Stickbow Target Archery Forums

I am shooting a full FITA (barebow recurve) this weekend for the first time.
A few years ago, I switched to 3-fingers under to bring my point-on distance in to 60 yards, which is pretty close to ideal for field archery.

Now, I will be going back to split finger for 90 and 70 meters, and using 3 fingers under for the shorter ones.

I don't plan on practicing much (I put one arrow in the frame in my first end at 90, losing an insert and point) -- don't want to run out of arrows.
I release, then count 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005 -- it is a long time til I hear the thunk.

Any words of wisdom?

My only suggestion is to do what I do for long shots: establish an aiming point above the target with something on your bow. Unfortunately, this will take some trial and error, but if you work your way back gradually, it won't be so bad.

Ex: since I anchor high, my point-on distance is only 38 yards. For the 50 yard target, I would get into my pre-draw position, and place the shelf of my bow ON the target. Then I would note where the tip of my arrow was touching the background (usually some place on a tree). Then I would focus on that point, and put my arrow tip on that point at full draw, never looking at the target, and release.

It could be your arrow tip, or half way between your tip and your shelf, etc.
For longer shots, I've used knuckles on my bow hand, etc. I like to be subtle about it, but if need be you can hold your bow hand up without your bow and count finger widths, thumb height, etc.

Find that reference and then aim at your POA.

wow -- that makes your scores all the more impressive

Not if you ask the "instinctive" shooters. They'd think that technique is cheatin'!

I enjoy instinctive archer at under about 30 yards. At least for me I find I must accurately estimate distances for the longer shots and also use some sort of conscious aiming technique.

With a new bow and/or arrows, I make a temporary sight with map pins and a dense piece of foam or cork taped onto the riser. I set up a pin for each 10 yard distance beyond 20 yards. Then with the pins in place, I start finding "points." The aiming point might be the tip of the arrow or, as mentioned by Todd, some other reference point. For long shots, the reference point is likely to be the shelf of the riser and even that might be considerably higher than the point of impact.

Hello all, This is my 1st post here.

I'm point-on at about 95M with split finger & under chin anchor. For 70M I use 3 fingers under & under chin anchor.

This is with 480gn arrow & 48# @ 29.5" draw. Extreme R/D double carbon longbow of my own design.

BBP

ArcCaster,n
The weekend has come and gone. We wait with great anticipation for a detailed report. (smiley face goes here)n
Dave

It was a GREAT weekend!n
Saturday, it was sunny in the mid 60s with gusts of about 35 mph (the experienced archers described them as '7-ring gusts' -- meaning they blew the arrow 7 rings away from wherever you were aiming).
Sunday it was sunny and calm in the high 60s. Both days were perfect for mellowing out and focusing on the shot.

They played Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffet between ends -- I have since downloaded a new find, Jimmy Buffet's 'Holiday', urging me to take a vacation
Thursday, I cut down some old McKinney Sportsters for my current bow in hopes of pushing my point on farther out than the 70 meters I get shooting ACCs split finger. Friday, I sighted them in -- point-on split fingers at 90, almost point on 3-under at 70. Saturday, I shot.

It was an experience! My best end at 90 meters was 5 scoring arrows -- my worst was less
I saw a lot of arrows get blown off-target to the left. I tried aiming exactly at the right edge of the butt to compensate -- and they went exactly to the right edge of the butt -- some of my best shots, in that they went where they were aimed, but I didn't get any points for them.

Because I had no standard or expectations, I was able to focus on form rather than score, and had some enjoyable ends that turned out well.

Some conclusions:
I don't think it is possible to get a single setup that is ideal for both field archery and FITA. With FITA, I want to be point on WAY out. With field archery, I really want to be point on about 55 or 60. Anything further than that gives me trouble (nothing to reference) at the middle distances: 40-60
FITA, on the other hand, is great practice for field archery. You get to shoot each distance over and over until you get it right.