I just started getting some time to shoot my bow. Yesterdays results were terrible. Today I shot better, but the ring finger is a little sore.[:@] Hopefully I' ll correct that bad habit soon. I am also shooting consistantly right. (Im left handed). What the heck am I doing wrong? Should I beat myself in the head and hope my " sights" correct themselves? Here' s a pic of what I' m doing at 15 yards.

Kip, when your ring finger is sore it' s a good sign that you are torquing the string by pulling too much with that finger. The will force the arrow down on the shelf, and can really mess with your arrow flight and accuracy (I have to watch it close myself)--have you noticed your arrows not flying as good as they did? You may be gripping the bow too tight also, and are you canting your head approximately the same degree that you cant your bow? Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head that might be the problem. Go ahead and beat yourself in the head anyway though, just in case .

Chad

Chad, the arrows are not flying the way they were over the winter. Maybe the extra torque with the ring finger is causing the wear on my seal skin? Im trying to mentally " check" each shot now. I think you have the clue. I just pulled the bow a few times, and I' m keeping my head straight up. I' ll try keeping my head with the bow tomorrow, and let you know how it goes.

My wife would probably like helping me adjust my sights.

Kip: I think LBR is right on with suggesting that you' re probably torquing the string. Hey, wouldn' t you know it, I' ve been through the same exact scenario. Let me tell you what helped tremendously for me; it' s some information I gained from the book " Archery Anatomy" by Ray Axford. In the past, I was gripping the string by trying to keep the string in the 1st grooves of all 3 fingers which was contributing to some of the torque. After reading Axford' s book, I started putting the string in the 1st groove of my 1st and 3rd finger while keeping the string well behind the 1st groove of my 2nd finger. Immediately this distributes the pressure on the string more evenly thereby helping to eliminate the tendency for the ring finger to cock outwards. Aside from that, always try to keep your string in line with the palm of your hand and wrist. If you have to, remind yourself to rotate the heel of your hand in closer to your face.

Here' s a couple of hangups that will cause me to shoot right as I' m a lefty too.
-Make certain you are drawing all the way to your anchor.
-Bow arm, bow arm, bow arm! If that sucker isn' t steady then I promise your arrows will go right.
-Use your back muscles all the way through the draw. I mean reeeeaaaallllly concentrate on pulling with your back!
-Plucking the string will send those arrows right too but if you pull with your back all the way through the draw then this shouldn' t be a problem.

I' ll second what Brian said about holding your bow arm steady and drawing with your back muscles. Keep the back pressure on and relax the muscles on your string side, while holding the bow arm steady as possible, and the string will slip through your fingers. This should also cut down on the soreness in your fingers ' cause there' ll be less pressure on them. Pay close attention to the way the shot feels for clues to whats going on. Not while you' re shooting of course, but after the shot think about how it felt and what you may or may not have done wrong. When you find the good points, remember and duplicate them. When you find the bad points, shoot ' em [&:]

Brandan

Just a though that we all might have overlooked. Spline might be to high, right hand shooters will shoot to the left and left hand shooters will shoot to the right. One way to fine out if this is happening is simpley go up in point weight and see if this will make any change. 100 grain to 125 or 125 grain to 145/150 heads. Like I said just a thought

Ok, here' s the skinny. I shot the first arrow, and it went right, just like yesterday.
The second arrow, I tilted my head the same as the bow, and the arrow went right in the bullseye. Chad, your a stinkin' genius. (Well, stinkin' anyways)

Now, I tried to play with the finger placement. I am currently splitting the 1st pad on my middle finger. When I put extra " umph" on the middle finger, the sore ring finger goes away. I will work on that.

The arrow spine could be possible, but I am shooting a range of 3 spines right now. The 3 different spine ranges seem to be grouping together. The lightest spine weight (55-60) is going high left, the middle spine(60-65) is in the money, just a tad high, and the heaviest (65-70) are in the bullseye, with the occasional flier to the right. (that could just be me).

So, I think it was (is) a combination of things. I guess I have to work each problem out one at a time until I get everything flying where it is supposed to be. I still think my nockpoint is too low, due to the extreme wear on the sealskin rest. I will try to adjust that tomorrow. (I couldn' t find my stinkin' pliers today).
Thanks for the help everyone, I' ll try not to let you down.

Kip, I know from experience that if you' re overspined it can cause not only wear on your rest but also cause your arrows to land high.

I' d say you' ve got nothing to complain about. Everyone of those arrows would have killed a deer.

woodbow