Image Text: A female archer drawing a longbow
Alt-Text: An archer drawing a longbow
Image Description: An image featuring an archer drawing a bow
In the days of yore, humans used bows and arrows for warfare and hunting. Today, bows can be equipped with advanced sights and devices to improve the aim and hit the target with maximum accuracy. For example, a fixed pin bow sight shows the archer how to adjust their aim to ensure that they hit the target regardless of the distance. Ancient archers didn’t learn to shoot with sights. They didn’t have advanced gadgets to improve their aim. They used traditional archery shooting techniques to master the bow. If you are interested in learning about those techniques, you are in the right place. Below, we have explained some basic traditional archery shooting techniques.
Traditional Archery Shooting Methods
· Split Finger vs. Three Under
Split finger refers to the practice of placing your index finger above the arrow’s nock while the ring and middle fingers are placed under the nock. Three under refers to placing three fingers beneath the arrow’s nock. Each shooting method has its own pros and cons, but you can accomplish a good release with either of them. Split finger is preferable when shooting at a long range – like in the Olympics. Beginners often pinch the arrow’s nock when trying the split finger method, and it takes some time to get it right. Spreading your fingers apart might help solve this issue. Three under method works better with traditional gear and when the target is closer. Most novice archers would find this method easier to learn than the split finger technique.
· Instinctive Shooting
Many people who pursue traditional archery believe that instinctive shooting is the real form of archery shooting. This type of shooting is the most natural type of shooting technique. You just look at the target and shoot at it. Unfortunately, learning instinctive shooting isn’t easy, and it can take years to master it.
Although it takes a lot of hard work, time, and practice to master instinctive shooting, it becomes deadly once you get the hang of it. You will learn how to shoot targets at various distances, and after a while, you’ll be able to visualize the target in your mind. You won’t be thinking about how hard you need to hit the arrow or how you should aim it. You will determine the distance and aim subconsciously.
The disadvantage of instinctive shooting is that not everyone can master it. Not only that, but some archers may not be able to become as adequate with instinctive shooting as they might with other shooting methods.
· Gap Shooting
Gap shooting is an efficient shooting method. In this style, the arrow point is used as a sight marker, and adjustments are made for different distances. Most gap shooters first learn point on distance. The point on distance means finding the distance at which the point of the arrow is on the target. After releasing, the intended spot is hit by the arrow. The archer then moves to various distances to see how much higher or lower they must place the arrow point on the indented target and hit it. Archers who use the gap shooting method are extremely accurate; however, this technique isn’t best for hunting. It feels unnatural to hold the bow lower than the moving target. Thus, gap shooting is best for stationary targets.
· String Walking
In this method, the arrow point is used as a sight, similar to how it’s used in gap shooting. The main difference is that the arrow point will always be placed on the target regardless of the distance from the target. In order to do this, the fingers are placed on different locations of the bowstring, which changes the arrow’s angle. Gap shooting involves lowering and raising the front sight while string walking is about lowering and raising the rear sight. Once you have learned to point on distance, you can start practicing by shooting arrows from different distances. You will need to move your fingers up or down the bowstring to figure out at which position the arrow is pointing on. You then need to mark the string for each specific distance and place the tab there when you are drawing the bow. Marking the tab for various yardages makes it easier to find the correct location on the bowstring.
String walking technique has a variation known as face walking. The idea is the same with one major difference – the fingers aren’t placed on various areas of the bowstring but, instead, the archer simply changes their anchor point. In this method, new anchor points must be determined that would lower or raise the arrow. For example, an archer may place their ring finger at the corner of their mouth for a shot and their index finger at the exact same spot for another shot. Anchoring beneath the chin is more effective for long shots.
Final Thoughts
What do you think about these traditional archery shooting techniques? Each technique is unique in its own way and would take some time to master. Out of all the archery shooting methods discussed above, instinctive shooting is probably the most difficult one to master. If you are a novice archer, we don’t recommend you try instinctive shooting. Instead, pick any other traditional archery method that you find suitable and practice with that to improve your aim and hit the targets with greater accuracy. We hope you find the information provided above helpful. In case you have any questions or if something is unclear, feel free to write us a query. We will be more than happy to help you out.