Clicker on a Barebow? No way Dude!

BURN THE HERESY!

Our editor has an eclectic collection of archery likes and dislikes. Win&Win - fanboi. Hoyt - err - not a fan. Shibuya - loves them. Compound - let’s just not go there. Amongst his fav people are Karim Bashir - play by play commentator for many WA videos; Ki Bo Bae - his fav archer; and Steve Ruis - American archery coach, blogger and author of many coaching books*. Coach Ruis recently posted an interesting blog post on the subject of putting a clicker on a barebow! That's pretty antithetical to the concept of barebow .. what's on his mind? Disclaimer: In what follows, Steve was talking about clickers in specific practice sessions for these ideas. Not as a permanent attachment like on Olympic recurves.

The most obvious benefit in using the clicker the same way the recurvers do, is as an indicator of oof put in the arrow reducing vertical dispersion. Here, Steve suggests practice shooting the bow with a clicker set to your preferred draw length. Pay close attention to the position of your body and the feel of the bows weight at the click point. With muscle memory, it will be so much easier to replicate your draw when the clicker is no longer there. You now know what it feels like. The clicker training is taking away that guesswork of where and how that consistent shot can be delivered. Muscle memory after several hundred shots should be pretty well ingrained in your archer grey matter.

You will also know when you reach a fatigue limit as you won’t be able to pull through the clicker as cleanly. With a set clicker, it won't trip if you aren't pulling far enough and that's probably due to reaching your fatigue point. Now you have an indication of how many shots it takes before your fatigue will cause your arrows to work their way down the target due to shortening of your draw length. Forewarned is forearmed.

A minor benefit, you'll know what your draw weight is. Something that's easy for the recurvers and compounders to work out but not so easy for barebow. Load an arrow, Set the clicker, draw using bow scales, click and there you go! That's your poundage.

Coming to the same point each shot is vital - the clicker will let you set that point.

Finally, as a target shooter, you are likely aiming off the point of your arrow. You are therefore looking at the point and can see the point moving as you draw. You will be able to see the position of the point in relation to the riser and the speed of that draw slowing down as you get closer and closer to anchor.  When the point stops moving, you have achieved anchor point and after that second or so delay .. shoot. With the clicker in place, you'll have a visual cue of what the point looks like as your draw slowly approaches and passes the click point where it becomes stationary. It will remain at that point for only a few seconds but that's way long enough to get the shot off.

So, to summarise what the clicker is doing for you: Muscle memory in the draw to proper anchor. Knowing your limits before fatigue causes you not to draw quite far enough. Knowing your bows draw weight at your draw length. And finally, a visual representation of your arrow tip drawing to its correct anchor position. However be aware .. what you do not want to do is shoot on the click. When the clicker goes off, hold the shot for at least a second or so. Barebow release is on command from you, not like those "Pavlov's Clicker" recurvers! If you want to see a barebow shooter trying this out, Jake Kaminski has given it a go. Check out his YouTube video on the subject here.

Using the clicker should be a practice technique for, say, a full session at a time on a semi-regular basis till you are confident you have it down. You don't want to become dependent on the clicker, but you do want to use the thing enough to get locked in with the feelings and the visuals. Only problem you might find is not every barebow riser (especially the specialist barebow risers) has a screw for a clicker and that makes it a bit difficult to attach a clicker. Blue-tac or some tape will not be strong enough and will certainly not do your bow's paintwork any good but every idea does have its issues.

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Coach Ruis' original article can be (hopefully) read here
* Steve has written quite a few archery books, many of them owned by our editor. Definitely worth a look. List of his books here
Beiter clickers are pretty good if you need a clicker recommended - just be aware the type of screw your bow needs.