Stickbow Target Archery Forums

Steve,
thanks for your valuable comment. I agree with your view - also I do believe that finally best results will be acchieved when you have confidence in your system - whatever system you may shoot.

My wife shoots a kind of "referencing" system - on short distances she projects the target face downward and aims on the imaginary face - on medium distances she has her reference points at the face and on long distances she projects the target face above the target - e.g. on the 80 yards she adds 3 faces on top.
As she is effectively practising this method, she is quite good in it - but it works only on known faces.
On animal rounds or 3D rounds she estimateds the distances and imagines the apropirate target face onto the animal (so in fact she still shoots field archery). This is less accurate - but as the variations of distances are not that extreme, the estimation error is within a managable range.
Why I am writing about my wife?
Her system is to me quite anusual but it works well for her - and this is the message: everyone should find his own way finally - like Steve is also suggesting...

Martin: "My wife shoots a kind of "referencing" system - on short distances she projects the target face downward and aims on the imaginary face - on medium distances she has her reference points at the face and on long distances she projects the target face above the target - e.g. on the 80 yards she adds 3 faces on top.
As she is effectively practising this method, she is quite good in it - but it works only on known faces."n It´s very interesting to read this, but seems like my shooting (and lot of others shooters in Estonia) style on field and hunter rounds:) Sometimes it helps on animal round too, if you know the face sizes before:)like target group 4 is 35cm high or wide:)

Katrin: I would be interested to know how you and your countymen shoot, do they use a 'referencing system' because they shoot marked rounds or do they use another system like 'split vision' if they shoot both marked and un-marked rounds?

I tried to translate termin "split vision" and couldn´t understand what You mean. Can You explain it. But when we started shooting 3,5 years ago (then started estonian bowmaking), then we shot just short (till 30yards) and unmarked distances. We didn´t have any knowledges about spain, aiming, shooting techinque etc. We just had some FITA shooters, who told us how they shoot. We started shooting with 3 fingers down and shooting was just fun hobby for everyone. Of course after getting e-mail addresses from bowmaker (www.falco.ee), where he had sold the bows, we started organize them to competitions. At the first event we had about 20 longbow shooters at November 2001. And now the biggest competitions what we had was 79 longbow shooters from Estonia, 8 from Lithuania (our little sister in archery (they will join next year with IFAA)) and 1 from Latvia and 2 from Scotland . Now we have about 170-180 shooters on LB class. I think that our style is big mix from everywhere. The biggest teacher to us was at first Tapani Säila from Finland. I think that we use on different styles of shooting different style. I know that I use, different style on field and hunter round, 2nd style for indoorshooting and 3rd style for unmarked animal round. Especially I use 2nd arrow style on unmarked animal round . With first arrow I guess the distance and with 2nd arrow I try to hit. But We shoot very offen on competitions. At next year we have 12 competitions unmarked papertarget animal round, 1st time 6 competitions with 3D targets (we didn´t have 3D course still and not competitions too)and 3 indoor competitions and 6 IFAA hunter- or field round comp. That makes about 2 comp. bemonthly. I think that the big number of competitions is the biggest secret When I´ll go to English learning again, maybe then I can write and explain the things better.
With best regaardsn Katrin

I shoot split vision. For me, split vision means focusing on what I want to hit, no matter what the distance is. So, whether the distance is 11 yards or 80 yards, I stare right at the center of the target. At the same time, I see my arrow -- ideally, I see the whole length of the arrow, not just the tip. The arrow is 'out of focus' -- but nevertheless, it is possible to see both the 'full length of the arrow' AND the target at the same time. And, seeing both at the same time, I adjust both the angle (of the arrow shaft) and the gap (between arrow point and center of target) to hit at the various distances.

This is just one archer's perspective -- I'd like to know the thoughts of others who shoot "split vision".

Katrin
it is great that you are participating here - I hope that out of the proposed training exercises there is something that you and your fellow archers in Estonia could use. (For Marek I would like to provide at a later stage some mental exercises to find peace with what he is acchieving). And don´t mind the english wording, the important thing is that you are trying (like myself) to express your opinion...

Thanks Katrin I understand, you adapt your shooting to the type of rounds you shoot.

ArcCaster has explained Split-vision fairly well and I'm sure Katrin uses this system somewhere, just didn't understand the English. Tapani is a great archer and a hero of mine after meeting and watching him shoot in Scotland.

I like to think of split-vision as 80% focus on the spot and 20% of me being aware of the Riser/Arrow position, what I like about it is the view I have of the Arrow/Riser is the same from 20 to 50 yards and I feel very comfortable and confident about hitting the target up to this distance.
I suppose it's a mix between instinctive and gap, more reliable than instinct alone but more flexible for all types of rounds than just gap alone.

I've always understood split vision to be placing the arrow tip on a specific spot in the distance, but in your peripheral vision (you see the tip on a specific rock, leaf or part of the target, but focus on the spot you want to hit).

Gap is different in that you are still focusing on the spot, and seeing the arrow in your peripheral vision, but you note the size of the SPACE (GAP) between the arrow tip and target, not noticing what the arrow tip is touching.

Howard Hill shot split vision. He shot so quickly and so accurately and at such varying distances that it seems he wouldn't have time to to look at anything except what he wanted to hit and his own arrow.

Todd, what you are describing also seems to fit the definition of split vision. Maybe we need another definition
Maybe Howard Hill's was a two-way split (arrow and target) and what you describe is a three-way split (arrow, reference out by the target, and target).
Todd, whatever name you give it, what you are describing matches how some of the best barebow recurve archers at Watkins Glen described their sighting technique.

I think were talking different shades of gray here, I like to think Split-vision is much less reliant on the relationship between target and pile, it’s a bit like looking at a wonky picture hanging on the wall, you just know something’s wrong. I look at the spot, draw up to anchor and my subconscious will instantly know if it feels wrong. To get to this point I do rely on using the gap relationship between the pile and target until it’s programmed into my subconscious as I become more confident I can put all my focus onto just looking at the spot. I think the key wording for split vision is ‘Aware’ you don’t visually look at the pile, you’re just aware of where it is in relation to the targetn
I found this link that explains it better than me.

n
instinctive shooting / The aiming style or technique, named by Howard Hill, which involves shooting without the aid of a sighting device (bowsight) or point-of-aim, but relying on hand to eye coordination by concentrating on the target, not the arrowhead
gap shooting / An aiming style or technique, described by Bryon Ferguson [1994, p.14] as an adaptation of the split-vision technique, but for modern bows which are center-shot. It involves focusing on the "gap" between the arrow point and the target, then raising and lowering the bow arm to adjust for shot distancen
split vision / Bryon Ferguson [1994] claims that Howard Hill was not an "instinctive" shooter, but used this aiming style or technique, which involves keeping the eyes focused on the spot to be hit, while at the same time being aware of where the arrow tip is positioned in relation to that spot. Ferguson adapted this technique renames it gap shooting.