Righthanded/ left eye dominate

[Thorr40]

#5654

I have a small problem. When finish my tour here in Afghanistan I will be teaching my daughter to shoot a bow, the problem is she is right handed and left eye dominate. Can any one help with this? Thank you.

[wildschwein]

#43134

I used to shoot that way and found the only way to mantain any accuracy was to close my left eye and force my right eye to be dominant. I read somewhere that wearing an eye patch during shooting on your dominant eye, will eventually force the non-dominant eye to become dominant. I tried it for a year but it didn’t work. Also instinctive shooting with one eye was impossible for me. So I learned to gap and became quite accurate.
Long story short I eventually went to a left handed bow. It was one hell of a learning curve, but I am a better archer because of it. If your daughter finds using a lefty bow to awkward, then I would recommend teaching her to gap shoot with her left eye closed. Hope this helps and good luck.

[Robin Conrads]

#43639

Hello Thorr40. Welcome to the site and a big THANK YOU for your service to our country.

If your daughter is just learning to shoot, it should be fairly easy to teach her to shoot left handed—-much easier than trying to change to left handed later. It will be a lot more fun for her if she can hit the target consistently. Just make sure the bow weight is really light to start with.

Good luck. 😀

[strait-aero]

#43785

Robin’s advice is spot on, Thorr40.IMHO she will benifit from starting to shoot left handed. Also, a big thank you for serving our country. 😉 Have a safe return and good shooting. Wayne

[Thorr40]

#43991

Thank you, I will try to teach her to shoot left handedand go from there. Thanks again.

[tom-wisconsin]

#44711

First, thanks for your Service.

I am left eye dominant and right handed also. I shoot a left handed bow, shotgun, rifle and cue stick. I golf, play tennis, throw a ball and bat right handed. Been this way all of my life and it works for me. Good luck to your daughter in all her endeavors.

Tom

[Hubertus]

#44979

Both of my little girls are right handed and left eye dominant. I started them on the bow & arrow around age 5. 4 and 1 year(s) later, they both understand that that is how they shoot.
All the best with your girls.

[codger]

#50443

Im left handed and left eye dominate I dislocated my right arm and ripped my shoulder socket up years ago i could no longer shoot left handed the recoil form my bow takes my arm back out of the socket. so being somwhat stubborn i learned to shoot right handed and right eyed. It took a little while but it works well for me. I shoot just as well right handed as i used to left handed. the bonus is I can shoot a pistol just about as well with either hand rifles i havent worked with much but im not too bad with them either.

[runamuck]

#56679

Thorr40,

Branch MOS? I’m Army 21B and E, my boys are in Iraq but I support all vets if you need anything let me know. I’m Left eye dominate but only partially right handed (long story). I shot compound right handed and used extended pins. I shot extremely accurate this way. I did not like it, and moved to traditional archery. I use both eyes and shoot instinctively. As a military person I’m guessing you have been exposed to these techniques as well when shooting your side-arm/rifle. I’ve was out shot once on the cqc range once 48-49 and he was using an ACOG sight I had irons,and never on any of the pistol ranges. I credit my skills with instinctive shooting (tons of it) with my shotgun and bow; eventually I put down my shotgun and hunted birds only with my bow. Its a deteriorating skill though and lack of constant practice your accuracy falls dramatically, since you have not mechanical crutch. Look forward to hearing how your daughters do.

Erik

[gidaddy911]

#35273

I’m a rght handed/left eye dominant guy myself. I started shooting Compound left handed, then found a right handed recurve. It was all I had so I started shooting it. Got some advice from some guys at RMSGear in Denver and got pretty accurate with time.

I finally got my longbow and it is left handed thinking it would be easier for me to aim. It was a huge switch. I am getting better, but still shoot instinctively because I never really learned how to aim in the first place.

Get’em started left handed right away! It will save alot of trouble and time in the end.

[Amoose]

#40504

Although you see MOST people really think it is important, I got into Archery in the ’80s by hanging around our local Archery shop. You might have heard of it, Northwest Archery ? Owned and operated by a guy named Glenn StCharles. He shot left handed, but was right eye dominant. He believed that “Master Eye” is a myth. If you practice proper form, and consistent anchor, your “inner computer” takes over, no matter what side you are shooting from.

I actually practice shooting both ways, as I am right handed, left eye dominant. I find it easier to shoot right handed, as I am more comfortable that way, but am capable of hitting my target with either hand. If you have both eyes open, and only look where you want to hit, it makes no difference which eye is stronger, as they are both looking at the same place, if you are “gap shooting” or using some point of reference, then your eye becomes a deciding factor.

If it is good enough for the likes of Glenn StCharles, Fred Bear and countless others, I guess it will work for me, and anybody else.

The most important aspect (IMHO) is that you are comfortable making/taking the shot, and consistent in your practice, sooner or later it will all come together.

[Don Thomas]

#40562

Shooting with one eye closed or patched just doesn’t work for us. “Instinctive” shooting (however you define it) depends on binocular vision for intuitive, subconscious estimation of range. One excellent young bowhunter I know solved the problem by teaching himself to turn his head sharply across the bowstring, so that his dominant left eye was actually closest to the arrow nock while he was shooting right-handed. It worked for him. In children that young, I think by far the best approach would simply be to teach them to shoot with the handedness that matches the dominant eye. Lori is so left-handed she needs a GPS unit to tell right frm left when she’s driving a car. She shoots her bow leftie, but fly-fishes with her right, bats a softball right, throws it left… you get the idea. Point is, you can teach anyone to do anything either way, especially if you start them young enough. Don

[Jeremy Holden]

#52907

Thank you for serving first and foremost.

I was in your daughters shoes. In fact it was my service in the US Army Reserves that showed me I was left eye dominant.

I had a LH riser made for my bow and have been a better shot ever since. Although I still miss sometimes :oops:.

I’d suggest you start out with a light weight bow and work on form, up close to the target. Then go form there.

Good luck and thanks again for serving.

-Jeremy

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#53178

Amoose wrote: If you have both eyes open, and only look where you want to hit, it makes no difference which eye is stronger, as they are both looking at the same place…

Makes sense. As long as both eyes are open, I’m not sure why it’s a such big deal which eye is dominant, or how that’s related to which hand you’re holding the bow or drawing with, as long as you have good form/technique either way (but if someone knows of a good reason I’d love to hear it).

I’m l. eye/r. hand as well, and for example, I don’t throw a dart more accurately with my left hand, just because I’m left eye dominant – instead, I keep both eyes open, and throw it with my right, far more accurately than I ever could with my left.

[Amoose]

#11063

I think the main reason this causes confusion is that when “doing the test” it APPEARS like one is pointing in a different direction, and with the bow-hand doing the pointing, while in actuality it is the drawing hand doing the aiming, it is just confusing to the eye.
When comparing to throwing darts, baseballs, etc. it is your body/mind working in unison, and not your eyes.
In my opinion, when shooting at targets, you can be just as accurate with either hand, but when you put hair and a heartbeat on your intended target, all bets are off, and it is what you are most comfortable doing that is going to make the difference.
But everyone is different, and you can train yourself either way, so it all comes down to practice.

[Author]

Posts