Pick a Spot
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: GotBowAz
30-Jun-17
When you pick a spot on a target or animal where do you settle your pin? Is it directly over/on the spot or do you put the spot at the end of your pin? I can see advantages to both and I am curious what most do? I have always shot with the pin directly on the spot but now that I am shooting out to 80 yards my pin covers the spot completely. Actually I can’t see the spot at all, im more or less guessing im center of the spot rather than actually seeing it. I found that I could see the spot clearly at the end of my pin out at 80 yards but I have not messed with moving my sights to compensate.
From: Buffalo1
30-Jun-17
What size pin are you using?
From: Ambush
30-Jun-17
I cover the spot.
But the way my pins weave around, I get to see the spot many times during the sequence. lol
From: greg simon
30-Jun-17
Cover the spot. Like Ambush said, in reality my pin floats around over the spot. Unless you have a very large pin you should get frequent glimpses of your aiming point.
From: midwest
30-Jun-17
Open both eyes, look through the pin.
From: longspeak74
30-Jun-17
Cover the spot for myself...
From: Bowfreak
30-Jun-17
Like midwest says....open both eyes. Also....trust your brain to center your pin and keep it there. Just look where you want to hit. Even with the smallest pin we still have float. Some believe this float is actually our brain actually wanting confirmation that the dot is still there. Regardless of the reason, you will hit better than you can hold your pin if you can look past it and simply look at the spot you want to hit and concentrate on executing a shot.
From: GotBowAz
30-Jun-17
Midwest, im blind in one eye and cant see out of the other, ha ha ha LOL. I have tried both eyes open. I found i had to initially close one eye to focus on the pin on the spot first then open the other. It seems to work out ok but im not used to it and probably would go back to one eye open when it comes crunch time in the field. Has anyone tried the new precision peep sight? Im not exactly sure how it works. At first glance it looks like you put the post just under the spot and your pin to the side of the spot? Kind of boxing in the spot so there is two reference points when aiming?
From: Buffalo1
30-Jun-17
What size pin are you using?
From: GotBowAz
30-Jun-17
0.019 is my pin size. I will admit the spot is small, about the size of a tennis ball but making a bigger spot isnt going to help in accuracy. What Bowfreak said makes a lot of sense. I do float over the spot with the pin and can see it with both eyes open. Maybe with more practice I can make it second nature. Currently im telling myself to open the other eye.
From: Bowfreak
30-Jun-17
Its a nice idea but flawed. I dont think it can work AZ. The post will be too close to your eye and it will look huge.
From: Bowfreak
30-Jun-17
It is difficult to think this way but the center of an 8" dot is the same size as the center of a 1" dot.
You aim at both the same way....just by looking at them and concentrating on your execution.
I should add....if you are an aimer you would shoot exactly opposite. Your aiming is conscious and your execution would be subconscious. I've tried both ways and being a puller works best for me.
From: Woods Walker
30-Jun-17
"Open both eyes, look through the pin."
This is what I did when I shot with pins. I shoot instinctive now but the basis is the same.
Pick a spot, blot everything else out and shoot. The more you have the entire draw/aim/anchor/release/follow through sequence embedded in your muscle memory so you don't have to think about anything but "the spot", the better you will shoot, regardless of what aiming method you use.
From: GotBowAz
30-Jun-17
Thanks for the responses. Im not a perfect shot by any means and maybe getting both eyes open might help with that. Im pretty decent out to 40 holding with in a softball size or under but stretching it out to 80 with the spot getting much smaller was getting tough to see. Dont and wont plan to hunt that far out I just want to work on form as everything is magnified. I have no clue how these guys even see the spot without the bow and sight in their face pushing 140 yards or more. I assume aim for center and float at tight as possible. Pretty impressed by those that are consistent with it. I just dont have eyes that good even with glasses.
From: Bowfreak
30-Jun-17
I agree GotBow. I can't understand how they see the target either.
From: Hawkeye
30-Jun-17
I shoot both eyes open as well. I also find I like to hold just below my target as I like to keep both eyes on my target. If I lose the target (pin completely blocks it out)-I tend to have more symptoms of target panic etc.
Both eyes open and pin just abutting the target from below is how I have always shot best. I used to think I covered the target but as I really studied it I realized I held just on the lower half of the 'X' etc.
From: GotBowAz
30-Jun-17
Thats interesting Hawkeye and thanks for your response. I have always covered the target spot but could see around the pin up until I started shooting out further. Seems both eyes open could benefit. I'll work on it and hope it becomes second nature.
From: Hawkeye
30-Jun-17
You bet. Good luck and keep us posted. Always interesting to see how archers shoot best.
From: TD
30-Jun-17
Longer ranges where the pin blocks out more of your "spot", it's critical to concentrate on form and especially follow through. The tendency to "peek" or drop the bow arm to watch the shot seems stronger than at yardages you confidently expect to hit your spot.
I like to shoot both open, but my left eye has a tendency to try and take over from time to time. So I squint or close my left as I get my right eye established, then open the left more for the shot. Takes a while to ingrain it to where you don't even think about it. But that is what practice is for.
From: YZF-88
30-Jun-17
For elk I have been practicing aiming a foot low at a point on the base of the brisket while keeping my slider @ 50 yards. If I'm between 8-43 yards my arrows will land in a 6" kill zone. I use a Fast Eddie XL with 2 pins. The second one ends up at 60 so I don't ever need to adjust it.
From: Corn bore
30-Jun-17
Try shooting using the top edge of the pin. This increased my muzzleloader range from 50 yards to 150 yards. Anything past 40 yards with a bow I shoot using the top edge of the pin.
From: Corn bore
30-Jun-17
Try shooting using the top edge of the pin. This increased my muzzleloader range from 50 yards to 150 yards. Anything past 40 yards with a bow I shoot using the top edge of the pin.
From: KsRancher
30-Jun-17
Not trying to be a smart***. But seeing this thread made me chuckle. My brother has horrible vision and won't wear contacts and says he can't shoot with glasses. But he is an amazing shot. When I asked how he does it. He said the target is a blur and so are his pins. And so when the two blurs turn into one he lets it fly.
From: GotBowAz
05-Jul-17
I did exactly what TD described over the weekend and i was able shoot pretty well. Being left handed i had to close my right eye initially then open it once I had my left focused on the pin. Felt really strange at first. My left eye felt like I had a patch over it as the pin blocked out the spot but my shooting and confidence got a lot better. I did have a couple of times that my right eye was a little blury when I first opened it back up. had to blink a few times to clear it. that was annoying.
From: Tajue17
27-Jul-17
I prefer the smallest pin,,,when I started I put the pin wheel right at the very top of the pin like a front sight on a gun.
From: Bowfreak
27-Jul-17
Eric,
Are you right eye dominant? If so....you might want to use a blinder on your hat that you can fold down. Something to just barely obscure the dominant eye (if that is the case for you) will really help if you shoot with both eyes open cross dominant.
From: carcus
27-Jul-17
I have never picked a spot, just but my pin behind the shoulder and let her rip, works for me!
From: 12yards
27-Jul-17
I think I'm the same way carcus. If I'm shooting my Glen Del, I shoot much better groups than if I'm aiming at a "spot".
From: APauls
27-Jul-17
Hold pin on spot, arrow is on it's way.
From: Bowfreak
27-Jul-17
Sounds to me like the spot you pick carcus is right behind the shoulder.
