So, you purchased a shiny new bow decked out with accessories and have a fresh stack of arrows to go with it, now what? If you are new to bowhunting and archery in general, before you start slinging arrows down range, you need to learn how to shoot a compound bow.
The most important steps to remember when asking how to shoot a compound bow:
Start with a solid foundation
Develop a consistent grip, draw and anchor point(s)
Find a shot sequence that is repeatable
Practice shooting with proper form and let muscle memory kick in
What good is it to have your dream buck walk out at 20 yards if you aren’t capable of making an accurate shot? This post will tell you everything you need to know to get started.
What is the Proper Stance for Shooting a Compound Bow?
Use a Solid Base
Like many athletic pursuits, a learning how to shoot a compound bow starts with a consistent, solid base from your lower body. Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and perpendicular to the target. Then, point your toes out slightly to provide some additional stability.
Stand Tall
With your weight balanced evenly and your feet in position, make sure to stand up tall with your shoulders and upper body stacked over your hips and knees. This will put you in a strong position for drawing the bow.
Tip: Once you land on a consistent stance and foot position, have someone trace around your feet while standing on piece of cardboard or paper.
Use this “template” while you practice shooting to ensure your foot placement is the same from shot to shot. After a while, this will become second nature and you can get rid of the template.
What is the Proper Grip for Shooting a Compound Bow?
Grip at a 45 Degree Angle
With your lower body in position, take your grip on the bow with your bow hand (left hand if you are a right-handed shooter). Your hand should be roughly at a 45 degree angle, with the bow’s grip resting between your palm’s lifeline and the meaty part on the heel of your palm. A good tip for finding that 45 degree angle is to hold out your hand as if saying “stop”.
Use a Relaxed Grip
Practice holding the bow out in front of you with a relaxed grip, letting your fingers lightly rest against the front of the riser and safely below the arrow shelf.
In each practice session, focus on taking your grip in the same place each time. Consistency is key throughout the process of shooting a bow, and developing muscle memory at each step will allow you to shoot consistently. Deviation in your grip placement can introduce unwanted torque to the bow’s riser, causing your shots to be off target.
How Do I Draw a Compound Bow?
It’s as simple as pulling back on the string, right? Well, yes and no. Now that your stance and grip are squared away, drawing the bow in a controlled manner is the next step.
Let Your Back Muscles Do the Work
Rather than thinking about the process as a pull with your arm, think about using your back muscles to help you draw the bow. Since your back muscles are stronger than your arms, you should recruit them in the movement as much as possible.
If you are having trouble drawing your bow, check your bow’s draw weight. You may need to adjust to a lower draw weight for a period of time in order to develop the strength to safely and effectively draw your bow.
Check Your Bow’s Draw Length
One thing to check as you come to full draw is your bow’s draw length. A proper draw length should allow your bow arm to remain slightly bent at full draw while your dominant hand rests against your jaw line between the corner of your mouth and the back of your jaw.
At full draw, the nock of your arrow should be at the corner of your mouth, allowing the tip of your nose to just touch the string while your head is upright. You should feel comfortable holding the bow using your back muscles and not feel like your are stretching out your bow arm or pulling too far behind your head with your release hand.
Important Note
Never draw a compound bow without an arrow nocked!
Compound bows are designed to fire with the resistance of an arrow against the bow string. Without an arrow to propel forward, the force of firing the bow (a “dry fire”) is too great for the bow’s limbs and cams to withstand, and you risk significant damage to the bow.
If you do dry fire your bow, take it to a local pro shop or professional bow technician for inspection before attempting to shoot again.
What is an Anchor Point?
The placement of your release hand against your face and touching the tip of your nose to the string are called “anchor points”. A consistent anchor point limits the variation from shot to shot, producing far more accurate shooting.
Use Consistent Anchor Points
Make sure not only the placement of your hand on your face is consistent but also the way you hold your release aid. Variation in how you hold your release (whether it is an index finger release aid or a handheld release aid) may twist your D loop (the string material where you clip on your release).
This can alter the path of the arrow when your shot breaks. A compound bow is capable of shooting arrows over 300 feet per second, so small changes in your form are magnified.
How Do I Use a Compound Bow Sight?
Line up your bow sight housing in the center of your peep sight
Once you settle into your anchor points, center your bow sight housing in your peep sight to achieve the proper sight picture. If you have a comfortable and natural anchor point at full draw and you are unable to center your peep sight with your sight housing, you may need to adjust your peep height (where your peep sight is positioned on the bow string) up or down to achieve the proper sight picture. If you are able to align your peep sight with your sight housing, you are good to go.
Check the Bubble Level in Your Bow Sight
As your get ready to shoot, make sure the bubble in your sight housing is level and let your sight pin float over the target while you execute the shot.
Although it may look like your pin is dancing in circles around your point of aim on the target, this is natural and the “pin float” will start to get smaller and smaller as you get more comfortable holding on target.
Shoot with Both Eyes Open
At first you may have to close your non-dominant eye in order to focus clearly on the target. Over time, it is best to develop the ability to shoot with both eyes open.
This has a couple advantages: you gain greater view in your periphery (huge plus when you are hunting and need to maintain an awareness of your surroundings) and having both eyes open can also make the target appear brighter (especially important in low light situations).
How Do I Execute the Shot?
Now it’s time to take a deep breath, execute the shot, and send your arrow down range to the target (hopefully hitting the bullseye). Even if you have perfected your stance and grip and your form at full draw is flawless, one bad habit in executing a good shot can ruin the whole thing.
Use a Surprise Release
Many archers talk about using a “surprise release” as a secret to making consistent shots, but what does that really mean?
A surprise release is a way of describing the method where you are pulling hard with increasing force against the “wall” of a compound bow’s draw cycle and using this pulling to activate or trigger your release aid to fire the arrow (the alternative to this is called “punching” the trigger as soon as the sight pin floats over the intended target).
Whether shooting a mechanical release (like an index or thumb button triggered release) or a back tension release, thinking about a surprise release can be helpful. With an index trigger release, wrap your finger around the release aid’s trigger and think about pulling your elbow straight back instead of only using your index finger to pull the trigger.
This action will result in your finger triggering the release aid, but it will happen as a “surprise” rather than “on command”. Attempting to execute your shot on command can be a cause of target panic or the inability to let your sight pin float around the target, but instead (almost subconsciously) punching the trigger as soon as the sight pin hits your target.
Follow Through
Once your shot “breaks” and your release aid is triggered, sending your arrow down range to impact the target, try to hold your bow arm in place and see the arrow in flight and impacting the target. By following through, you will make sure that there is no last minute torque applied to the bow and your form stays intact.
Develop a Shot Sequence
Learning how to shoot a compound bow is all about consistency and repeatability. Many compound archers will develop a mantra or small sequence of cues to remember when executing a shot. This could be as simple as “pin on target, finger on trigger, pull with elbow”.
In addition to adding consistency to your shot routine, using a mantra can help ward off target panic. As you practice more and more, think about some of these key components of executing your shot and come up with your own mantra to repeat every time you shoot.
When you are in a high stress hunting situation, having a well-rehearsed mantra to fall back on can be the difference in shooting the buck of a lifetime or sending an arrow sailing over its back.