Short draws?

[Fox]

Not sure if this topic belongs here or not.... but anyeay it seems my draw has gotten shorter slowly, i used to have a 26" draw and ive been shooting whole lot lately, and i re mesured my draw, and its now 24".... I'm 6 foot, should i make my draw longer?  Is there a downside to short draws? 

-Fox

[gutpile]

your form has more than likely deteriorated.. hold bow vertical, draw to corner of mouth standing straight with a marked arrow on bow... you can have a slight bend in bow arm....no way 6ft with even a 26 inch draw... just saying...Im 5'8 and I draw 26... you are either leaning into bow and bringing head forward or you are bending your bow arm drastically.. you should be drawing around 28 or 29... IMO... gut

[Fox]

Alright gut,  thanks... i have tried to make my draw 28" but my anchor is at the corner of my mouth and to get 28 i had to draw past that and mt anchor has been at the corner od my mouth for years so didn't want to change. Ill langthen my draw to 26 again, and see how that goes.

[mmattockx]

Not sure if this topic belongs here or not.... but anyeay it seems my draw has gotten shorter slowly, i used to have a 26" draw and ive been shooting whole lot lately, and i re mesured my draw, and its now 24".... I'm 6 foot, should i make my draw longer?  Is there a downside to short draws? 

-Fox

Is your bow too heavy? Lots of guys collapse their shoulders and anchor if they are struggling to pull the weight. I agree with gutpile, you should be drawing at least 28" unless you have t-rex arms. I'm 5'-9" with fairly long arms and I draw 28". Try a lighter bow and the upright form as gutpile describes and see what your draw looks like.

Drawback to a short draw is less energy storage in the bow, which leads to lower performance. If you're target shooting informally that isn't much of an issue, but it can be if you are hunting and need enough oomph to put an animal down cleanly. You end up needing a significantly heavier draw weight to get the same performance as someone who draws farther.

Can you post pics so we can see what you're doing?


Mark

[bownarra]

At the end of the draw are you bringing your shoulder blades 'together'?

[Fox]

Ill try to post picks at some point mark... bownarra yes at full draw i pull my sholder blades together.. i think i messed it up when i made a short 40"  bow that draws to 22" and shot that for a while...

[Fox]

Okay i just set a clicker (i know not very traditional) and put it to 27" and that was really comfortable.... is 27 acceptable? .  Or should i really try to get comfertable with 28"?

[Del the cat]

Downside to a short draw is you can smack yourself in the lip 
Del

[gutpile]

would love a video of your form... do you snap shoot too.?.. 27 26 25 24 any are acceptable... but at 6 ft you should be 28 easy... how heavy is your bow..?... gut

[Fox]

Can you post vidoes on pa? Ill see if i can figure out how... my bow  is 50# @ 26

[Tommy D]

Turn a short video into a GIFF on the free app GIPHY ... And then post that like a picture ... that will be the easiest. I am interested in this topic as I feel like my draw length can vary a lot if I am not conscious to correct it.

[mmattockx]

Can you post vidoes on pa? Ill see if i can figure out how... my bow  is 50# @ 26

You can upload a video to a photo hosting site like Imgur and link to it from there.


Mark

[Fox]

Okay figured it out... thanks... heres a video of my form this is my draw since i think I've fixed it... maybe? This is at 27" is this correct form? any suggestions would be amazing .....

(click on the photos... there videos.. i think that works?)

-Fox
20200603_181920_1 by Livvydog, on Flickr

20200603_182047_1 by Livvydog, on Flickr

[TimBo]

Form looks good - maybe try dropping your right elbow to get it more in line behind the arrow.  It looks like you have a bit of bend in the left elbow, which is fine, but probably nocks off a bit of draw length.  (I shoot with a bent elbow as well unless I am in Target Recurve Mode.)  It looks like you have a good dynamic (push/pull) release.  I wouldn't worry too much about thinking you "should" shoot a certain draw length because of your height.  The main things are consistency/repeatability, how good it feels, and how accurate you are.  There was a thread recently about this same sort of thing, and that poster got much better accuracy with a longer draw, but that has not been the case for me.  I seem to get my best results at 26" with a longbow/selfbow. 

[Fox]

Thanks timbo... i have been bouncing around trying to find a method of aiming and draw langhts for a long time and i feel like im starting to get a consistency im more comfertable with... that video was the first time ive seen myself shot it is kinda strange...