Curious as to why you chose to close the dominant eye, limit the field of vision in the beginning? Eye dominance check is the very first step in determining R or L handed archer.. Not sure target panic should get the blame whenever basic rules are disregarded. The few seconds of relaxed conscious focus that is the aiming process, when the rest of the world simply melts away is in my experience the very core of what archery is all about; why anyone would want to deny themselves that experience?

 

I have to close the dominant eye(left eye) to see the arrow. If I do not close the left eye it is so dominant it takes over and all I can see is the target.

 

The reason you close the dominant eye is so you use the eye under the arrow to aim with. Otherwise, you'll shoot in the direction of the dominant eye.

There's been some really great cross-eyed-dominant archers. It's one of the reasons bad form works. If you practice enough your subconscious will figure it out. I always tell people to switch and have equipment for them to learn on. It really doesn't take too long.

One of the reasons you need both eyes open is for range estimation. If you gap with inches of gap for the yardage your shooting, you can do that before you draw and don't need both open. But that's not an advantage when hunting. If you gap by sight picture, you need both eyes open.

I say switch for a month. It's wintertime. A good time to experiment.

Bowmania

 

If you have access to a left handed bow...give it a shot. If it doesn't work you're right back to where you are now, but if it does you may have solved the issue.

 

I am trying to figure out what would be the most cost effective way to get a left handed bow that fits me 30" draw

 

I honestly don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do either…switch or not…the real issue is the target panic and I don’t think it’s because of the eye or hand dominance

 

I am not certain whether you might find the following information usefully relevant to your decision, but here I go.

My ambidextrous abilities have always been poor. I am very right eye dominant. I can point at an object with my index finger while both eyes are opened followed by alternately closing either my right eye or my left eye. My finger does not move at all when I only close my left eye. My finger appears to jump a long distance to the right of the object when I only close my right eye. I can easily use my right hand for many tasks that are difficult to almost impossible to perform with my left hand. I am right side dominant.

I began losing sight in my right eye. Perhaps because the sight loss was gradual, I have no difficulty shooting right-handed while using my left eye at 25 yards or less.

 

If you are shooting longbows are you canting? Because a slightly more cant will bring the arrow in the cone of vision of your left eye. And when I say canting I don’t say just bow canted but the head position, string hand etc follows the cant. There are some saying that is better to go for your hand dominancy instead eye dominancy but again, in the end is all about your choice of archery and commitment.

Right Or Left Hand Bow For Archery?

Learn how to determine if you should shoot archery with your right or left hand, plus the important role that eye dominance plays in determining which hand is best to shoot with.

www.learn-archery.com

 

My wife is cross dominant and she shoots based on eye dominance, but she started archery that way. She finds it very comfortable as archery requires fine motor control of both hands. The other advantage is her bow arm is her dominant hand, giving her a more solid arm. I would recommend going by eye dominance, which is the usual recommendation in archery.

As far as the one-eye or two-eye issue, it really is not an issue, at least in the forms of target archery--there seems to be no benefit to one way over the other. Shoot the way that is most comfortable for you.

 

nga -

All you are getting are anecdotal answers. With most cross eye dominant people, there's a tug of war going on between eye dominance and handedness. The stronger one should win.

As soon as some one tells you which you "should use", look for the "ignore" button.

And you're right, it's been discussed way too many times.

Viper1 out.

 

I personally went with dominate eye as soon as I found out in 2002 after starting in 1998 and due to being right hand I was able to grip the bow more steady and shoot using my left eye though using the eye took a bit to get used to. However I have had some success with using a duel sided bow on outside draw, an old 36 pound all fiberglass longbow I draw to 34--35 pounds. I think as a kid growing and due to my eyes not getting near the current eyesight I have.

However, without my glasses I have to shoot using my right eye due to how bad the left is without glasses, at 3 feet I have hard time reading 24 font and at 1 foot I can't read 12 or lower. I just think even with glasses my astigmatism will not let my right eye be 20 but closer to 25 being as close as the eye will get to 20 where as the left eye is at 20.

 

I am left eye dominant but right handed and started out shooting a compound bow right, then switch to left. When I started shooting trad, it made sense for me to stay left. I had a few people tell me if you shoot instinctive and keep both eyes open it should not matter, and they are probably right. But I have had two experiences which convinced me to make the switch.

The first was when I got my first opportunity at a little buck and could not see through my peep, turns out that when I got excited I closed my right (non dominant eye) so Makes it hard to see through the peep. By the time I figured out what was happening, the chance was gone. Second, was goofing around in a buddy’s back yard with a sling shot (which I had not used since I was a kid) and he remarked that I was a lefty- to my surprise I had instinctively taken a left handed stance. That was the clincher for me and I decided I needed to go left handed, cost of buying a new rig be damned.

I was surprised at how fast I was able to make the switch, I would say within two shooting sessions. The biggest issue was strengthening my left side, so I would not run out of steam so fast. For me, everything just seems to work better as a lefty. From my perspective and experience, if you are left eye dominant it make sense to shoot left, no matter if you shoot gap, string walk or shoot instinctive. I would say give it a try with a light weight bow and see if you like it- suspect you will shoot better.

 

Archery is a bio mechanical sport, so closing/covering the dominant eye to allow the use of your dominant hand on the string is preferred. That said, many people have no problem learning to shoot with their off hand on the string. The only answer here is to try both for yourself and see what works for you.

 

Archery is a bio mechanical sport, so closing/covering the dominant eye to allow the use of your dominant hand on the string is preferred.

Archery is also an aiming sport.

Results of these studies were finally summed up by Coren and Porac, who stated that the information received by the dominant eye is analysed about 14 miliseconds sooner than information received by the suppressed eye. The dominant eye is the eye that performs precise localization, and this is important in sports that require aiming (e.g. archery).

From: Vision Examination Protocol for Archery Athletes Along With an Introduction to Sports Vision

Research has observed that those who are cross dominant and change their, to use the technical term, laterality do so by going to the dominant eye, rather than the hand. Research also shows that archery is harder for cross-dominant archers. (See first study below)

Interaction of Hand and Eye dominance in Archery (pdf)

The consensus in the sport, and where you find most advice when entering it, is to go with your eye dominance. Sure, you could go with hand dominance. But do you have a studies showing any difference between your dominant hand as the draw or bow hand? Both require fine motor control. Arguably, the bow hand/arm could be thought of as more critical to alignment and biomechanical efficiency.

As in most things, it is complicated. Obviously, the OP has an important question. There is a consensus that shooting based on eye dominance can be beneficial. Anecdotally and research show there is something to going with eye dominance.

 

I’m right handed and right eye dominant and I have contemplated starting over left handed…I have half a brain that is a untapped resource that has never been used…

 

Be careful Stick, the ol use it or lose things is happenin, it may already be gone...

 

It’s probably way gone already…but that side of my brain has no bad habits and has never had target panic

 

Guys -

The lack of understanding here, is well, OK, it's expected (from some).
In single string archery, "aiming" is only about 10% of the shot. Form and technique , ie strength and to a much greater extent, fine muscle control/movement, is usually what makes or breaks the shot. Sure, you might get a SLIGHTLY better sight picture with your dominant (and usually stronger) eye, but a perfect sight picture, and inconsistent alignment/back tension, or bow/string hand position and weight distribution is unusually the most common downfall of most intermediate shooters.

Would a guy with same eye dominance and handedness have an advantage? Obviously, but again the difference is so small, it's pretty much meaningless.

When I start with a new shooter, I might quickly check for eye dominance and then go with their handedness. Based on what I see over the next few session, I'll decide if a change could help. (It's rarely necessary.)

Viper1 out.

 

People speak of eye dominance, but few knew what it actually means or even does. There are studies that prove that the Dominant Eye can and does switch sides, depending on different factors, distance and angle being two. So if it can and does switch sides, then does that mean for your Dominant Eye theory?

One of the best stories on this was from Jake Kaminski. He tells of when he went to the Olympic Training Center and they all went to see the eye specialist. People started telling them what is or is not their Dominant Eye and they were informed that what they are trying to find out is not what their Dominant Eye was, but rather what should be their "Aiming Eye", should be. That the dominant eye is not the most important factor.

For me, being a lefty in a right handed world. I learned to shoot right handed. In the Army, we had no choice, so, I just went with it. In Archery, my father and brothers were right handed, my father was not going to make them share a bow and give me my own, so I just shot and never thought about it.

Today, I can shoot left and right handed, equally bad, and one "trick" I like to do is switch back and forth between the two, without stopping, just to show people that they are really over thinking it.

 

In simple terms, cross dominance is when you do somethings left-handed, somethings right-handed, and yet other things with either hand. It is different from ambidextrous in that the person's dexterity is not completely interchangeable. I used to think that I was ambidextrous, but now believe that I am really cross dominant since there are activities where I have a left/right preference. As far as vision is concerned, I am very strongly cross eye dominant. I discovered this early in life when I found I could not line up sites on a rifle or see one side of my face when shaving. My degree of cross dominance is not likely to flip (perhaps it can with some serious intervention, but that is a medical question). Fortunately, I had no trouble shooting a bow either left or right-handed. This is my story, but as mentioned by others, cross dominance is not a binary feature. You don't either have it or not have it. It exists on a continuum. So does handedness. The degree to which someone can learn to effectively perform and activity with their off-hand is highly variable. As such, you have to consider both factors when making a decision. My decision was easy to make because I am strongly cross eye dominant and can shoot with either hand. The only downside is that choosing to shoot left-handed made equipment a bit more difficult to find. The key is to understand your cross dominant issues (both physical and visual) and choose the approach that gets you closer to your desired objective.