Accuracy of long bows vs. short bows

[Eric Garza]

I have made bows from 46 inches up to 68, and my experience has been that longer bows are easier to shoot while shorter bows are easier to maneuver with through brush.   It's obvious why shorter bows are easier to maneuver with, but why can I (and most people, it seems like) shoot so much more accurately with a longer bow than a shorter one? 

Is it added stability from the longer limbs? 

A larger string angle? 

Less strain on the limbs?

I'm curious what people think about this, as if it would be neat to develop a design for a shorter bow that gives accuracy on par with a longer bow.

-Eric

[Little John]

Howard Hill said that long bows (six feet for average archer) were the only ones accurate enough to hunt with. Short bows, recurved bows, bows with set back handles, bows with narrow tips, were all to sensitive to be shot well under hunting conditions. And that he wasn't a skilled enough archer to hunt with them. He drug a six foot long bow thru untold hunting terrain and made the shots so makes me lean to the longer bows, especially since I shoot them better also.      Kenneth

[costicaldad]

it all depends where I'm shooting i use my longbow in plain type country and a short Mongol horse bow in thick bush country where 15 yrds is a long shot . i practice constantly out to 30 yds with both .

[Justin Snyder]

All decent bows are super accurate. Its the yoyo behind the bow that makes them miss.  And yes I represent that remark.
I think the extra weight and length farther away from the hand add extra stability making it more forgiving of the archers flaws.  Look at the stabilizers on Olympic bows, its all about adding weight as far away from the handle as possible to eliminate vibration and balance it. The farther away from the handle the better it balances. JMHO Justin

[1/2primitive]

I'll go with Justin on this one, they are both accurate, it's the archer who makes the difference. I have personally been getting into short bows lately, and have found them to be accurate with practice. When a bow starts stacking, however, is when I have a problem.
    Sean

[welch2]

Longbows are more forgiving of inconsistent nock placement and release .Becuase the string is longer.

Let's say you have 68" long string on your longbow and a 46" string on your short bow .Then you nock each bow say 1/8" off from where you should have placed the arrow .Half of each string length is 34" and 23" .So the 1/8" nocking (or a release error) is  .0037% of the distance to the nock on the longbow , and it's .0054% of the the distance to the nock on the short bow . That's about 2/3 more on the shortbow string ,making it more sensitive to form.

Did I make any sense ?

Ralph 

[Ryano]

I don't find knock placement to be all that critical on my bows, although I always try to knock a bit high above square. I think short bows if designed properly can be shot just as accurately as a longer bow. I think there's more important aspects of a design that make a bow easier to shoot more accurately, like string angle, balance in the hand, grip design, physical weight, and placement of physical weight, just name a few.

[Kegan]

As it was said, longbows are just easier. Short bows require a better archer, like Ishi . I missed several squirrel last year from only a couple yards with a 62" D bow. I later realized I could have gotten opne if I had smacked him with the bow . Lith a longbow, 70" for my 27" draw, I can hit a paper plate sized target out to 45 yards on a good day.

[Stonedog]

OK, here is how I think about it.

A long bow is roughly man tall.  I have no problem dragging my body thru the woods quitely.....

[adb]

Hi,
Longer bows are faster. Sir Isaac Newton had that figured a long time ago. Also, more forgiving and accurate. However, you have to balance that with convenience. Carrying a 74" bow around while hunting, is just a huge pain in the behind, and impossible from a treestand. Nice for target shooting though. I usually shoot a 72" ELB style longbow for target shooting, and a 60" recurve or 64" longbow for hunting. Everything still requires practice!!

[benjamin]

I tipically make my bows from 54'' to 60'' for my 25'' draw and I can consistantly hit a 5'' circle at 20 yards. On that note, I made a 45'' bow 50 lbs at 20'' and at 20 yards only miss maybe 1 in 20 shots at the same target. I shoot instinctive with no hold but release as soon as I feel my wrist on my chin (with my short bow). I firmly believe that my "anchor point" allows me to shoot that acurately with much less practice than I would like (collage and all). I say that if you have an anchor point, you can shoot long or short with no problem.

[carpenter374]

More stack in shorter bow draws causes instability in the bow hand and causes torque on the release. Shorter bows are less forgiving of torque for balance reasons afforementioned by others.