There are two main points that an archer has to do well to guarantee the best chance of consistently hitting the target. The first is to hold the string stable at full draw until the archer is ready to shoot and secondly, releasing the string in the correct manner every time. Most suggestions for beginners should help the novice to achieve these two states.

‘Creep’ is the first issue that a novice should guard against. Creep is the phenomenon of the arrow, string and hand creeping forward as the archer takes aim. It is vital to hold the arrow at full draw for consistency. If the archer permits the hand to creep forward, the shot will not be consistent. Creep is caused by lack of concentration and strain.

The strain comes from trying to shoot a bow that the archer is not yet physically powerful enough to control. People, particularly men often attempt to shoot a bow that is too powerful for them. If an archer is experiencing creep, the bow is probably too powerful for him or her at the moment. The archer should use a weaker bow and work out more until they are stronger.

The effects of creep on the shot are that the archer will not learn how to judge the fall of the arrow over distance and so will almost certainly undershoot, that is, the arrow will possibly fall short. The only way to learn how to use the bow correctly is to always shoot at full draw.

Tiredness can also lead to creep, but the archer can control this by resting well before a competition, staying fit and not using a bow that takes so much muscle that it cannot be shot for the period of the competition.

The beginner archer has to learn how to let go of the arrow as well. It is much more difficult to hit the target if the release is not right. The novice should get an skilled archer to demonstrate the release so that he or she does not develop bad habits. The proper way to release the string is to relax the muscles in the tips of the fingers used to draw the string.

Novices often hurt their fingers after a couple of releases, so they try to release the string too quickly which can lead to pulling the string to the side a little. This little wobble can send the arrow off course.

The release should be clean and to the rear of the arrow, not to the side. If the release is to the rear, the arrow will fly true to where the archer aimed it. If the archer is having a lot of trouble hardening up the finger tips, it is possible to use a string release mechanism, which will take the strain off the finger tips until they can be toughened up.

An archer could try the karate methods of hardening the skin and the hand. One of these is to plunge the straight fingers into sand. An archer could also try a guitarists’ method, that of daubing the finger tips with methylated spirits on a regular basis.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several topics, but is currently concerned with longbows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

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