Is it because the sight window is small or are there other reason why you cant your bow.
I cant the bow because it allows me to see more of the playing field peripherally.
I also practice various cant angles, straight up, and reverse cant.
Same as what Terry said, but also it just seems to cant itself, and for me it takes more of a weird conscious effort to shoot it vertically. I think it has something to do with the natural alignment of the wrist bones, or arm bones.
When i had my 14in ACS i shot it better when i did cant the bow.
Im going to order there 16in riser when i get the funds so im wondering if i will have to cant the bow.
My PSA X has such a big sight window that i dont feel the need to cant that bow.
I guess its a personal preference but it does help see more of the playing field, thanks Terry for you input.
I'm with Ben, it just seems more natural to cant, it feels awkward to intentionally hold it vertical, although I try to practice like Terry said with all different amounts of cant. If I am shooting recurves, which I rarely do anymore, I do tend to shoot more vertical than that of shooting a longbow. Don't really know why!!!!!
BOB
What Terry & Ben said. Also in some situations you may not be able to shoot with a verticle bow, for brush and such. Good thing to practice, can mean shot or no shot.
Eric
Strange, for me it is the opposite..
It feels somewhat strange to me to cant the bow.
May ne due to my short draw of 26,5".
Still, I group better when shooting upright..
Same as Terry...I don't want anything distracting my view of the "spot". Vary the amount of cant to the shooting situation. Mike
When i took my 2 days of lessons from Rod Jenkins he had me shooting the bow straight up and down like the olympic archers.
I really cant remember if he said why i should shoot like that but it does feel more natural to me to shoot that way.
Maybe its because i just came from the compound to the stick bow.
Its all good though i love shooting these trad bows and i spent over 7 hours today shooting on and off.
I LOVE THESE TRAD BOWS and all the people associated with them, you guys are the tip of the sword.
hard to shoot with a vertical bow when yer kneeling, sitting down, lying down. trad bowhunting ain't paper or foam popping.
i feel like a stuff shirt if i dont cant the bow :biglaugh: im sorry i had to say that. ive alwayy held the bow at a cant, just feels natural.as long as ya do everything the same way everytime what does it matter if your form isnt upright and proper olymic form nobody will see it in the woods, 'cept the squirrel blowin your cover chatterin at ya
Rob i couldnt agree with you more.
I practice shooting in all kinds of situations and i feel it helps me to be a better hunter.
I think when we get lessons from experts in the field of shooting they try to help us with our form first and foremost and then we can work on real life hunting situations during our practice sessions.
canting a bow allows better view of the intended target.also i feel canting a longbow allows for less string slap of the arm.
I feel like I have to try and hold a bow straight up, a slight cant just feels natural to me.
When I first switched from compounds to trad, I always shot without a can't. I started with a recurve and now shoot mostly longbows. I don't even know how it happened, but now I shoot mostly with a cant and it takes some effort to shoot without it. I also reduce the cant the further away from the target that I am. Strange.
Hold it at whatever angle the shot dictates-cant, reverse cant, horizontal, vertical, whatever it takes. To me the sight window has zero bearing on anything except a place to put the arrow shelf.
Pretty much all of the above. Hold your relaxed shooting arm out in front of you it will USUALLY have a natural cant but some people are built different. I shoot all kinds of cants, angles, laying down, etc. You never know what you may have to do in the field. Hunting on the ground you have to cant the bow to clear the ground.
I agree with Griz, you have to practice for a majority of the situations. But I personally pass on the hanging upside down from the tree limb shot. Would that constitute "canting" your bow?
And what is a sight window? I was looking at the deer/target. LOL
Kim
Dont make me come to huntsville and look you up.lol
Like the great Barry Wensel said because it just feels right. But I still practice all positions because you just never know. Widow
Gives me more sight window and keeps bow from hitting chair and ATV :banghead:
I cant the bow in the manner Bjorn describes above, too the angle that is called for by the hunting and the shot situation at hand. I also am not really aware of the sight window.
QuoteOriginally posted by Rob DiStefano:
hard to shoot with a vertical bow when yer kneeling, sitting down, lying down. trad bowhunting ain't paper or foam popping.
Not hard at all.
Shot him kneeling...
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/wesbrock/Moose-vert.jpg)
Shot him sitting...
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/wesbrock/IMG_6314-small.jpg)
Never had the need to shoot anything lying down, since that means I'm napping. :D
You guys are great so keep it comming.
Not fair Jason! Long legged as you are, you're almost as tall kneeling as I am standing! :bigsmyl:
Guilty as charged. :biglaugh:
....come to think of it, were you kneelin' or was the moose kneelin'? I know, the Moose had heard you were inthe area and was sayin' his prayers! :pray: (just funnin' ya, Moose are agnostic)
Jason.....your bow is much shorter that Robs...and you're taller.....easy for you bud. :biglaugh:
It helps keep your arrow on the shelf..... :thumbsup:
I do it cause it looks traditional.LOL. Nah i think it has to do with the centershot of the bow to some extint.Thnks,Jim
I practice all different ways, but my usual way of shooting is with a cant to about 2 O'clock. It feels more natural to me, and for some reason I have better form that way-elbow up, back tension, and I guess it does give me a clear sight picture. Also, for some unknown reason, I shoot better kneeling with the bow canted.
Feels natural to me.
I started young without any outside influence and just did what came naturally...for me it was to practice with a cant to the bow. That said, I do practice alternatives and will shoot as the situation dictates when hunting but, given the choice, my bow leans to the old familiar place. Rick.
Same as what everybody else say,s but also because I like to shoot off my knees when I can.
If your on your knees you have to cant the bow or you'll hit the ground with your lower limb.
I just stuck my hand out like it would be if I had a bow in my hand. I noticed that a bow in my hand would not be truly vertical and that I had to twist my arm to get my hand in that position.
It was mentioned earlier and I think it's just the way I should be shooting since to get to vertical is not natural for me.
Because it works! Less strain on the bow arm.
Canting the bow gives me a better picture of the target, and gets the string away from my eye and glasses.
I started canting because I intially subscribed to the Fred AShbell school of shooting. Over time I have gradually transitioned to a more upright stance with less cant because I found it to feel more natural and it has proven to work better for me. Being bent and hunched over with a lot of cant just didn't work for me. I think I will always have some degree of cant because my wrist/arm just seems to naturally want to do it. I agree you should practice all kinds of shooting positions so you can react to any shot situation.
Having a low shelf, close to the hand means when you rotate, or cant your bow, your sight picture remains basically the same. Explained very well in Asbells book. I practice with the bow horizontal. You never know what shot situation you may need to use.
I usually shoot with some cant while on the ground, just because it feels more natural, but as deer season approaches, I switch to vertical for shooting out of a treestand. It is a more forced position, but it has advantages.
I hunt high and get a lot of close shots(under 10 yards). For me, it's easier to get to a true full draw with a vertical bow on those steep downward angles.
It also gives you a near 360 degree arc for shot opportunities because, unlike with a canted bow, you can take shots to the rear without having your bow limbs interfere with the tree or stand.
Practice it all and be prepared for anything.
Canting the bow has never done anything to open up my sight picture. Reguardless of how much you cant the bow, unless you change your anchor, you have to cant your head and equal amount. This keeps your eyes on the same plane with the sight window, regardless of whether you're shooting the bow vertical or horizontal.
For you guys that are seeing more of the field, are you canting the bow and not your head?
I think it feels more natural, and allows me to adjust to varying terrain/obstacles. When I match my head cant to my bow cant, I can shoot around alot more diversions------
As far as more natural----I was taught in 8yrs. of martial arts that the arm/hand alignment is much better, less torqued when your arm is outstretched, if your punching hand is at about 45 deg. angle.( hold your arm out naturally with a loose fist, same as you would hold your bow, and see how your hand is positioned----and then turn your hand to be horizontal and then vertical; feel the lack of tension in your forearm when your fist/hand gets around 45 deg.)
Just my 2 cents worth of course!! :bigsmyl:
I think it is very important to lear to shoot in very different position with a canted bow because this is iportant when you are hunting.The closer i am to the games the more I cant my bow,but it is natural and don't ask me why.When I am farther than 30yards my position is with the bow straight up.anyway I don't want to have anything on view from my eye and my target.
'Cause I was self-taught as a kid and there was no one around to even suggest some people only shot their bows vertically. My sense is the "natural" feeling would have also been applicable to hunter-gatherer based cultures; shooting game from only one position just wouldn't make sense...or even been a topic for conversation. Rick.
rickshot thats what i do is practice from all kinds of different positions but i prefer to shoot straight up and down.
Well, all zen aside, I can shoot both ways with little issue....and I have short legs 8^))). I always shot with a vertical bow, and amazingly was taught that way by my old hillbilly mentor, in the mid 60's...vertical bow, open hand. I shot that way until the early 1980's when I began to "try" the canted bow. Nowadays I shoot mostly a canted bow as it seems more comfortable in the woods and field. If I go to the range I may shoot both ways....more vertical for longer ranges, or sidehill shots.
There's no wrong way as long as you are accurate, there is only difference.
I cant my bow....not sure if my arm can go straght up and down. :bigsmyl:
I cant the bow more as I start to draw the string to aid in keeping the arrow on the shelf. As I draw my fingers roll into the string and I bring the bow to a slight cant at full draw.
My bow is at whatever angle feels best given the circumstances, whether that is straight up and down or severely canted. The conditions at the time dictate what feels best, like tree limbs, brush, pop up blind height, etc. When I am shooting at a target I usually have a slight cant because it is the most relaxed position for me. But I don't ever try to think about what the angle of the bow is going to be, I just let it find the angle that feels right. I don't really aim at the target either, I just think of where I want the arrow to end up. These two aspects of shooting are connected in my opinion. Obviously, a gap shooter or someone shooting with some other form of sights would want to shoot with the bow straight up and down.
I agree that the objective is to hit the spot you want to hit, no matter how you hold the bow.
Allan
I cant my bow because it feels natural that way. If I try to hold the bow dtraight up and down, it does not feel right. Also I have found that it is much easier to make things work while sitting in a tree atand if I cant the bow.
Bisch
Gets the bow out of the way of the sight picture. I cant even more for very close shots from treestands. Never worry about shooting high.
canting to me lets me see where i want to hit better.i started at around three oclock but now i stay at two.it just seems so natural.i used to look at pictures from the old days that my grandfather took when he was a boy.i think every one of them canted their bows also.pretty cool stuff them old pics of the indians on the oregon coast.
I have trees, hills, dogs, you name it in the yard and shoot from all over so canting is required just like in the field. Someday when there are no dogs to hit or people to laugh I might even try one of Terry's unreal reverse cants.
If I don't cant when shooting out of a treestand I have a tendency to shoot high. As a matter of fact, the closer the shot, the more I cant.
I cant the bow because it allows me to shoot a variety of spined arrows.
As far as shooting style, depends on the bow. Glass recurves I shoot just like a compound, straight up and down, draw, anchor, aim, release. With selfbows, depends on the bow, ponybows I cant a bit more. Normally, it's just a little tilt, I can def. tell when it's to much.
QuoteOriginally posted by Ben Kleinig:
Same as what Terry said, but also it just seems to cant itself, and for me it takes more of a weird conscious effort to shoot it vertically. I think it has something to do with the natural alignment of the wrist bones, or arm bones.
That is the same take on it for me, I just couldn't have put it as well... Thanks Ben. :D
I thought that when you can't the bow it cuts down the site distance to the target.
I cant my bow because im right handed but left eye dominant so I try to get my dominant eye as close as i can to the center of the riser
I know I'm new to the game, but when I first shot my recurve it just felt more natural with a cant.
If I anchor with my middle finger in the corner of my mouth and hold the bow vertically, my glasses interfere with my bowstring and my eye is way inside the line of the arrow. The choice, then is to go with a lower anchor or cant the bow. I prefer canting the bow.
Have to say, though, that a vertical hold would be really nice when hunting from treestands.
Just looks way cooler! Ha ha ha...
I practice all angles. Im really good at getting myself into less than desireable shooting positions on spot and stalks. :D