5 Beginner Tips to Shooting a Compound Bow
OutdoorHub Reporters 08.24.18
If you’re reading this article, it’s probably because you’re new to compound bows and are looking for some beginner tips on how to shoot a compound bow more accurately.
A compound bow is simply a bow that utilizes a levering system to draw the limbs and make a shot. As a result, they consist of pulleys and cables, which are absent from recurve bows.
Compound bows are a very popular choice for hunting and target shooting. That being said, despite being a more advanced system in contrast to other kinds of bows such as recurve bows and long bows, you can’t just pick up a compound bow, load an arrow, pull the string, and let loose to make an accurate shot.
Shooting a bow accurately truly is an art, and it’s something that is going to require a lot of practice from you.
In other words, the only thing that is going to make you an accurate and proficient bowman (or woman) is if you actually put in the time and effort to perfect your technique.
But to help you get started, in this article we will go over some of the most critical tips that you need to know for shooting a compound bow properly.
Here are the top five compound bow tips for beginners:
Relax Your Entire Body From Head To Toe
The entire body will need to be completely relaxed before you should shoot the compound bow. This includes your feet, legs, hip, hands, arms, torso, and head. This is also a step that many novice bow shooters, eager to shoot, will ignore.
After inhaling and exhaling multiple times to relax your body, you can then bend your bow arm until the elbow is unlocked. Allow your fingers to hang, to keep yourself relaxed.
Use The Two Finger Technique
You’ll want to stick with just two fingers to hold and shoot the bowstring. When loading the bow, it’s okay to use more than one finger, especially when drawing back the string.
But when the time comes to shoot, you’ll want to release all of the other fingers until you have just two holding the arrow. Release both fingers simultaneously.
Shoot Within 7 Seconds
As a general rule, you should try to shoot the arrow within seven seconds of drawing back the string.
Why seven seconds?
The reason why is because seven seconds is the average amount of time you have until you’ll become distracted by something else in your environment. For this reason, to make a shot that is accurate as well as safe, you should aim to fire within seven seconds.
Let The Release Surprise You
When you release the arrow, you want it to ‘surprise’ you rather than being deliberate. This is one of the biggest mistakes that compound bow beginners make, as they try to time their shots instead.
No, this doesn’t mean that you want to pull back the string and release the arrow without even thinking about.
But similar to firing a gun, you want it to surprise you. In other words, you don’t want to tell yourself that you’ll fire at exactly three seconds (or whatever), and you don’t want to have a command in your mind either.
Timing the shot is only going to throw you off and result in inaccurate shooting. Instead, just let your fingers slip when you’re ready to fire to release the arrow.
Have Proper Follow Through
Following through with your shot is both a physical as well as mental process. Keep your entire body relaxed until after you have seen the arrow hit your target. Many new bow shooters make the mistake of immediately moving their body after letting loose of the arrow, which can actually throw their shot off.
Instead, you want to stay in your current relaxed shooting position until you have seen the arrow hit your target. Don’t drop your arm after you have let go of the string to release the arrow.
As was noted previously, only time and practice will make you a professional compound bow shooter, so it’s not like that using each of these tips is instantly going to make you an expert shot over night.
That being said, if you can use these compound bow beginner tips early in your bow shooting endeavors, you should at the very least find it easier to shoot the bow versus if you were to try your own way.
