[KDS]

Damage to the bow is unlikely and there’s too many variables for anyone to tell YOU how YOUR fixed crawl should be set. Knowing your “point on” distance is where you start and then finding your spot/spots for the desired distance/distances you want. With that being said, 1/4” np height seems low for 3u, but we all have individual styles so whatever works.

 

[Draven Olary]

I wouldn't stringwalk a Bear 59 Kodiak - hard stop. Why? Because :
1 - the bow is too short and unless you have a 1" - 1.5" nock height and a 1"-1.5" crawl you will have untimed limbs
2 - the bow has a very low mass and you will feel the shock of the untimed limbs

 

[Beendare]

I would tend to agree with Draven…the bow is too short.
if you have a very short drawl length you might be able to get it to work

 

[Draven Olary]

I have the original 59 Kodiak and I am saying the above based on personal experience. You can make it work if you take in consideration 1.
The 1/4” above feather rest is too low.

 

[NewTrad59]

Thank you to all for your comments. A couple of things I noticed/thoughts.
After shooting the other day I ran into issues with tearing the bottom/inside feather fletching. After a few hours, I tore the front part of 4 out of 6 feathers.
Next day, I moved the np from 1/4" to 3/4" (and even tried 1 1/8" which looked really high), lowered my anchor to index at eyetooth, and with a 9/16" fixed crawl, my shots were dead-on @ 18m. Bonus, 3 hours in and not a single torn feather. So the tiller on the Kodiak is +1/4", and I'm trying to figure out if the 9/16" crawl puts my hook at a good spot for even limb synchronization (3/4" np - 9/16" crawl = 3/16" above arrow centre). This is almost the same as using the 1/4" np that my bow came with, without using any crawl and sets my nock high enough to clear the fletching.
I thought about adjusting for longer ranges by lowering my anchor back to Olympic under chin, to find the crawl distance and no-crawl point-on ranges. This would give me 4 different point-on ranges. If I add a second lower nock (5/8") or get better form anchoring on middle finger, I might have some decent ranges when walking less than 9/16"?

 

[Draven Olary]

You found the solution: to have the crawl location close to the nocking point location if you would shoot split - what 1 was implying. That’s perfect if it works for you. From here, do as you feel is needed for your own needs

 

[NewTrad59]

Thank you for your help. I'm really starting to love shooting this bow in addition to looking at how beautiful it is. Funny how it seems to get better looking each time I use it.

 

[Hank D Thoreau]

You will be much better sticking with a fixed crawl on a short bow rather than stringwalking, which involves multiple crawls. The problem is bow imbalance, which gets worse as the bow gets shorter (actually as the string gets shorter). Crawl lengths don't tend to change a lot with bow length so you may shoot close to a one inch crawl for a certain distance with bows of different lengths. A one inch crawl is a much larger proportion of the string length for a 60 inch bow than it is to my specially designed 74 inch stringwalking bow. As the bow gets longer, the impact of the crawl on the balance of the bow becomes less. As such, you have to be much more precise with finger and grip pressure with the short bow. You also have to learn how to shoot a bow that is significantly out of tune for many crawls. Using and tuning to just one crawl allows you to optimize to a single position and shoot only that position. I think it is a good idea spending time shooting out of tune bows if you are going to stringwalk. You can learn to put an out of tune arrow on the center line if you shoot it right.

 

[Hikari]

+1 on many comments not to string walk with this bow.

Stringwalking put a lot of stress on a bow by unbalancing the limbs. Modern recurve limbs on an ILF riser can handle the stresses much better than a one-piece wood bow. I would look at gap shooting or face walking,

 

[NewTrad59]

I agree with minimizing crawl.

 

[Toxalot]

Actually, if I had a notion that I needed to have a short point-on, which I don't, I would still use a standard draw, either 3 under or split and then just anchor higher on my face. That eliminates the playing around with nockset height and other things that can happen when you pi$$ around with tiller like that. A shorter point-on seems to be in vogue nowadays with 3Ds, but a high anchor will work just fine for that purpose and just as well as a fixed crawl, and with less tuning problems.

 

[c_m_shooter]

Actually, if I had a notion that I needed to have a short point-on, which I don't, I would still use a standard draw, either 3 under or split and then just anchor higher on my face. That eliminates the playing around with nockset height and other things that can happen when you pi$$ around with tiller like that. A shorter point-on seems to be in vogue nowadays with 3Ds, but a high anchor will work just fine for that purpose and just as well as a fixed crawl, and with less tuning problems.

The problem with anchoring high on the face is the cheekbone can prevent hitting full draw and alignment. That is why I like to use a fixed crawl of a finger width whenever I am allowed to. I can tune for crawl and shoot finger against the nock and still get good arrow flight. Close range gaps just take a lot more effort on my part to manage when the rules require finger against the nock.

 

[NewTrad59]

I've been trying higher anchor points but find my form goes to sht if I get higher than index finger above corner of mouth. I love shooting Olympic anchor, feels smooth and comfortable, but getting used to higher anchor. I'm shooting 31 1/2" 400sp with 125gr field tip so I could get away with a longer arrow. Right now, 3/4" np and 9/16" walk gives me 0 gap. The bow is quiet with split finger 1/4" np (above the feather rest), which is where the bow came with when I bought it (new). If I want to keep my hook about the same position with 3 under means raising the np by the difference between the centre of a hook with split finger (3f+n)/2, where f=finger width and n=width of the nock, and the centre of the hook with 3 under 3f/2 where the distance between the gap between the bottom of the arrow nock (not the np) is (f-n)/2 for split finger, and 3/2f for 3 under. So the difference between split and 3u is 1/2f+n. I have 3/4" finger width and my arrow nock is about 1/4" wide. Raising my hook 3/8"+1/4"= 5/8" over whatever hook I have for split finger would keep the limbs synchronous. As bought, bow came with 1/4" np, so raising it to 7/8" would be ideal for 3 under. This jives with my experience using 3/4" np and the bow being very quiet.

 

[Toxalot]

Never had an issue with reaching anchor. That issue is between the ears, but whatever works for you is the way to do it. I never vary my anchor whether shooting 60 yards or 6 feet, that's what the so-called instinctive style allows for. The issue though is that you have to commit to it and actually learn it through vigilant practice. Most folks seem to want to shortcut everything and find an easier way. Many never work it out and get frustrated as well. You can shoot any distance with one draw hold and one anchor on your face. It's simply a choice and not necessarily is one that much better than the other. I got into AA class in PSAA Bowhunter Barebow class shooting split finger, one anchor all the time, and that was mainly on field archery rounds. So again, do what works for you, but don't overcomplicate something that is really simple to begin with. If your form goes to pot, then you aren't spending the time to overcome that. It takes time to develop consistency, even in today's instant gratification society.