise you,but you do make a good point about shooting withuot aiming.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

That's for sure Matt. I tried just shooting when I changed my griplast year and gave myself some serious target panic. It was so bad that I was releasing before on target and shooting all over the place. I had trouble hitting a bale at 20 yds for about 2 weeks.

A fellow shooter recommended I just work on the form. I'd just draw my bow 5-6 times in a row and let down andthen just shoot at a blank baleafter the last draw and now I'm happy I changed my grip. It was tough to not shoot at a target and just think about your body.Now though even when I'm shooting at a target I can process what I did wrong and correct it for the next shot without freaking out.

If anyone has played any sport and tried to correct a flaw in a motion they know that it takes the body a while to stop trying to do what is wrong and retrain using the brain. Muscles just want to do what they've been programed to do and breaking that will cause poor performance until the muscles are retrained. Heck, even a professional athlete goes through issues when they change a motion that's been ingrained in their head.

I am not a target shooter so my thoughts on some things differ from others. However, I firmly believe that the better you shoot in practice, with good form, the better you will be when you have to adjust your body for a hunting situation. I''m mostly talking about upper body form. If you keep theshoulder and arm form correct you will be more accurate more often and I think it's easier to take unorthodox shots because of this..

RE: proper bow arm position
 

It depends on the type of archery we are talking about if alocked bow arm is correct or not.

I believe that with a compound that a straight,relaxed arm is correct but with a olympic style recurve that a locked bow arm is "considered" correct.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

How to get good bow arm position:

Hold your arm straight out to the side, palm flat, fingers straight and your thumb pointing straight out to the side.

Keeping the arm straight to the side, relax your shoulder and allow it to drop straight down to where it stops by itself.

From the shoulder, rotate your upper arm so that the inside bend of your elbow is vertical.

At the wrist, rotate the hand so that your thumb is pointing up at a 45 degree angle.

Relax the elbow and allow it to take a natural bend. (Optional: disregard this step for high wrist, as discussed below. Instead, flatten the top of the wrist so that you can point the big knuckle at the base of the index finger at the target)

Relax your hand and let your fingers and thumb assume their natural curl.

And there it is.

Most people these days shoot low to medium wrist style. It's practically identical with the bow arm/wrist position used for shooting longbows, in fact. Ain't it amazing how we've progressed all the way back around to longbow form? ;)

Some still use high wrist - I guess mostly us old farts who shot high wrist for years and can't get comfortable with any other style. Also, a great many recurve shooters use high wrist. High wrist works best with a straight and at least semi-locked elbow.

And you see odball mish-moshes, like the Olympian that TFOX posted. Severely locked elbow and low wrist. Watching someone shoot with a reverse bend in the elbow like that really does creep me out - and his is very slight compared to some I've seen. [&:] But if that's what works for that individual, that's what they gotta do.

Too many people try to rubber stamp "good form." There certainly are points of good form, but those points should be considered guidelines rather than absolutes. Each individual is different. There is a wide range of individual physical traits, so there must be a wide range of adaptations to compliment them or compensate for them, and those adaptations need to be allowed for.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Actually,that is a very acceptable form in the olympic arena,as a matter of fact,I see more doing it that way than not.Do a google search and most pictures you see will be this style.


The coach I know actually told me once that he teaches it for his recurve shooters. And for reference,he has coached 3 or 4 youth shooters to world records and is a level IV instructor.;)

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Well Im a little more simple than the rest, they all have great advice, but you gotta shoot how you feel the most comfortable. If you are like me, I shoot with a slight bend at the elbow, but I know others who lock out their arm and they shoot fine too. If you are not shooting competitions or for Team USA, don't worry about it, just shoot and hunt.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

If we were on Targetshooternet.com and not Huntingnet.comit would be great to talk about a form that would not work out of a treestand with a traditional bow.;)

In addition, the PS was asking about arm position for a compound bow.

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Now that's funny right there!

RE: proper bow arm position
 

Nothing in there about hunting or target form.

PLUS,I clearly stated what the locked bow arm is for.

Some are interested in LEARNING things,others are not,if not,skip over and move on.;)

RE: proper bow arm position
 

For those that care and are still in doubt about a locked bow arm for certain types of archery.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWZ4WJQ-624

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMhelaq4WhU