I am far from an expert but I have experienced that same thing with heavier limbs. As soon as I get to anchor the string is gone.i am not snap shooting but with the heavier weight I don’t have time to loiter at full draw. Pausing too long creates form issues for me anyway.

 

Heavier limbs can really mess you up at first..

 

I never snap shot but I think it's release form. For me, I think the heavy limbs pulled out with more force and made it harder for me pluck or mess up.
If you're rushing your shot b/c or can't hold you have issues - over bowed, target panic, etc.
But I think this shows the wisdom of using lighter limbs for form practice. You should be able to release cleanly or hold as long as you need at any weight you plan to shoot.

 

Heavier limbs can mask release issues. That is one of many reasons it is good to practice with lighter limbs. It really shows up when you drop down in the 20 lb range. 35 to 40 lbs is where a lot of good shooters do a lot of shooting, and should get off the fingers cleanly if you are doing your part.

 

If someone wants to snap shoot, which is not a bad word, he will probably have fewer release errors with a modest increase in weight. People who want to snap shoot can probably handle a modest increase in weight better than those who hold at full draw. More than a modest increase in weight will probably create more problems for most people than are solved by having an easier release. Of course, there are a few people, like Howard Hill, who thrived snap shooting very heavy bows.

I think that managing the release was one of the easier problems I had to figure out along the way. I would say that in an average class of 16 people learning to shoot with 15-25# bows, one or two might have problems with their releases. A more common problem would be creeping, which results in a bad release, but is something that happens before the release happens.

 

Good explanations above. Heavier weight will pull the string out of your fingers, but like cm said heavier can mask release issues.
Lighter limbs you need to have better release and follow through or it will show, exposing the flaws.
Lots of people shoot lower weight to work on form and release.
Chad

 

I was going to say exactly what CMShooter states. Lots of people come to me with a problem. They bring their hunting bow. After the show me the problem I bring out a 20-25 pound bow. They find out that they're not reaching alignment with their hunting bow. Some can't - overbowed.

Most snap shooters don't reach alignment and they are going to get TP. Maybe not tomorrow, but 5, 10 years down the road they'll have it. One of the best shots I've ever seen was a snap shooter that reached alignment. Took him 30 years to get TP. Now, he can't get near full draw and hitting something at 20 is out of the question.

Bowmania

 

Most snap shooters don't reach alignment and they are going to get TP. Maybe not tomorrow, but 5, 10 years down the road they'll have it. One of the best shots I've ever seen was a snap shooter that reached alignment. Took him 30 years to get TP. Now, he can't get near full draw and hitting something at 20 is out of the question.

TRUE👍

 

Back when my light bow was 64 pounds and my heavy hunting bow was 96, Found that I could not get a clean release with my target bows, I could force things into the release that made problems. With heavy bows my pull through was automatic and the release was always clean. I could settle myself down and go into a multistep ritual, much like the 12 step programs used today. But if I used such a mechanical method hunting a variety game, I would miss more than hit and miss many opportunities. In hunting my shot needs to have one thought, hit the spot.

 

Maybe they have the same problem I have. Not getting the front shoulder down and scapula back. If a push and pull with both arms? My front shoulder is out and not bone to bone. Virtually impossible to use your back on the front side. With compound low hold weight isn't as big of a problem as trad. With stabilization you can activate the shot with just a push.
Now with hold weight and finger release. John Demmer posted that he uses a deep hook to get a clean release. I suspect your hook has more to do with being cleaner than the hold weight as well as your tab.
But as I said above setup and holding with back tension should be more important to getting your arms the relax in order for a clean release.
DDD

 

Fore I visualize the front end as forward and in rather than just forward. The tendency of letting it settle back seems to promote the shoulders not being in alignment.
For me anyway.

 

The bow arm pushes and resists, the draw arm must come back and line up to the arrow. Basic proper form for all shooting styles. If i had to go through a dozen details to get off an accurate shot when hunting, I would quit archery. The short draw early release is a common problem, snap shooting or releasing when one reaches full draw is not TP. Work must be done to maintain proper form with either shooting method. I do not advocate squeezing shoulders and declaring 'bone on bone'. When the bow arm shoulder is in line and the draw arm is in line and one is continuing to pull to release proper muscles are engaged and no further deliberating is required.

 

" snap shooting or releasing when one reaches full draw is not TP."

Have you aimed sufficiently once you have reached anchor?
Have you seated in with this hit anchor and let it go description?
INMHO, this description is Snap shooting.
It can lead to TP.
Letting go of the arrow before you hit anchor is just the progression of a Snap shooter gone wild.
Proper control of the shot sequence requires that aiming before release has to happen.

 

Snap shooting is a method which is designed to be used by traditional bow hunters who have to make shots within a very limited window of opportunity.. Snap shooting can lead to target panic. Drawing and holding can lead to target panic. Waking up in the morning can lead to target panic. Target panic should be addressed as a subject separate from the style of shooting. I am not a snap shooter. My name is David and I have target panic. I can tell you from experience that it is just as easy to degenerate from holding 2 seconds to not holding at all as it is to degenerate from releasing the shot as soon as one touches anchor to releasing the shot before one touches anchor.

 

"I do not advocate squeezing shoulders and declaring 'bone on bone'"

9 of 10 without pulling through with the Rhomboids the shot will collapse.
Bone on bone is just a description of a Bow arm pushing and relaxed. A tense bow arm usually turns into too much grip and torquing.

 

You are describing exactly the robotic rhetoric that is clumsy and mechanical in many hunting situations. With continuous pulling through to anchor there is no collapse. If your static target style is what you need to do, fine. But your way is not the only way, even though certain similarities exists. This early release, although it happens, is not a guaranteed outcome and that is not part of the shooting style and one must work to avoid. You fly with your species and I will fly with mine.
When you jump a pheasant, are you going lockup bone on bone with a shotgun?

 

Learning a solid form correct shot sequence and aiming a deliberately aimed arrow is possible.
Target Panic is something that many of us eventually deal with and may try to creep back in from time to time but properly dealt with can be pushed out of the shot.
It's mental and can be de-programmed with some discipline. Jim.Casto had or has an excellent approach and method to gain confidence and consistency.

 

Now I remember you!

 

If you don't have time to shoot with proper form you don't actually have a shot opportunity, you're just flinging arrows and hoping to make a hit that will eventually recover your game.
The animals deserve better.

 

This preaching has been a common sermon from target based shooters as long as i can remember. Do I trust myself enough to shoot at a bounding deer? Never. Do i trust myself to shoot at a walking calm deer at closer ranges, all day. Do I think that i am going to shoot at a flying pheasant or running rabbit? Every time.

 

Draw, hold it, release. i can skip the hold it part it with 25 and under shots with ASL bows 50 and over, but it takes practice to maintain full form control. I must stop and hold it with any bow under 40 pounds and especially short bows and recurves, also I find with lighter bows that i have a better release with a Kantpinch tab versus a stout shooting glove.

 

Howard Hill stated that when shooting at game it is better to be able to shoot faster than taking one's time. That 'get on with it' frame of mind can prevent one from over deliberating and second guessing. "Too much thinking is bad for concentration." yes, I have seen it often where over bowed people and under practiced people have short releases. if your release is off with a heavier bow, work needs to be done. if that flinched release happens with a lighter weight bow, i advise to not call it TP and over haul everything. Instead, separate that part of your form and concentrate on getting the release you want at a close range and not worry about aiming and everything else. When the bad release is fixed and you are stronger you can try the heavy bow again. Like Hill, I need to spend time regular sessions to maintain my form, independent of long shot aiming. When the shot becomes automatic, then i can get down to long range practice. Today I spent 20 minutes on a smooth draw to a steady release at 10 yards. Then serious practice with a 60 pound bow at 40 yards.

 

Howard Hill had animals chained so he could kill them. He's not someone who anyone should hold as an example of ethical hunting.

 

Old bull, it was because the cameras used were large and not very mobile, it was a movie. When one considers the hundreds, thousands counting the small game, no one has ever matched him the field. You are one of those that celebrates finding fault anywhere you can.

 

Everything that Howard Hill did he did in the open. He didn't receive any criticism from his contemporaries for being an unethical hunter, that I’m aware of. I mean, he stayed married to the same woman his whole life, and assuming he met the other qualifications, probably could have been elected Pope. He did not meet today's ethical standards. That aside, there is no dispute that he was a superb snap shot with the bow, and probably had more justification taking 50 yard snap shots at deer than most of us do holding and aiming at 25 yards

Edit: well, he might have had to have his marriage annulled to be elected Pope

 

He won 146 tournaments in a row...that tells me he knew a thing or two

 

My over 20 yard left hand shooting cycle, if I put words to it, would be draw, (rising spread draw last 6" flat) tighter release. My right hand shooting cycle at longer shots is draaaw, pull through, follow through, if I put words to it. Oddly enough i often find that i hold longer on flying birds than 20 and under, which is smooth draw, anchor, release in almost a non-stop motion. I hunt open country, although try to set up for the 20 and under, it does not always work out. I have let many more spooky deer pass by at 15 and under than the deer that i killed at 30 yards that were totally unaware of my presence. I think shot timing and the decision of go or no-go is the hardest thing to learn.

 

I think we've all been down this road. It took me 50 years of shooting to come to terms with my limitations. When I did that I became a better archer. My own experience I was shooting to heavy of a bow. I dropped 10lbs pounds and reinvented my shooting style. I started watching target archers and applied their techniques to my hunting archery. I make every arrow count and focus on each aspect of the shot. The hold, focus and pulling through the shot. When I do not adhere to my own rules my shot suffers. I keep my shots close while hunting and practice at longer distances. I practice with the bows I hunt with.

 

How can you not be able to let down? I Dont understand that last statement.

 

It's a form of target panic.

 

As I understand it, a snap shooter touching his anchor is the same as some other shooter clicking the clicker, touching the feather to nose, or the subconscious sending a release signal to his brain. At that moment, the arrow is gone. At any point prior to touching anchor, the snap shooter should be able to change his mind and let down; for example, if a deer suddenly turned to face him so he no longer had a clear shot to the vitals. If a snap shooter had committed to the shot, but hadn't yet touched anchor, and couldn't let down because he was too far along to stop, that would be a sign of target panic.

On a slightly different subject, not all snap shooters are instinctive shooters, and vice versa. Howard Hill stated that he was not an instinctive shooter, because he consciously placed his arrow point where he thought it ought to be, albeit without calculating a gap. And yet it is clear from watching his videos that he was a snap shooter.

Rick Welch is an instinctive shooter, because he does not consciously place his arrow point anywhere (how far away is it? Don't know, don't care), although he does notice where it is, and no doubt that information is used by his subconscious to trigger his shot. And yet it is clear from watching him shoot and taking lessons from him that he considers it vitally important to have a 2 second hold, so he is definitely not a snap shooter.

 

I shot through the Mayflower course right behind Welch years ago before he lost weight. He teaches to hold and does hold at anchor and aims. I'm guessing he shoots "Gapstinctive" which many would say gaps are automatic from shooting at different yardages for years.

 

Hmmm ...draw/focus on spot...anchor....1-2...loose ... Go pull arrow from bulls-eye,sometimes lol

 

Hmmm ...draw/aim...anchor....1-2-3....loose

No, it's see the objective and decide to do a shot, draw, anchor and seat in, pulling with the back muscles and aiming refined release follow through.