Just started wearing glasses, Questions
Equipment
I'm getting a little older now and I've recently been to the eye doctor because I didn't feel my sight at longer distances is what it used to be. After the screening she told me I didn't have to get glasses but she showed me how I would see with them so I decided to do it. I'll explain my problem and I'd like to see if anyone else has had similar experiences and what you may have done. I always shoot with both eyes open using a peep sight and a single pin scope without a lens. Since getting glasses, my pin almost looks like two spots when I view it through the peep at full draw. I'm learning to deal with it but it's a pain. I shot without my glasses and the pin looked great but the target wasn't in focus. Has anyone else dealt with this? Was there anything that you did to remedy it? I will not shoot with one eye closed, that is not an option. Thanks
I had the same issue. Try the verifier peep sight. Comes in different magnifications just like cheater glasses.
Are slightly nearsighted??? if so.....Shoot without your glasses until you can't see your pins clearly ...a slightly blurred target is okay/normal/expected
Interesting times. Not much advice to give, but to empathize I too just got my first pair of glassed since I am getting old. I don't need them all the time, but definitely helps eye fatigue.
On a positive note I was able to shoot a nice doe last week with my bow while wearing my glasses! So hang in there and I'm sure you will figure it out.
I just started wearing glasses recently as well. Not all the time like you said but for driving and seeing at a distance. I have found that I can shoot my trad bows fine without glasses but I struggle with my compound without glasses because of all the extra gadgets and shooting at longer distances. I tried contacts but I couldn't stand them, maybe they will work for you. You can get dailies that you only where once and then throw away since you won't be wearing them all the time. Glasses also fog up in the cold and I worry about glare. I would suggest contacts or a recurve!
Yes, same problem with my single-vision glasses. Shooting with the progressive lenses where the inside portion isn't full magnification helps with the sight pin clarity but now the target is a little fuzzier than I'd like. So I'm going with a verifier peep and my single-vision glasses for the future.
I was wearing glasses before I started shooting a bow. try all the suggestions but in the long run it will boil down to trial-n-error to see what works for you. in the beginning I was wearing cheap frames that rest on my nose and low quality lens. I have found out the better frames with nose pads and good quality lens are a big plus with clarity and less fogging.
I went through a horrible transition with glasses as I have trifocals. I actually had to change my anchor point slightly to get a clear distance view of the target and leave the pin a little fuzzy. I only shoot with one eye open. Im not sure why you see two pins, that's got to be awful but maybe trying a near vision contact ( for clear target/distance) in your peep eye rather than glasses could fix it?
Yup. Go try a verifier. they have a little gizmo that will give you the benefit of trying without buying.
I was having this problem a few months ago. Got a new bow and decided to have the peep set higher. It seemed to do the trick for me. Maybe it was just placebo though.
I'm kinda in the same boat. I have to get progressive bifocals and haven't filled the prescription. I'm concerned about things like the glasses fogging up and forgetting them when I run out the door not to mention I am hard on the readers I have had for a couple years so I figure I will likely break them. Need to look into multi focal contacts. Some guys tell me to get both but it will cost me.
Guys,if he is slightly nearsighted a verifier will make the problem worse....you can't just BLINDLY recommend it
LOL Genesis. I agree with your first post that he just needs to shoot without the glasses for the time being.
Yes, I have problems with seeing distance. Coyote creek, I own two longbows. I've been struggling to put meat in the freezer so I've been forced back to the compound for the time being. I've been playing catch and release with the deer. I get them within range, shoot and miss. My freezer is empty and needs filling:). Thanks for all of the great ideas.
I had issues when going to lineless bifocals,when tracking I would get dizzy so now I use definity3 lenses and they are great
I found that I had to turn my head farther to the target, and change my anchor point as I was actually splitting the bridge of the glasses causing me to see two pins. Maybe worth looking into.
After reading your problem a few times, is it that the glasses are making the pin more of a standout in your non-dominant eye? I can't imagine seeing two pins while aiming with the peep with only one eye and just wonder if the glasses are making the pin more substantial. Just a guess.
If you hold out a finger and look with both eyes, 2 fingers appear.
I too had to get glasses this year. After struggling with them shooting, I got a Verifier peep and no longer use the glasses while hunting. On rifles, I adjust the scope so the reticle is clear w/o the damn glasses! The Verifier makes my pins clear and I can now shoot better. With the glasses, my normal stance while shooting had me constantly struggling to see past the inside frame of the glasses. I had to "open" my stance so my feet both pointed more towards the target to eliminate the interference.
Bottom line - if you can do without the glasses, that's your best option by far IMHO.
>>>>----good luck---->
"LOL Genesis. I agree with your first post that he just needs to shoot without the glasses for the time being."
Can't kill "two stones at once"...as my friend says;)
Pick your poison but I tell patients let's find the best compromise, and you will find out what works best in time. Mild blur at distance would be my pick, but again, YOU have to decide.
I'd use the glasses for rainy nights and movies, and go uncorrected, for now, on the range .
Im in the same boat. Dangit! I can't stand wearing them while hunting so I haven't been but they sure do help at the bow range for league. I shoot outside pretty good without them but I can see the some day I'll have to get something more permanent.
My case was just the opposite. Over the years I started to see two pins (I use a single pin slider) and sorta worked around it, I just always used the same one, upper right if I remember. I got by for a time but distance accuracy was getting worse. Then I started seeing 3 pins. Things went downhill fast from there.
Optometrist(?) checked me out and wanted to do the bifocal/progressive thing but when I told him what I mainly needed them for we figured two pairs of single prescription glasses would be best. Now with my "distance" glasses I'm back to one pin, a bit fuzzy but only one. The first session with them I broke two arrows and hadn't done that for a long long time. I was dancing around for days, archery was fun again.
Astigmatism I believe he said I had? Anyway, the two toughest things for me was adjusting to using my binos with them and fogging up after a hard climb and stopping to glass or something.
Still fighting the fogging time to time. Really looking hard at getting some "sport" glasses made that are supposed to vent better and less distortion when looking through the "edges"? We shall see.
I wore glasses for awhile myself, got tired of them getting dirty, scratched, misplacing them, fogging over and rain was a huge pain. I wear contacts now and love them. It took me awhile to get used to them but now i wouldnt go back to glasses.
I've worn glasses longer than I've shot bows and I've never had an issue. One suggestion, TALK TO YOUR EYE DOCTOR. They will know why you are seeing double pins and what can be done.
I LOVE my contacts and hunt with them as much as I can, however now I need bifocals so if I have to figure that in as well. (I read a lot in NH hunting, not many deer here!) My optometrist is not a hunter, but we both golf. My last set of contacts I told him I couldn't golf I them cause the ball on the tee was fuzzy and distorted, tried diferent contacts and poof, wonderful!
Ask the Dr. they have a Dr.. for a reason!
Just a heads up. I can't read without "readers" as I have aged, almost 60 now. My single pin sight had gotten blurry and BIG. I added a peep verifier. You have to find a compromise, between the pin becoming clear and still being able to see a slightly fuzzy target. If the verifier is to strong (#8) the target became so blurry I couldn't pick a spot.
Changed the verifier to a (#5) and have a happy medium, sharp pin and a little fuzzy target.............. BUT ....................
I had to start shooting with one eye closed. Seems like my left eye was trying to become dominate and I was shooting left. After closing my left eye, arrows started hitting where they should. Haven't shot this well in years. Good Luck.
If your pans are blurry you need a verifier. If the target is blurry you need a clarifier. Specialty archery carries both.
If you’re serious about Bowhunting, get Lasik surgery. Best think I ever did.
Lasik only works for a while... I am now wearing glasses again after 12 years or so without them. Another thing to look at is the curvature of your frames/lenses. I was having some problems and my optometrist suggested that I switch to flatter/ non curved glasses. The curved glasses distort way more towards the inside corners and it can make the pins and the target very fuzzy/ blurry. I switched over to flat frames and lenses and all my issues were solved... At least with my eyes:)
Good Luck!
Scar.
My son has worn glasses since before he could even walk so learning to shoot with them on wasn't a big deal for him. (The only time he ever takes them off is to shower).
My question is this. Of the guys that hunt with glasses on, has the glare from the glasses ever gotten you busted by deer? Last year while sitting in a stand I kept noticing a glare from a long way off, after getting my binos focused on the area I noticed a hunter was glassing my field. I'd have never noticed him if not for the glare that his optics created. I would think that under the right circumstances glasses can have that same effect. Has anyone had that issue?
I just went to a peep sight after shooting 30+ years without one. I quickly learned that if the peep rotates out of line at all I will see two pins. I was able to correct it by having the peep adjusted until it was correctly inline (not rotated) with the opening directly toward the pin.
I always wear a hat when I hunt so I don't think I have been busted because of glare... If I get busted it's because I moved to fast or at the wrong time.
Scar.
I am old enough and vision challenged enough that I have progressives. I use glasses, but shoot with one eye closed using a peep, closing right before the shot.
I have a special pair of glasses for hunting, they only correct my far vision, being that my peep and sight are far enough away at arm's length that I do not need the near-sightedness corrected for bow shooting. I had problems with double vision when trying to use the progressives. Good luck, it is a bummer getting older but beats the alternative.
Its been over 20 years for me after Lasik and I'm still good.
I think the verifier is in my future. Have any of you guy had it cost you a shot because it had something in it, like water? I've never used on so I don't know if water/debris will build in it.
I have not had that problem but have only hunted in drizzle and fog. I don't bowhunt in rain. You can get a hooded one which I have.
Every surgical or non surgical remedy that gives a perfect correction in the distance will suffer blurry pins @ 50-55 years old.
Smaller peeps/green -yellow pins/extending sight bracket are fair bandaids.Verifiers/contacts modified +.50 all help but will take away from the distant clarity.
No free lunches
Crap.
I like free lunches.... =D
If you get the correct power verifier it will not make your target blurry, The same goes for the clarifier if you get the correct power it will not make your pins blurry.
Lost my verifier once..must have vibrated right out. Be sure to wax the threads before inserting.
Depth of focus needs to maximized in every "system" once you get over 40-45.Doing this helps with getting functionally good vision (slightly blurry at pin and target but where performance isn't bothered).In bowhunting we can perform just as good with a decline in resolution do to short distance and big animals.Take advantage of that.
Personally my distant vision anomaly in like a +.75 verifier......so I wear no correction and have a slightly blurred target and slightly blurred pins....that's what I want and every person I consult suffering presbyopia who shoots with pins.Good Luck and keep having birthdays!
Bear Bowman , I have the very same issue, I have been battling it from 3 years now. It nearly derailed my 2013 African safari. I'll turn 60 in February and this has been a struggle for me. Mine was a combination of age and early cataracts. Which changed my once prefect vision to much less than desirable. I went through cataract surgery and that changed everything around again, from far sighted to being near sighted which I am now. No more reading glasses, however at distances I suddenly needed help. Lack of clarity at distances, especially in low light conditions. I refused to change my anchor point, so when I drew the bow, and anchored I had to look over the bridge of my nose and through (under) the nose piece to aim. It was doable enough, except on a number of occasions the glasses would shift and I would then lose a view of the peep. As I said it has been a struggle. I opted last season to go with prescription Oakley sunglasses (Amber) in hopes that might cure the problem, figuring the larger lens would provide relief, but no such luck. Finely this summer I sat down and worked through what my issue really was and how could I realistically remedy it. It occurred to me at the moment of truth I could easily slide the frame over the bridge of my nose with either my fore finger or thumb, taking the nose hole out of play. It then gave me a window into my peep and a clear view of my target no matter the distance. I have since discovered that if I fail to make the adjustment prior to full draw I can simply, using my thumb bump the frame into position in short order. It didn't take much practice to get comfortable with the adjustment. Having clear vision is a must for hunting as we all know. This is how I chose to deal with it. For next season I'll have bifocals at +150 to help me with my near vision. That way I should never feel the need to take my glasses off to see up close, like checking time, texts or reading scriptures. I have also discovered that the Amber lenses are really helpful in the deer woods, not only do they reduce the glare, but also help with identifying game much quicker. Good luck !!!!!!
Some very good advice above.
I would have to disagree on one point with Spike Bull though. The trading off of sharpness of the target to get sharpness at the pins is not an equal trading of "fuzziness" at each distance. You can make a tremendous amount of difference in pin sharpness with only a very slight loss of sharpness at the distances to our bowhunting target ranges of thirty or so yards or less. And you have the sharp vision in the non-aiming eye that is still corrected for distance vision to find and identify the animal and even to judge it for its trophy potential if that is of concern, until you close that eye at final aim.
The sharpness at the pin, however, affects not only whether the pin is a little fuzzy in appearance, but often whether it is visible at all, especially in the dimmer light at the start and end of legal hunting times when we tend to get the best opportunities.
I suggest you buy or borrow a pair or two of reading glasses in common strengths, say +1 and +1.5 diopters, and in a frame type that allows you to wear them temporarily over your glasses that are prescribed to correct your distance vision. Very often, our best results as hunters are difficult to determine at the optometrist's office, and our needs may be difficult to explain to even a well trained technician if they are not hunters. Having a pair or two of extra lenses that can be applied to temporarily modify your vision as you actually do an activity like ours, and are not in a hurry to make a decision and let the next customer have the attention of the eyewear professional, can be much more revealing.
I know when I was selecting my best contact lens to wear in my right (aiming) eye, I was lucky enough to find and optometrist who was patient willing to supply me with a couple of pairs of lenses of different strength of correction to try on a longer test period, without having to order a supply that would last for months. It took a couple of test periods to get it right, but the difference was very important in getting the ones that actually gave me great performance and comfort in hunting and at 3D shoots.
