Fixing your String with a Picture

Recurve, traditional and barebow archers have a problem. Yes, compounders are A problem** but not the one we have in mind right now. Lets talk about it. So, you have a solid, repeatable anchor. You are consistent in your draw. Release is smooth .. but still your arrows are scattering left and right. What's going wrong? Well, as Mr. Miyagi said "It all in the wrist".

The problem is that your wrist is a joint and can move. It doesn't take much inconsistency to scatter your arrows left and right and this will get more extreme the further you are shooting. Without a back sight to keep alignment with a foresight, we don't know we are out of line. We aren't talking a lot of variation here. Just a degree or two will have you missing the boss, left and right, at most distances. But as archers have been doing this for a while (20,000 years give or take), we have a solution... Its called String Picture.

String picture refers to the fuzzy image of the bowstring that you can see out the corner of your eye when you come to anchor. When at full draw and aiming, take your eye off the sight and see where the string is in relation to your sight or riser/stave. Got it? Now back to aiming and shoot the shot normally. Next shot look again and we bet the string is not in the same place as it was last shot. It's this lack of consistency that causes the wandering left and right. It's easier to get your head round visually so here's a couple of pics somewhat exaggerated to show the problem. Our gorgeous archery supermodel is a right handed archer. Reverse everything for a leftie.

In the picture to the left, you can see the orange line highlighting the string position. The string is to the right of the sight running down the riser. The arrow on the rest (yellow line) is pointing to the left. In the picture below, the orange line on the string is to the left of the sight so the arrow (yellow line) points to the right. Our archer's wrist has torqued a little between setting up his shots and that's where his left right problem is coming from.

So, the solution to this is to always have the string in the same place when you shoot. How do you do that? You need to add another step to your shot cycle. Right after you have come to anchor and are aiming .. glance at the fuzzy outline of the string and ensure its always in the same place relative to your bow. This is usually best placed just to the right of the sight pin for right handed recurve archers (on the left for a lefty) and where ever best suits being replicable for bare/longbow archers .. perhaps along the riser or stave. The actual position of the string picture can vary archer to archer, but it doesn’t significantly affect accuracy as long as you are consistent in where the string is at the moment of release and your reference point isn't too far left/right. Ok with that location? Right, back to aiming and then release. As long as the string is consistently in the same place at the moment of release, this will reduce the left-right wander.
But here we run back into how colour can affect your archery. The string is so close to your eye that you can't focus on it. This fuzzy image can get worse depending on the lighting and background where and when you are shooting so its imperative that the string is a colour that mitigates light and focus issues. Plain white strings are probably the worst but after that its whatever best suits your eyesight.

There you go. A solution to the left right wandering on the face which coupled with a clicker (for recurves) fixing the up down wander ... you can shoot nothing but golds now. So go do it! ;o)

Thought for today: When aiming, pay attention to that fuzzy string image that be all up in yo face! It could save you points or a long search in the grass.

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**Compounders get no love here as they have a back sight in the shape of their peep. This puppy, when coupled with their scope (front sight with magnification) literally gives them telescopic sights. They can even put a "clarifier" lens in the peep to give them the sharpest possible magnified image for the distance. You wonder why WA bother legislating against anything on a compound like laser sights or electronics. They've engineering away all the skill till its simply Wii archery .. on easy! :op