Focusing on sights guns and bows

[Reyn]

Does anyone here shoot bows? I was just curious why when shooting bows people are taught to focus on the target as opposed to the sight pin where when shooting a gun we are taught to focus on the sight. What is the difference?

[zhunter]

I for one keep my focus on both the sight and target when bowhunting

[HoMiE]

When shooting a bow, I look at the target (recurve, no sights anyway). Shooting open gun I look at the target. Iron sights, it's target, then sights, target, then sights depending on distance or difficulty of target.

[Odie]

I also shoot bows made of a stick and a string, so it's all target focus. Irons, all front sight focus. Don't have an open gun, so I really don't know there. I'm trying to remember what focus I took when I shot a compound and sights, but oddly enough I can't remember. By the number of flat out misses I had, apparently not much focus at all. Deer find me very entertaining .

[Will Abrahams]

i shot competetive archery for only a few years, so i am by no means an experts. however, this question had crossed my mind at one point as well. i was thinking perhaps the focus needs to be on the sights with guns b/c a good deal of effort must be made to line front and rear sights up as best as possible. to accomplish a good sight alignment your focus must be put there. where as with a bow you body posture lines things up for you, therefore you have nothing to line up. so sight focus becomes less important and focus could then be on the target, much like shooting with a red dot sight.

just my thoughts on the issue...

[AlamoShooter]

I think over 45% of the open shooters look at the dot, and 45% look at the target and 10% keep their eye closed.

With a shotgun =sporting gun you Should only look at the target = the gun has a contact point at the face & eye. Just like a Bow, It has a contact point at the face & eye. and the bow shooter like the sporting shotgun shooter is Aware of the pins or bead. A good handgun shooter ends up with a gun mount that lets them look at the target and be "Aware of the dot. Iron sights require a wider range of skill in the eye adjustment. lots more to it than just "Front Sight Focus" but that will keep you in the game, not winning , but in the game.

It boils down to the the Bow has a contact on the face and eye , and the hand gun does not.

Edited February 27, 2008 by AlamoShooter

[Gallow]

Does anyone here shoot bows? I was just curious why when shooting bows people are taught to focus on the target as opposed to the sight pin where when shooting a gun we are taught to focus on the sight. What is the difference?

From what little I know, the bow is always shot from an index, and there's no transitioning between targets--or is there? Certainly no strong/weak-hand-only.

[AZ38super]

I started shooting archery at age 7 and guns before I was 12 but I didn't own myown handgun until 35.

I shot competition archery for many many years, the concept from bow and handgun is the same in my mind at least.

Learn the basic fundamentals first, then it is focus on the target but be aware of the sights. Your mind will do the work needed once it is trained what it needs to be doing.

I used to actually have the sight disappear from view just from the mind paying attention to the target, it was great that way.

[Odie]

That's kinda cool, you mean the sight just went away because of your focus on the target but you knew it was still there? I don't think I have that kind of concentration, but that's very cool.

[Chuck Merriam]

I have never shot bows but I would go with what you know. I shoot with alot of concentration on the target for closer distances....a little more focus on sights for the longer distances. I agree with the above.....the front sight just sort of disappears, but you still know it's there. I see far to many new shooters concentrating way to much on the sights. You see your holes up close....and just feel your way.

[SKR]

As an archery instructor I teach when shooting a open bow one must first aline the body, aline the front and rear sight, more commonly the peep sight in the rear and a scope with a dot or fiber optic placed in the center out front, then all of your focus should be in allowing the dot to center it self in the target. Do not force it just let it float, the stronger you get the less the dot will wiggle. I do teach focus on the dot, not the x or the scope housing just burning the dot down. The mind can only do one action consciously, if you aim then try to release you are not still aiming. Allow your training to take care of everything else. Hope this helps answer the archery side anyway.

[Ruger_Newbie]

I have shot archery since I was 16 which was almost 10 years ago. I have shot only compounds with a variety of different sights on them. My thoughts and observations on it as far as archery goes I tend to focus on the target and my shot placement, but yet i don't lose consciousness of that front sight, but since I started shooting my pistol 2 weeks ago I've noticed that I have more focus on aligning the front sight of my Ruger than I have actually on the target itself. I hope that helped somewhat.

Ruger_Newbie

[kgunz11]

For a competitive archer, the reference point on the target is more critical than the shooting I have seen/done with the pistol. The "A" zone is much larger than a 12 ring (ASA), center X (IBO), or X (5 spot Vegas style). You have to focus on the target and the precise point on the target that you want to hit. If you are shooting with others sometimes it could be the nock of another shooters arrow, sometimes it is a muscle line or a discolored area on the target. With a pistol shooting irons, your focus is on centering the front sight in the notch of the rear sight. Since the "A" zone is so large, pin point accuracy isn't so critical. I've shot some competitive archery in my past, did quite well at it too. It was the first time I ever heard the term "sandbagging".

[R. Batt]

I shoot both recurves and longbows without sights. All of my focus is on the target when I shoot. I can't remember how I focused when I used to shoot compounds with sights. I do think that my bow shooting experience helps me to be able to quickly shoot some close targets "instinctively" if I have a good sight alignment to begin with.