Thoughts on switching RH-LH

Gapmaster

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Had 2 rotator surgeries last year and now I’ve torn it again. I’ve always shot RH and pulled 70#s. I will not have another surgery (shit sucks 💯) thinking of buying a new bow and teaching myself to shoot LH. Anyone here ever switched? I’m guessing it will take some serious time. 30 yrs of shooting one way to switch hands can’t be that easy. Advice is welcomed.
 

LandYacht

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I switched and it was easy. Though I switched for dominant eye reasons. If you are left eye dominant it’s all the more reason to switch. You’ll be surprised how easy it is.


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Rob5589

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Pretty sure there was a thread a while back about switching. Hopefully that person will chime in. Ever thought about just dropping draw weight?
 

Button

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I’ve been keeping an eye out for a cheap left handed bow so I can try it, although there’s other stuff I need to purchase before another bow. Sounds fun. Plus, if later in life my right shoulder takes a big steamy dump shooting left handed wouldn’t be foreign.
 
OP
Gapmaster

Gapmaster

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Pretty sure there was a thread a while back about switching. Hopefully that person will chime in. Ever thought about just dropping draw weight?
Yeah I tried dropping some and still struggled to hold my bow arm for long. Surgeries were on my left shoulder. So holding the arm up and drawing is the issue. Strengthening hasn’t improved either.
 
OP
Gapmaster

Gapmaster

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I switched and it was easy. Though I switched for dominant eye reasons. If you are left eye dominant it’s all the more reason to switch. You’ll be surprised how easy it is.


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Well I’m right eye dominate but I figured it would just be a process of training myself to learn to shoot with one eye closed? Not sure how’d that would work if I still used both.
 

mgray

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Like others above, I switched because of eye dominance. It was a lot easier than I though it was going to be. It took about a month of shooting to be comfortable.
 
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If you are right eye dominant and are trying to switch to left handed, that is going to be hard. I'm not an expert at this but I would imagine it would be hard as your would be using your non-dominant eye. If you want to try it just shoot your RH bow LH. I have shot a right handed bow even though I am left handed and it really didn't affect my accuracy. You could drop bow weight, but you said above it didn't really help. You could also get a really high let off bow(Like 90% and that might help). Just a couple ideas.
 
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I switched from Left to Right 3 years ago for eye dominance reasons. I shot successfully left handed for many years...just had to close/partially close my right eye to do so. Took me about 3 shooting sessions to shake the "this is weird" feeling, consistency developed gradually but quickly. It definitely isn't like starting from zero and your body/brain will make the change fairly quickly.
 
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If you were switching because of eye dominance I would say go for it and never look back. It is the best thing I ever did for my shooting.

Is it the physical weight of the bow that is causing issue or the draw weight itself?
 

Sizthediz

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What about trying a crossbow, if its legal, will keep you in the game too with out the stress on your shoulders. . Just throwing it out there
 

Broomd

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Like others above, I switched because of eye dominance. It was a lot easier than I though it was going to be. It took about a month of shooting to be comfortable.
This!

OP, you can do this. Pick up the bow to shoot lefty and never look back. Your body will adjust quickly if you let it.
 

Marble

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Yeah I tried dropping some and still struggled to hold my bow arm for long. Surgeries were on my left shoulder. So holding the arm up and drawing is the issue. Strengthening hasn’t improved either.
A good physical therapist will be able to put you into a spot where you have the strength to shoot and exercises to make it stay there.

If you are using the same surgeon, you may consider looking elsewhere.

If it's your bow arm it will never be normal again. But you will be able to still shoot. You'll lack the ability to hold for a long time and your shoulder will want to creep up to your ear.

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OP
Gapmaster

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Is it the physical weight of the bow that is causing issue or the draw weight itself?
It’s the combination. I dropped draw weight on my bow to start building my shoulder strength back, but I’ve still got some serious problems with it. Been 13 months since the first surgery. Just traded one problem for another. Very frustrating.
 
OP
Gapmaster

Gapmaster

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If it's your bow arm it will never be normal again. But you will be able to still shoot. You'll lack the ability to hold for a long time and your shoulder will want to creep up to your ear.

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That’s what I’m running into. Extremely hard to draw naturally and almost impossible sitting down. That’s why I’m leaning towards switching to lefty. I can pull with the shoulder just can’t extend and hold anything.
6 months of therapy, they basically said I was as good as they could get me. They did wonders with what they had to work with.
 
OP
Gapmaster

Gapmaster

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Thanks for all the advice. I’ve got a buddy that is left handed. We shoot similar draw length. Gonna shoot his for a while and see before I dump over a grand on a bow.
 
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I believe I would pick up the lightest 50 lb bow I could get. 45 lbs will kill anything in North America consistently.

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