Vertical bow-Chin Anchor

[Stagmitis]

Forget Hunting for moment.

Is the Olympic target form using a vertical bow and chin anchor inherently more accurate than the corner mouth anchor and canted bow?

[Desert Archer]

I think the verticle bow is only more accurate in that it is more reproducible. Getting the exact same cant for every shot is difficult, so in that sense the answer is "yes".

On the other hand, the major reason for the under chin anchor is to get the sight adjustment for shooting out to 90m. I have had to go to a down on the jaw bone anchor to get out to 80 yards for barebow field archery. If you think about it, the under chin anchor is less positive than anchoring at a point on the side of the face. The clicker is what makes target shooters consistant in their draw and release so the answer for this one is "no".

Now, someone smarter than me can prove me wrong but that's my $.02 worth (smiley face goes here).

Dave

[Viper]

Stag -

I'll have to go with DA on this. The vertical bow is only more accurate as it's easier to reproduce "vertical" than 5 degrees. The under the chin "anchor" actually uses touch points, (several) and isn't as locked an anchor as some of the barebow types use, but it does give the extra length on the sight bar to reach the longer distances, that's why it works. Also allows the use of a kisser button!

Viper out.

[Stagmitis]

What about the degree of back tension with the vertical position and low anchor?

[Viper]

Stag -

A lot depends on body build. A lot of folks state they get better lines of tension across the back with the low/chin anchor. I'm not one of them. Raising my anchor to the usual corner of the mouth, etc, lets me line up better and get a better back draw.

Viper out.

[Stagmitis]

Viper,

Anatomically speaking, the elbow on a cheek/face anchor can never come around as far as where an olympic archer or compund shooter can with a chun draw.

Would an olympic archer experience the utmost in control from getting both shoulders back to the maximum position possible or is there a point of diminishing returns at some point with a certain percentage of the back muscles engaged?

Do we have a Doc in the house?

[SubconsciousShooter]

Stag,

It is interesting that you brought this up. I have been working on this anchor for about a month now and I can tell you that it is NOT easy.

I would not recommend the under the chin anchor for barebow shooting. However, if you want to go to sights, than I would highly recommend it.

I am enjoying the transformation from barebow shooting to sight shooting. However, change doesn`t come easy, so I wouldn`t recommend it unless you really want to go that route.

There is something very pure about shooting barebow and a side of the face anchor...which may be lost when you go under the chin and stick a sight on the riser...lol :shooting:

[Stagmitis]

Dont worry Sub,

No chance of me ever going there as a hunting archer.

[Viper]

Stag -

Not true. Depends on the anatomy of the archer. I can't get a good line with a chin anchor, but with the corner of mouth/locked under jaw thing. I get full rotation back. A lot may have to do with the fact that I've been doing it that way for 36 years, and the way my shoulder are built.

Really don't believe the chin thing has any real advantage of than the need for the longer sight bar. Remember I said that the Oly types generally need to use other touch point so confirm hand placement. Locking the web of the thumb and fore finger sloves that.

BTW - I'm not a Doc, but tought Physiology at NYU for about 4 years, does that count ;) ?

Viper out.

[Stagmitis]

So what im hearing is there is equal back tension achieved by an Olympic/compound draw compared to a "On the face draw"?

Thats great news!

4 years eh viper? Hmm...yeah that counts! :highfive:

[Desert Archer]

Another point to consider in this discussion. Many hunters and barebow shooters are not aware that many FITA/NAA types use a tab that has a built in (or added on) shelf. It rides under the jaw bone giving them a solid reference point. The Olympic style shooters I've met who don't use a shelf often use a kisser button, again a solid reference for the back end of the arrow's elevation.

They wouldn't need these if the target style anchor was more stable or consistant so I would side with Viper in thinking side of the face (corner of the mouth) is just as solid if not more so than under the chin.

Dave

[Stagmitis]

Some have mentioned that one of the reasons that an Olympic vertical hold may be more accurate is beacause its easy to reproduce the vertical cant in the bow.


Would it stand to reason that with a face anchor and the keeping the arrow under the eye the cant is irrelevent with respect to point of impact until the bow reaches a very severe cant?

[dclark]

On one of the other sites, they have some short video clips of some of the "old time" shooters, i.e. Howard Hilll, etc. The first thing I noticed is that every one of those guys "anchored" lower on the face than middle finger to corner of mounth, even when they were shooting at close range.

I went out and tried a lower anchor and it really screwed me up, but those old-timers did really well with the miiddle finger about at the lower jaw line. I also noticed that they did not "hold" at anchor, probably because they were shooting wooden bows, but, as hard as I tried, I couldn't catch any of them short drawing. Maybe short-drawing, when shooting quickly is caused by some nutated virus that they didn't have back then. :sbrug:

[Desert Archer]

I believe the two predominant causes for short drawing are being over bowed and target panic. Short drawing doesn't have anything to do with anchor point location virtically. However, if you anchor in front of your face it could cause you to short draw but I haven't seem much of that (LOL).

Dave

[SubconsciousShooter]

It is a law of our human anatomy that the closer we can get to drawing the bow with the arms straight out AND anchoring at the same height, the stronger we are.　　(Read: Chest Level) However, I have never seen anyone shoot this way. Even the olympic guys usually have some sort of face contact for consistency. Personally, I am not a strong guy, so I have found that the low under the chin anchor point, although difficult to learn at first is much easier on my body. I still get minor aches and pains from shooting, but nothing like I used to get when I shot a canted bow and/or high anchor.

But then agian, I am only shooting 31 pounds now and loving it. Would I hunt with 31 pounds, absolutely not, I prefer shooting as close to 40 pounds as I can get for hunting whitetails and would go higher if there were any elk around here to hunt...LOL

Anyway, I find that hunting season only lasts about 6 weeks here in PA, so what do I do with the rest of my time?

You guessed it.... :shooting: