Hello all,

I've been lurking here for quite awhile, but this is my first post. I appreciate the breadth of knowledge found here.

Been shooting longbow/recurve a little over two years. Got my arrows tuned well. Now, I find that I'm hitting my face with the string upon release.

I have a 29 1/2 in. draw and I anchor web of thumb/forefinger on back of jaw. I'm thinking this means I need to open my stance up a bit. Thing is, I've not really changed anything that I'm aware of since I started anchoring on my jaw. Stance is 90 degrees to target.

I was reading Precision Archery by Steve Ruis. I'll paraphrase here: Slow and steady, once the draw has begun, the motion is NEVER stopped throughout the shot sequence. There is no pause at anchor, but the hand merely relaxes to loose the string as a light touch is felt at the anchor and the draw hand continues to follow through.

and

"Stopping the draw motion is the most common and devastating error in good archery performance."

I also read where a draw that extends past the corner of your mouth is an overdraw.

I always come to anchor hold it, then pull off my hand on release. I've had pretty good accuracy this way until this last week, where things are off a bit and I'm hitting my face.

Please lend your thoughts on all of this and any advice you may have.

Thanks!

Todd

No pause at anchor is just one way of doing it. What you DONT want to do is to relax back forward after hitting anchor (creeping).

Don't change your stance to avoid hitting your face. There is a very good chance that you are plucking your release and snapping the string into your face. Focus on your follow through and see if it changes.

The angle of your face to the target affects your string clearance quite a bit. You have to experiment.

Drawing past your mouth CAN cause you to pull out of alignment to the target. I can do it if I turn my head away from the target a little (it gets my cheek out of the way) but I usually end up not liking it .

Everything that Dude said. Might start by turning your face a little more toward the target.

Are you sure it is the string?? Are you shooting a tab or glove? If a tab, how long is it in relation to your finger tips when they are on the string?

Also, be careful to NOT lay your head over to the string at full draw. Hold your head still and bring the string to your face, don't "go to get it," or "cuddle up" to the string.

Arne

Thanks all for the replies. I may be bringing my face to the string to touch my nose to the top fletching (cock feather in).

I'll experiment some more. Maybe I'm just tired working on the nightshift!

I'm shooting a tab. It is cut to the end of my fingers. I have deep hook to first joint of fingers. Shooting 3-under.

Todd

You're overdrawing and using your jaw to help hold the bow back. Once at full draw anchor but keep pulling. Don't lock onto your face. And don't turn your head to get that last bit of draw length.

Todd -

There really are only two reasons for hitting parts of your face on release. 1. incomplete head rotation towards the target and 2. collapse on release.

And yeah, that thing about never stopping at anchor is pretty easy to misinterpret. You can't stop pulling, put there may and usually is a physical stop at anchor. However, there has to be a pull-through on the release.

The feather to the nose thing is just an additional reference point, and probably not necessary.

Viper out.

Wet, try shortening the tab so it is 1/4 to 3/8" SHORT of your finger tips when hooked on the string. A tab that is too long can and will hit your face during release.

Arne

Here's a couple of things.

You probably don't have a sequence written down. Get one and write it down. Do it every shot.

Try moving your feet 30 degrees to the target. You should be able to draw a line from you rear heel to the ball of your big toe to the target. Look in the mirror without a bow and point your bow arm towards the mirror at the 90 degree stance and then use the KSL 30 degrees. You'll see a twist of your core that's a much strong position than the shoulder/arm movement of the 90.

In my mind that nonstop movement is a TP producer. The problem is that you have to be on target and at full draw/anchor at the same time. I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm saying that I don't think it's a good thing over time.

I think the best method (KSL) is to draw, anchor, transfer, aim, back tension, release, follow through. Think of shooting a rifle. You aim it and then squeeze the trigger. With a bow you don't squeeze the trigger you use back tension to get the trigger (release) to go off.

Always two ways to skin a cat, but some ways are better than others.

Bowmania

You can quickly be overwhelmed by help here so try to work with your solid anchor/release sequence before changing much at all. When I had issues with hitting the face, it turned out I wasn't getting tight with my anchor and not pulling through. That was me though. Viper teaches archery form so it's always good to listen a bit to what he has to say.

Listen to the information here as well as reading what you can find, and then blend the things you learn to develop a system that works for you.

Some points to consider.

Drawing past the corner of the mouth being an 'over draw" is only opinion. Everybody is different, and how and where they draw the anchor to is individualistc. Lots of "traditional" archers would be well served by drawing past the cornder of their mouth because then they could actually engage their back.

As Arene said. make sure you are bringing the string to your face, not moving your face to the string. It's certain that if you were not hittting your face before, and you are hitting your face now your head position has changed.

I used to anchor my thumb under my ear and my draw was over 29". But as I mentioned, I realized I was shooting sideways a bit and had to fudge my alignment at different ranges. And I don't care if you 'aim' or not....that is not conducive to good shooting at all ranges.

Here's my old anchor/draw with an old Pearson pulling about 64#. Note how far out of my eyeliner the string is.

NOW I am shooting with a little confidence out to 50 yards. I couldn't have done that had I stuck to that anchor.

Back to your original question....If your bow hand is on the left side, and your draw is pulling to the right, and your FACE is in the middle....

Great advice all. I checked my stance at 90° by turning away from target, closing my eyes, turning back to target, and drawing. I ended up pointing well right of target. Opened to about 45°, tested again and was on point. Stance corrected. Not hitting my face now.

Got my 25# form bow out. Played with not stopping at anchor. Not terrible accuracy, but not great either. It got better toward the end of the session when I concentrated on drawing very slowly. I will do some blank bale, blind shooting until I can just "feel" the shot. Just think about relaxing fingers when reaching anchor.

I did consider the possibility of introducing target panic shooting this way. I'll work it a bit more to see if it comes together.

My draw sequence has been bow hand lifeline grip, pick spot, slow draw to anchor, hold, pull back to release. May have been collapsing a little before, but pretty sure I'm not plucking. How arm held steady on target until after the shot.

You guys are all great. Thanks again for the good advice!

Todd

Todd,

Something to mess with...With your feet at 45 degree, your torso still rotates all the way back, hips stay still. It gives you a very strong coiled draw and prevents (fights it anyway) collapsing.

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