I had the chance to shoot in a primitive archery competition at a rendezvous last weekend. The rules of this event precluded me using my own equipment so I borrowed my brother's self bow and wooden arrows. I am right handed and have a 28" draw length. My own bow is a Toelke Whip 50#@28" and I usually shoot carbon arrows for hunting. I can regularly keep all shots inside a pie plate at 20yards with this setup. Self bow I borrowed was 40#@30" and not cut as close to center as my Whip. I do not know about spine on the wooden arrows but they were about 31" long. Had all of my shots been to a single target, I would have had a great group, 8" left of my aim point. Elevation was fine, just every single shot hit 8" left of my aim point. I have also noticed that when I miss with my Whip, it will be left as well. Arrow flight looks good to me.
What am I doing? Thoughts, suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
It's in your grip and follow through more than likely. I have to really push the bow towards the target to prevent hitting left with longbows.
Hitting left with a fletched arrow means they are spined too high. Easy to fix, go weaker spined or add weight up front or same spine longer shaft.
John III
What JDS3 said. Arrow doesn't have enough paradox and hits the riser making it go left. I had this problem with a bow I use to shoot. Took the strike plate off and use a rasp to make it more center shot. Shot right where I was looking after that.
Bowmania
If I pull my hand away from my face at release. I hit high left.
All of these are good suggestions but for me lately when I start missing left the problem seems to be my stance. If my stance is too open then I can't turn my head enough comfortably and my right eye is not right above the arrow and I miss left. Closing my stance a little lets me turn my head enough to get my eye right in line with the arrow and I no longer miss left.
Mark
A 40@30 selfbow at your 28" draw was probably only pulling around 34#s or less. You need some seriously light spined shafts. My bet is you were over spined also.
My first thought was that the arrows were overspined for my length on that bow. I also suspected that there was probably something in my form since it also sometimes happened with my own set-up. Thanks for the help.
Once you saw that you were consistently hitting 8 inches to the left, did you try picking a spot 8 inches to the right of the target to see what would happen? I know it would be better to have properly spined arrows, but wouldn't this be a jury rigged solution under field conditions?