Guys I am new to the forum and relatively new to bowhunting. I appologize for being longwinded but I am stressing about this. I have become proficient up to 40 yards through help from friends that bowhunt. My son has tagged along the way wanting to get involved. He is a mature 10 year old and is very involved in tackle football and basketball. For Christmas, I got him a Bear Apprentice II after shopping for a long time and reading lot of reviews. It felt a little like a second choice to the Mission Craze but the Bear fell in line with our budget and still appeared to be a good bow. Unfortunately we have not made a lot of progress in the last couple of months. He is shooting at about 30lbs and the bow was the Bear Apprentice II ready to hunt set up (with whisker biscuit). He will be dead on for six shots at 20 yards and then completely miss the target for a several. At first I thought it was a fatigue problem but then he will make similar mistakes at the beginning of a shoot. I have checked his anchor point and general posture and they appear to be consistent. The only thing I can notice that may be hurting him is his non drawing arm (right arm in this case he is left handed) is bent and in my mind it is causing him to have a lot of unnesessary muscle stress while he is locking in on the target. When he does lock his arm and hits the wall, the string hits him and tears his arm up. The second thing I noticed is he has become more accurate as the speed of the bow has been increased. What else should I be looking for and what resources are there out there that I can research? Thanks in advanced guys Brad
Bear Apprentice II for a young 64 year old. I bought this bow 2 months ago and love it. At 27 inches ATA it looks like a toy next to the $900 bows I sometimes see at the range. The best money I ever spend was for a private lesson by a certified instructor. She changed a lot in my stance, draw length and grip, but I can hit what a shoot at now. I would recommend a lesson for your son. If the string is hitting his forearm, his grip needs to be adjusted. My instructor said, "Relax your grip" about 50 times in a 1 hr lesson. Do not wrap the fingers around the grip. Bow is held in the Y between the thumb and index finger. All fingers droop downward. Knuckes are at a 45* angle to the bow and to the ground. I'm no pro, but this is how I was instructed to shoot. Once I got over the newness of it, I found I was a lot steadier with the sight picture, and after only 500 arrows I can pretty much tell where the arrow is going before I look at it. Good Luck.
Without seeing him shoot, I can only speculate...but I would say he is torquing the bow. (His grip is inconsistent) ...also...there should be a slight bend in his bow arm...not locked straight. Hope this helps.
No bend what so ever, having a bend in your arm is not correct. your arm should be straight with your elbow turned in towards your bow with your wrist locked straight.
I'm sorry...but that is incorrect. You should never "lock" anything. Here is Mathews Pro Shooter Levi Morgan, with a slight bend in his arm. Look at pictures of other pro shooters...you will see the same thing.
Actually most pros and coaches teach a straight arm but not locked. Some archers have adjusted their styles to suit their needs. I would check the eye dominance of the op son. He may be shooting with his non dominant eye and then the dominant eye will take over. This was an issue my daughter had so we switched her to lefty to match her dominant eye. Have him stand across the room and form a circle with his fingers. With arms extended ,circle your head while looking through the circle.Then just see which eye he is using to look at you. Back to form. Look how these guys are perpendicular to the target.perfect balance. Wrist and forearm turned out and relaxed. Elbow not turned. For good info look on youtube and watch videos by Alistair wittingham called performance archery. He has many. Also find all you can from Larry wise. Also very good info. Dave cousins. Considered by many to be the best compound archer in the world. Tony tazza also a very good pro Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Some more for reference. This is pretty close to perfect imo but the last time I saw him shoot he had a more relaxed bow arm which is also fine but does require more muscle and less bone to bone alignment This guy has also relaxed his elbow since but won Vegas with both styles. My son when he was 9. Very acceptable form Now at 13 Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Good video by Larry wise http://www.bowtube.com/media/32/The_Stance-_Wise_Shooting_Tips_With_Larry_Wise/ Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
