So I am left eye dominant and left handed so shooting has always been straight forward. My son who is three started shooting his bow this summer and has been very right handed. I discovered he is left eye dominant the other day. For those of you that are in a situation like this, do you you shoot based off eye dominance or hand dominance. I know for rifles most shoot based off eye dominance and pistols off hand dominance. That’s how we do it at work. With bows because there is more musculoskeletal movements involved, I wasn’t sure what to do. Looking for any advice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'm right / right. But what I've read, seems like most aspiring to higher proficiency lean or gravitate to the eye dominance 'side' ... Muscles easier to retain than brain...?
I mean that’s what I was assuming but wanted to see what the consensus was Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I am completely ambidextrous. Right eye dominant but even with both eyes open i can “switch” my dominant eye. I can shoot completely right or completely left meaning hand and eye. I can bat left handed and wipe my butt. But left handed signature is a little tough lol. I would say train the muscle for sure…. What wl704 said.
I am severely LE dominant but a natural righty. But I didn't make the switch to shooting LH until I was in my 30s. By the way, I still shoot lights out. I would base your decision on the following- How severe is his eye dominance? Is he far sighted or near sighted? How important to you is it to find left-handed equipment cheaply and easily? I am severely far sighted in my right eye- to the point where even if wearing contact lens I can't see the pin and the target clearly at the same time at all. It was either focus on the pin and you can't see the target for crap, or focus on the target and can't see the pin clearly- especially at lower lights. I see 20/10 (maybe 20/20 now as I approach 45) in my dominant eye. So it was a no brainer to switch, and really only took me about 3-4 target sessions to get comfortable shooting enough to hunt LH. That's after shooting RH for over 15 years before that. It did take me about 3-4 seasons before it felt 100% natural; but that's small things like reaching into your bag in the dark, pulling out your release and strapping it on the correct hand; stuff like that. Little things that would remind me I am a natural righty shooting lefty. But it didn't affect my ability to shoot. So while there's something to be said for starting the conversion at a young age, it's not as important as you might think. At least for me it was a fast process. So that brings you to the last concern- LH bows and accessories aren't exactly super easily found. It took me 3-4 months to get a Fast Eddy XL double pin in LH, and it cost me about $50 more than a RH. (That was 2 years ago before all these supply issues.) Scarcity of LH stuff is real and can be especially true in the used market and a lot of parents who are trying to save some money on a sport when their kid is going to grow/change both physically and mentally/emotionally at a rapid pace...You could be put in a position where you have to buy new equipment all the time and take the risk that his interest and time availability is going to make it worthwhile. You being a LH shooter already may be in a better position to accommodate that as anything you want to give him second hand you can, and if you buy him an accessory and he loses interest/time in the sport you can then potentially use for yourself. With actual bows, that's not as big of a problem as it used to be since there are some really decent bows out there nowadays that grow with the kid...30-70 pound and as much as a 6" DL length variation on the same single bow. Crazy how far bow technology has come in that regard. Heck, take him to a shop and have him shoot both LH and RH, let him decide for now. No matter what you chose, hope he sticks with it and enjoys a lifetime of shooting and hunting.
Totally agree. Never really forced the bow thing but he loved being with me while I shot and carrying my arrows back to so we got him a toy bow and he shoots it all the time. When I say all the time I mean he goes and shoots our 3D target 3-4 sessions a day every day. He has gotten pretty good out to about 15 feet. Not bad for plastic arrows with suction cups on the end. He naturally began shooting right handed. I noticed lately he had been trying to aim better that the string kept catching his side of his face. It looked like he was aiming with his left eye so I had him make a triangle with his hands and look at something and bring his hands back to his face and sure enough, left eye dominant. So I think I will see if he can shoot left handed but I don’t want him to be frustrated with it either. Like I said, he’s only 3; so I’m not concerned or anything just seeing what y’all do. That’s pretty helpful though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
lol, missed the part where he was only 3. But good to hear that he loves it so much. Probably hard to explain to a 3 year old about parallax and muscle memory.
I was thinking about all this again. I think i would introduce hime to all the scenarios and let him gigure it out on his own. I am not a pediatrician either (far from it) but at 3 idk if the baby knows what his body and mind are doing. He may switch back up. Im sure there are some docs on here who will know WAY more than me, but it seems early to classify their dominance. I would just let them figure it out on their own. Give them all the different situations and scenarios and see what works best
At 3 years old rather than push him one way or the other he will eventually show you what works for him. We had a youngster take lessons at our club he was right handed, but left eye dominant. He chose to shoot archery right handed so his dad got him an eye patch for his left eye. It was not long before he didn't need the patch any longer. For his age he was a very good shot. We have a kid in one of our current classes who is right eye dominant and right handed, but he is most comfortable shooting a LEFT handed Genesis bow RIGHT handed and he shoots it well! Go figure. We don't push them one way or the other, we let them try all the options, they eventually choose what works for them.
I will weigh in year, not as a pediatrician, but I have a Masters in PE and coaching. My youngest is currently 4 years old. He has a cheap Bear compound that is really not much more than a plastic bow with suction cup arrows. A key to know about growth and development of kids is that it can sometimes take until 5 or 6 before eye dominance is permanently established. It can also take until 12 years old until most kids have fully developed 20/20 vision or better. Some never get there. My eyes never got better than 20/30 as a kid and I have been wearing glasses or contacts since I was 11. All of that to say, it is still a little early to plan on investing in a RH or LH bow for a three-year-old. I would just let him go with what seems most natural to draw so far as which arm he prefers. Maybe his eye is already permanently established as LH dominant. But, it could also change to RH dominance over the next few years. His eye dominance could switch to whichever arm he prefers to draw with, or, it may not. Either way, I would just focus on teaching solid muscle mechanics for whichever arm he prefers to use now. At that early of an age the human brain is very much still in the development of neural pathways that control body movements. This will continue into the early teen years. There is plenty of time still for his body to switch from what he currently does, or, it may stay the same for his whole life. Only time will tell. I wouldn't sweat it too much now, focus having fun and building an interest in archery as a father-son bonding activity. Revisit the issue based on what you see his body doing in three to four years.
The cantexian is smarter than me with more knowledge here, but I was going to chime in with a similar feeling. My youngest is almost 5 and we still don't know which eye is dominant, which hand he throws with, or which way he wants to swing a baseball bat. Three just seems very young to me to be figuring that all out.
Right handed left eye dominant, I shoot right handed just close my left eye to set the pin set and make sure I am bent right by aligning the peep ring with the sight ring.
Most kids have a pretty clearly dominant throwing arm by five years old. You may have a truly ambidextrous kid as far arm dominance. If you and your family are into baseball, get him throwing left-handed and turn him into a pitcher is he interested. The eye dominance or preferred hitting stance usually remain flexible for a couple more years.
He seems to want to throw righty and hit lefty most of the time. So I'm leaning in that direction, but we'll know a little more come next Spring when he starts tee-ball. For now I'm just letting him whip the balls and bats around however he wants.
Your discription of your son is me. Gun left,bow rt. Write and eating left, throwing / pitching rt, batting left...I kick left as well. I was a fast pitch softball pitcher and a soccer goalie I hammer left handed or right but prefer left. I just don't use sights on my bow. I have always shot instinctive. Left eye dominate, I don't know how that actually work with my throwing but I'm dang accurate. , great at darts and I have actually killed a few rabbits by hitting them in the head with a thrown rock. I was a good pitcher. My point to this is, I let my body decide what is best for it and it didn't let me down. Don't force anything he'll work it out to his satisfaction.
Thanks for all the insight. I am not sure planning or investing in anything was just curious what other in the same situation did. He is shooting out to twenty feet now and hitting host target pretty consistently. He is catching his face trying to use his left eye to aim at times though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There are sghts that do not require peeps from what I u understand. I actually won two calipers illuminates I believe. They work very very well. I just do not do change well. They are very similar to rifle sights and you can buy for specifically right hand left eye dominate. And lighted as well. Not sure if they are still selling those but you could Google bow sights for right hand left eye dominate.
