Archery Coverage?

Top end archery is always neat to watch (I’m more of a target archer than hunter now, though in the past I was more of a hunter).

One of the other really cool things about archery is you can easily go talk to Mr Trillus (and even argue with him) on a number of target archery boards (he goes by foghorn). For instance he is semi-active at http://www.archerylive.com/forums/index.php?act=home (with the site owner – George Ryals or “Griv” being one of the world’s top compound competitors and instructors).

As for the bow falling down it is part of the nearly required follow through to maintain that level of accuracy. The trick in shooting archery is consistency. If you ever start to really try and go beyond “hunting accuracy” and try and compete with people like Dietmar then you will find that relaxed as possible is easier to be consistent with then tension (not to mention tension generally causes muscle tremors too – just point at something with your hand relaxed then make a tight fist with the rest of your fingers and note how much more movement that induces).

In this case the grip is one of the most important areas to be consistent on – there are only two main contact points you have to interact with the bow: string and grip.

So most target archers try to keep *everything* from the wrist on down as limp and lifeless as possible, though a few prefer a high wrist and to “push” the bow (generally that is harder to learn and most tend to be recurvers). At the very least you do not want your fingers getting in the way of the shot no matter how you hold your wrist.

They maintain that “through the shot” – that is from the moment they set their feet (which is even before they pull an arrow out of their quiver) until the arrow hits the target (not just once you loose it). Since the center of mass (due to the way those particular archers set their stabilizers) is out in front of the bow it will naturally fall forward. The ones who keep their bows balanced will not really swing like that and how you balance is a personal preference (though in either case you still want as much as the bows weight as possible as far from your grip as possible).

If you want to understand what you are seeing look up some books by Larry Wise, Kirk Etheridge, and Rick McKinney – those three pretty much cover the “classics” of both compound and recurve shooting.