Tips, techniques and advice for gapping PAST your point on

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Feb 8, 2017
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Hi all,

I'm starting to get serious about using my hunting bows in competitions. This weekend just gone I went out to my local club and we shot a 300 round and kept score for the first time in a couple of years. It was a three arrow round (not sure if you blokes in North America have similar rules/categories to us down here).

Anyway, I was shooting with a few experienced recurve fellas. I kept up with them on all the targets except the really long ones. Out of four targets past about 35 metres I failed to even record a score! Granted, I was getting tired so I wasn't holding as steady and it was hard to diagnose the misses.

My reason for making this thread though is that my point-on with the bow I was using is about 30 metres (32 yards). For a hunting point-on you can't get must better, but some of these targets were at 48 metres (52 yards). With a bow that has a small riser like my PCH I have a very hard time gapping above my target. I normally shoot gap but keep both eyes open on the closer targets so I guess you could call what I do split vision? When out past my point on I was doing my best to try and calculate exactly what my holdover was and this was forcing my left eye shut, but then seeing the target at all when I'm aiming above it is VERY hard!

Does anyone have any tips or anecdotes for what works for them? Is it just a case of settle my point above and then open both eyes and expand? Reference anything on your hands? I know I could anchor a little lower but when in a competition I need to pick one anchor point and I can't change and I'm reluctant to anchor any lower all the time as I'm sure I'd start messing up all my shots that are still within my wheelhouse.

Cheers in advance.

PS - I'm interested in this as getting better in the comps is definitely going to lead to me being a better shot but I can't imagine wanting to take many shots in hunting situations outside 30 metres unless it's a follow up.
 

Wrench

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My method was to record my drops and aim point on at the drop distance OVER the target....then, once that is confirmed, draw to anchor at the holdover, then focus on the actual target. 50 for me is at my insert. You may find that it is 1/4" shy....all depends on your variables.
 

oldgoat

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Practice and consciously remember where you had your tip, the latter is something I really struggle with! I'd be a rich man if I got a dollar for every time my first shot on a target was better than my second!
 
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As others said, you need to find a hold over.

It might not be an actual point, but a branch you find to the side of the target that you hold out from after going point over.

Stacking gap.

Shooting a 60 cm or 80 cm will give you a hight reference you can stack over the target once you get familiar with your drops at distance.
 
OP
W
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I've been experimenting with that for sure but didn't know whether anyone had some good advice about maintaining alignment and having your hand where it needs to be. I feel weird having my hand/riser take up the whole target where I'm trying to hit but I guess picking the point to aim at would in theory take care of the alignment if I could be confident that the windage of my aiming spot would in theory let me land one in the vitals.

I've been letting a lot of arrows fly at 48 metres the last few afternoons. It's tough going on a Rinehart 18-1!

A lot more experimenting to go but it's good fun at the moment and even the little bit of mucking around I've done over the last couple of days will hopefully see big improvements in my scores over the weekend.
 

Btaylor

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I use the same method as Beendare. That said if all of the targets are longer range or even if it is just the majority of targets are longer range, it might be worth the effort to setup an arrow with a longer distance PO and learn your gaps, over and under for that arrow.
 

Beendare

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I use the same method as Beendare. That said if all of the targets are longer range or even if it is just the majority of targets are longer range, it might be worth the effort to setup an arrow with a longer distance PO and learn your gaps, over and under for that arrow.


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OP
W
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That's another thought for the future and the only way that can realistically happen is if I anchor slightly lower and I build lighter arrows. My current arrows are already cut to 27.5in and I draw 27in. Arrows themselves weigh about 470gn and I'm pulling 51#.
 

ozyclint

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Was going to mention a lower anchor (face walking) then read your last post where you mentioned that yourself. Shooting 3 under with the arrow under your eye gives you about the closest PO you can get.

Even try split finger for the long shots. That will lower the arrow nock without changing your anchor. Essentially string walking.
 
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OP
W
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The rules of the competitions I'm going in state that I can't face-walk, string-walk, or change my anchor position at any time throughout the shoot.

If I start experimenting with a lower anchor or split finger I'll need to commit to doing it far more than just the odd shot at the competitions, for that reason. A much lower anchor for all shots may be counter productive as it means my gaps for the shots inside about 15-25 metres will be much bigger.

My initial thought was going to be to have a spot on my face that gave me a point-on somewhere around 50 metres but it turns out that's too cunning for the division/s I'll be shooting in.

Some of the rules are funny.

When I get my new longbow and get some wood arrows I'll be able to nominate for some of the trad divisions, which allows me to shoot from a peg that's much closer than the other pegs. Maximum shots may be around 30 metres or so? Anyway, if I've got a straight-laid longbow and wood arrows I can go in 'traditional longbow' division as long as I shoot split finger. If I shoot three-under I'll need to go in the 'modern longbow traditional' division, against people with R/D bows, etc. If I shoot ANY longbow with carbon arrows I'll be forced into the 'bowhunter recurve' division, where I currently am (Widow PCH with carbon arrows) and I compete against basically any recurve that doesn't have a sight on it.

But the rules are the rules and that's all good. Not really bringing it up to whinge; more just to shed some light on things. I can't see myself switching to split finger just for the sake of a competition division so I may always be in the modern longbow category in the future and I'm OK with that.

At the end of the day, if I can sort something out to get me in the ballpark for these shots that are over the 40m mark everything else is fine. It's a hell of a lot of fun.
 
OP
W
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Haha. Nah mate. ABA stuff. The carbon arrows are all good but I just have to shoot a lot further with them if I use them.
 

Btaylor

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Do you know what your knuckle on rather than point on is? Might be useful to determine what your distance would be using the top edge of your index knuckle on your bow hand as your "point on". Obviously that would just be an elevation gauge and you still have to align the arrow to the target. Would let you create a small bracket type gap combined with true point on for those distances over PO. Shouldnt take a ton of shooting to sort that out reasonably well.
 

GreenNDark Timber

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Was going to mention a lower anchor (face walking) then read your last post where you mentioned that yourself. Shooting 3 under with the arrow under your eye gives you about the closest PO you can get.

Even try split finger for the long shots. That will lower the arrow nock without changing your anchor. Essentially string walking.
This is what I do for longer shots. I shoot fixed crawl with a point on of 25-30 yds (depending on what and where I'm hunting) then I move my string grip up to right below the nock for longer shots (40 -45 yds) and split finger past that. Once you learn the point on for all those anchors it's pretty easy to switch between them. My split finger point on is past where I'm comfortable shooting at game, but it's good practice.
 
OP
W
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Do you know what your knuckle on rather than point on is? Might be useful to determine what your distance would be using the top edge of your index knuckle on your bow hand as your "point on". Obviously that would just be an elevation gauge and you still have to align the arrow to the target. Would let you create a small bracket type gap combined with true point on for those distances over PO. Shouldnt take a ton of shooting to sort that out reasonably well.

That's not something I've figured out yet mate. I might try that soon.

This is what I do for longer shots. I shoot fixed crawl with a point on of 25-30 yds (depending on what and where I'm hunting) then I move my string grip up to right below the nock for longer shots (40 -45 yds) and split finger past that. Once you learn the point on for all those anchors it's pretty easy to switch between them. My split finger point on is past where I'm comfortable shooting at game, but it's good practice.

I think for the moment I need a system with just the one anchor for the competition stuff. Really, I can't see myself shooting this far past my point on in a hunting situation anyway.

For anyone who cares I spent some time at my club yesterday afternoon and focused on the longer shots. I help my left hand out in front of me with my fingers parallel to the target and pointing to the right. I've worked out that out at close to the max distance from these targets I can line up the bottom of my index finger with the kill-zone and then somewhere around the top of my finger is where I need to hold.

My process looked like this:
- Hold my finger out to establish a spot to put the tip of my arrow.
- Come to full draw with the top of my arrow pointing to that spot.
- Close my left eye briefly to ensure I am in proper alignment.
- Open both eyes again and focus on expansion while my point floats around at the spot I've picked.
- Break the shot like I would with any other.

I landed plenty in the kill-zones so I am hoping I can maintain this consistency and confidence when moving into competitions. Here is a picture of one of the groups I shot. Not the best in terms of scoring (only one scoring arrow) but I think that for where I'm at in my archery journey at the moment it's a respectable group, shot at exactly 50 yards.

 
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