Biteme/Paul Mohr

I anchor the same way you do. My draw is most likely a bit long, but I shoot fine that way. I bring one of the vanes into the spot between my mouth and chin and use that for one of my anchor points. I shortened my draw to see what would happen and hated it. I could not shoot worth a damn and it just felt wrong. As long as your draw isn't so long that you have to lock your elbow I think you will be ok. Try a bow with a shorter draw to see how you like though. Everyone is different.

As far as your grip goes, I had a guy that target shoots show me how to grip that way. The philosophy was the less you touch the bow, the less you can torque it. I tried it for a while, didn't work for me. Again, the way you grip a bow is a very idividual thing and will vary from bow to bow. You have to play with it and see what works best.

A bow sling, do you need one or not? I don't use one and I shoot fine. If you have a bow that jumps out of your hand when you shoot it, you need one. I have put so much crap on my bow that it does not move when I shoot it. It just sits there in my hand after the shot. I have shot a few mathews that were the same way bone stock. I shot a Ultra 2 that jumped right out of my hand and hit the floor though. That was embarissing, but at least I showed good follow thru! I would recomend a sling if you are going to hunt from a stand, if take a shot at a close deer the bow may fall right off your hand on to the ground.

You might try shortening your release a little and see how you like it, it worked for me.

None of what I have said is expert advice. Just throwing my two cents in and letting you know what works for me. It's hard to critique form without actually seeing you shoot the bow.

Good luck, Paul

Ky_Bowhunter

It looks like your draw length should be shortened anywhere from and inch to an inch and a half. Get this changed and then send us some more pics.

Black Frog

And just a note that if you DO shorten you draw up by an inch or more- GIVE IT A CHANCE! It will feel completely awkward, strange, and 'not right' at first because your muscles are so used to the current situation.

Some recommend to shorten draw in little increments to allow a gradual acceptance, others will just make the jump and readjust. Either way you'll need to allow for an adjustment period where you probably won't shoot as well right off the bat. But in the long run you will benefit from it.

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OHarcher

Paul Mohr
In your post you stated that when you shotened your draw "it just felt wrong". It may have felt wrong because you were so used to shooting with a long draw and your muscle memory didn't feel right with the shorter draw.
When a person goes through a drawlength change(especially shortening) it is going to feel like $h&t for a while until you program your body to the new proper form,it isn't going to feel good in a week or even month.
It may take a long time for you and your body to adjust to it because it feels so much different then it used to,but beleive me it will improve accuracy in the long run,I myself shot a 29.5" draw for years,in the early 90's I began shooting 3D competitivly and not long after got around a bunch of good guys who helped me with the basics of form.The first thing they did was shorten my drawlength,and I like you thought....This isn't the way it feels good,but after a while and hours of practice I began shooting better than I ever thought possible I am now a 28" draw and very comfortable with it.

By no means am I trying to slam anyone. Just stating that form improvements will not happen overnight they need lots of days/weeks to begin to feel good.

55#recurve

First thing my coaches would say is why the heck are you leaning are you shooting 90metres or something, Try standing up straight and normal, and letting your bow arm out a little, it should have a slight bend in it but it looks kind of extreme. Im gonna make a guess against everyone elses that your drawlenght is fine, you just need to fine tune your form. Put a little bit more of your weight on your front leg, it will cause the lean to disapait.
First things first, grab one of your arrows, stand up straight, wrap your hands around the arrow index fingers touching, know bring your hands up to your chin, elbows out like you are drawing your bow, with back tension, after you feel you have a good back tension drop your bow arm down like you have a bow in your hand now, do this in front of a mirror if possible, it should give you a good Idea of what your form should look like. Is your anchor solid bone to joint? If not then you may need to shorten your drawlength, but I am thinking you may not have to once you stand up a little straighter, expand a little more. Your torso is also twisted up a little which can't be good for you or your shooting. This is how my coach remedies me of this, get a person you know like your wife kids if old enough, friend, Take an arrow with feild tip, put the feild tip in your stomache, in the middle somewhere, now get the other person to hold the arrow in their stomache standing up straight and facing parrallel to you. If you twist out of straight form, you will feel the feild point dig in, if you don't you won't. Its not lethal, but it does hurt like heck, sounds kind of cruel but I don't have any scar's ahaha. Ive seen, teens that shoot with me do the lean once and a while without even knowing it, I probably do to, Just remember to shift the weight of your body foward. Expand a little more because that is what compounds are good for. I would think about getting a wrist or finger sling as well, I don't know how relaxed your hand is on the grip. Anyways, for now, good shooting, hope we haven't overloaded you with ton's of info.
Good shooting.
Dylan

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Ossage

Now I am late to the party...

I think there is something wrong with the shoulders. The bow shoulder seems to be pulled around and the release arm tucked. Apparently it is legitimate to have an unballanced back tension with a compound, but I don't know what it is supposed to look like, and after years of shooting recurves etc... I don't want two forms. If that is what you want, then you need to work on your back tension, and that would be near the top of my list.

I'm not a coach like some of these other guys, and while I see the connection between the lean, and being overbowed, I don't see the connection between that and draw length. I wasn't sure because it looked to me as though your right shoulder isn't all the way back (and your bow arm is bent), but I can't get a clear view of it to tell. If you were shooting for 90 m as per the coach's quip, obviously your right arm elevation would show it, and abscent that, a lean actually robs you of draw length, just as shooting down out of a stand can shorten length (if accompanied by inadequate bend at the waist). But I am not contradicting the consensus, since perhaps this body position is a tell to the more experienced.

Right arm bend looks fine to me on a high let off compound. If you are shooting for hunting and wear lots of clothes, the more the merrier.

I don't much like the look of your grip. I am not saying it is wrong, it is just my prefrence to accompany a bent elbow with a low grip. What the manufacturers, and Mathews in particular seem to be doing is providing the much vaunted "narrow throat" along with a crappy "feels good" grip lower down. This means the only torque free position is sort of high wrist. This looks like it is straining your bow arm. Get a real low grip like a Shrewd Precision, or alter the wood on your Mathews to get a real low grip where the pressure point lies more in line with the arm. The Shrewd low is about the same angle as the front of the riser, which is real low. The Shrewd medium is less extreme, but still low enough. I shoot the low with my fingers outside, so you might like that also.

Len in Maryland

VS: When I stated 1" or 2", it was based on the pictures and depends entirely on YOUR form characteristics based on YOUR comfort level. My interpretation of your picture was based, not only on the leaning and bent bow arm, but mainly on the position of your release hand (dangling in mid air) and the string against your face. It "appears" that your nose and kisser position is at least 1" further up the string than what would be considered normal. By shortening the draw length, the nose/string contact can remain good while the release hand is raised to contact a good anchor point either at the back of the jawbone or under the ear, which is also at the back of the jawbone but higher.

Now that you tell us your wingspan is 72", that converts to about a 28.5" draw length. Considering that most bow manufacturers give us from 1/2" to 1 1/2" longer draw length than what is labeled, I would imagine that yours is about 29 1/2" if the minimum norm is taken into account. That is 1" longer than what you probably need and would account for the release hand position.

Bottom line, seek professional help from a good archery "Coach" if you want to promote more proficient shooting.

Pinwheel 12

I'm late, too, and everyone pretty much nailed it for you. Len made a good account of the problems with most manufacturers running longer-than-stated-on-the-limb drawlengths, Mathews typically runs over by about 3/4", which can account for some of your problem. If you have a 29" cam on it, you can be pretty sure it is close to a 30. I cannot tell if you are shooting a loop or not, this will affect your anchor also, shorten it up as much as possible if you are using one. Your stance definately needs adjustment once you get your drawlength woes taken care of, tho sometimes this all balances out once you get the equipment to fit you correctly. The guys did a good job on this one, go get properly fitted by a reputable tech/coach. You can shoot "shorter" a heck of a lot easier than you can "longer", and unfortunately in your case you are definately too long IMO. Good shooting, P12

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