watched some old vidios on here.. No sites and they anchored under their chin with out touching any anchor point. Just pulled back and let the arrow go. Ive seen it before and never paid it any attention.. Looks like pure instinctive to me. Anyone here shoot like that and does it work well for you? And why don't we see anyone doing it now?...ron

If they did it the same way on every shot, you can bet it wasn’t “pure Instinctive”.... just doing it the hard way.

My guess is that if these were target competitors you were looking at.... and if nobody does it that way anymore.... it’s a Lead Pipe Cinch that it was found that the previous method was no way to win a shootin’ match....

They have an anchor point, just is not face related. A kyudo practitioner, an war longbow shooter or a traditional Korean archer doesn't anchor to the face, but they stretch their body until they cant pull further without getting off the line. That's the anchor.

What makes you think they were 'pure instinctive'????

Oly shooters anchor under their chin because they had to shoot 90 meters with light poundage.

But there is a simple way to tell. If they hit the target they were gapping. LOL. THat ought to make the thread longer.

Bowmania

Under the chin IS andanchor point and they were probably using the point of the arrow as their front sight. They probably were shooting longer yardages.

gluetrap, under the chin anchor was the, should I even say it, more traditional way of shooting the bow back int he day. It served a common sense purpose, it allowed for a greater distance between the eye and the anchor for using a point-on at longer distance (a moment of silence here for 'trad' convulsion). And they did have an anchor, under the chin with the string touching the chin, or the face along side of it. Nothing instinctive about it as they could manipulate the point-on better that way.

Keep in mind that the archers of old main target round....long before bow seasons and recognized bow hunting, was the York Round....72 arrows at 100 yards, 48 arrows at 80 yards and 24 arrows at 60 yards. You will see the benefit of a low anchor if you shoot that round.

Thanks for the excuse to post a picture of Horace Ford, English champion with a career spanning twenty years through 1869.

"Chief" Will Compton. Saxton Pope said Will was the best shot he ever saw on running game. That should be proof in itself that the split finger, low anchor isn't good for hunting. Both Pope and Young used the low anchor as well; Young holding all three fingers under the arrow, and Pope shooting standard split finger style.

"is good for hunting".

The under chin anchor is ergonomically superior to a high anchor also. Everything is in line with the arrow.

thanks all. that's the anchor I was talking about. its going to warm up today, might give it a try today. if I don't shoot over top of the garage I might give it several trys just to get a feel for it...ron

tried it. worked well at 20yds, you get a more unobstructed site picture...ron

I prefer it...

Hazel Rich

Under the chin anchor has been around as long as any other, and is still used by Olympic target shooters and others who shoot long distances with light bows. Reread George's post.

I started shooting an OLY style a few years ago just for sh..s and giggles. It looked a lot like Hazel Rich's form in Dan W's picture above. Thumb anchored below jaw bone, bow straight up and down, very formal stance. It worked well. I thought I was pretty accurate, took some deer from the ground, overall didn't give up a thing.

About 3 weeks ago I went back to my old form with bow canted and index finger in corner of mouth. I started shooting every other day and it's been slow going getting back to being accurate or more importantly, consistent. Only real drawback has been I shot a hole in my beard! Took about two weeks before I had a bald spot the size of a quarter on my chin. Can't imagine that's normal.

"Only real drawback has been I shot a hole in my beard! Took about two weeks before I had a bald spot the size of a quarter on my chin. Can't imagine that's normal."

Heh heh- not Hazel's problem! Shoot like Gail Russell- no holes in her beard.... :-)

One reason that the "old anchor" was and is still popular is that it's REALLY hard to foul up.

You have so many natural refrence or touch points that inconsistency virtually disappears.

The famous Horace Ford in the mid 1800 is known to have popularized the new “under the chin” anchor, which was a drastic change from the “pulling to the ear” commonly used at that time. Under the chin anchor would allowed him to align the arrow with the dominant eye. They were shooting very long distance (~ 200 yards) and used the point of aim method.

After that, then non-oly/hunter archers went from under the chin to corner of the mouth (and shorter distances ~ 60 yards), and now from split to 3 under (even shorter distances ~ 20 yards).

Funny how the debate between “pulling to the ear” and “under the chin” during H. Ford time must have been very similar to the current split vs 3 under discussion. I bet the “pulling to the ear” anchor was for most archers the “traditional” way to shoot at that time.

Chazz

Even Howard Hills anchor was lower than most now a days. What ever consistent anchor youre used to will work.

Not always, but today the norm is, the higher the anchor, the lower the draw weight/higher mass weight and the longer the arrows.

The really good shots like Hill, Swinehart, Ken Wilhelm all drew much lower within the power groove, that's one reason why they could handle much heavier bows easily. One day we will learn power trumps style any day of the week, but probably not for awhile :)

How do you keep it consistent with an under the chin anchor? I use it withsighted bows but, I often get them feeling that it’s a little different each time.

It is far and away easier to be consistent, you have a ledge under the jaw that is rock solid, and most can do a tip of the nose also. Some of the Oly tabs have a metal ledge that you can adjust up and down to perfect the jawline registration. The string also doesn't scrape your nose.

It is the perfect anchor if you use a sight, or shooting longer average distances. All the jazz people are messing around with is mostly to avoid using a formal sight, and at the end of the day they are basically doing the same thing, just awkwardly. The way things are going, sights will be back on most stick bows within 10 years.

Only downside I can think of is that if you are going to use a formal sight window, you need a longer sight window, thus a longer bow, which won't suit guys who like short bows, though there are several work arounds.

High anchors ain't new. Maurice Thompson used to draw to the ear- Much higher than anyone is now anchoring. Also shot heavy bows. He acknowledged Horace Ford's great archery form, but considered it more suited to target shooting.

Ah, the form of a man who hasn't time for secondary and tertiary reference points and finding string blur, for lo, the bird is on the wing.

I have hunted using under chin anchor and a sight. Another advantage is much less string interference with brim of hat.

If you look at the photos you'll notice one big difference between under the chin and side of face and that's the cant of the bow. Under the chin is pretty straight up and down, taller, almost more formal. side of face lends itself to canting the bow and getting your eyes over the arrow. Doesn't have to follow this pattern, but it seems to. For me, anchoring under the chin feels more solid and more repeatable and I don't seem to have up and down accuracy issues up close. My accuracy issues with Oly style are more with side to side consistency. Canting the bow is just the opposite. Being able to tilt until my eye or eyes are right over the arrow and in line with the target makes it much easier for me to get really good side to side accuracy. Downside is I don't feel that the back is engaged as much and therefore less consistent draw length. Again, this is just what I've found and noticed. Depending on your make up, eye dominance, etc... you may have completely different results. Jim

I really don't get why some folks make it seem that using a lower anchor, with an additional reference point, or points, is a slower method of shooting.

It's not.

Also, you can cant the bow using an under chin anchor, as well as being able to easily get the eye right over the arrow.

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