Let’s Learn How to Draw a Bow
If you are a beginner in archery, then you may face trouble in drawing the bow. However, it is an easy and most important process in archery. Because you have to care about the process of drawing, or it will fall you into injuries.
Before we speak about drawing a bow, you should know some important information about bringing. You must choose a perfect draw length and bring weight so that you can get the best from it. If you are a compound bow user, you cannot draw the string higher than its draw length. At the same time, you should choose a suitable draw weight so that you can use the bow for your purpose. Experts recommended choosing not more than 75% of your physical strength. That’s all about your concerning factor.
There are some must needed steps in drawing a bow like a stance, hook, draw, execution, and follow-through. We will guide you about bow drawing in this article.
1st step-Stance
The very first step of drawing a bow is your stance. Choosing the right stance like open or necessary will make your drawing easier. However, you have to concern about your stance. You should follow some rules for maintaining your stance which is,
1. You should keep your head up and straight to the target. If you back your head away from the bowstring or lean onto the bowstring, it will be the cause of failure drawing. So, don’t do that. Keep your head up and draw the bowstring to your face as much as you can so that you can see the target and hit it accurately.
2. As an ex-factor, you should keep your shoulder relaxed and as low as possible.
3. Never break your wrist while you are drawing fully. To draw the string fully, you should keep your wrist straight to your elbow.
2nd step- Hook
The hook is how you put your fingers to the bowstring. You must learn the correct form of a hook. There are two types of a hook in archery, which is the shallow and deep hook.
Shallow hook: the shallow hook is like; you have to grab the bowstring by your fingertips. It offers you the quick and clean release of the bowstring. But there is a problem in the shallow hook. Since the bowstring is far from the knuckle, so you can feel more tension in your string hand. That could shake your bow.
Deep hook: a deep hook is also a common form of a hook. In deep hook, you have to grab the bowstring by the distal and proximal joints of the fingers that will give you a relaxed grip. The problem is that your finger should move from the string’s path, or the draw will be ruined.
3rd step- Draw
Now, we are in the most important steps, drawing. This is the most critical step, and archers use almost a hundred of ways of drawing. But the most common form of drawing is linear and angular.
The linear draw means, to the anchor, you bowstring shouldn’t move left or right while drawing in a straight line. Lean draw means, the bowstring can walk away from the body, but it must be back to the anchor. The angular draw is most popular, which is widely used by Americans.
Anchor point: anchor point means you have to place your index finger when the drawing is finished and back to the bowstring.
You can assign your back efficiently by using these two methods.
4th step- Execution
You may have thought about clickers in many ways. But you have three options which will work the best for you. These are pulled, push, and both.
Pull: pull is the easiest and simplest method for clickers. Most novice archers use pull for clickers. You have to pull the bowstring backward to activate the clicker.
Push: for push, you need more body awareness because you have to push the riser forward. In force, you have to hold the bowstring at fully drawn and hold your riser on the other hand to activate clicker. But it has a problem. In pushing, you have to expand your shoulder, not arm. So, it would be best if you had more strength to push.
Both: a combination of push and pull works great to get clickers. Your arm and shoulder work properly, and you can draw the bowstring fully.
5th step- Follow through
This step helps you to perform consistently. We have done the drawing in the previous steps. But after drawing, you shouldn’t stop your motion which you get from the picture. You have to wait after the clicker and release the arrow. Your string hands should remain up, and the motion you get from drawing should be the same. It helps you to hit the target consistently.
Some concerning factor
Smooth grip: you have to find a smooth and polished grip in the bow. Because your success depends on hold sometimes. Some archers grip the bow correctly during pre-draw stages but end with a horrible gripping. That will fall you into trouble. You should be aware of your gripping.
Suitable bow weight: if you find that while drawing your bow, your bow is going down, and you cannot pull at the target accurately, that means you are using a heavyweight bow. That will be dangerous for you as well as your target. You may misfire due to heavyweight, and it will harm others. So, before drawing a bow, you must check if it has a suitable weight.
Perfect draw weight: draw weight is another concerning factor while drawing the bow. Let me ascertain this. If you use a draw weight of 30 pounds bow at a longer distance, you must overdraw your bow in case getting that kind of range. So, you have to draw more than its draw length. That will decrease the lifespan of the bowstring as well as cause you to injuries. So, it would be best if you used a draw weight that will give you enough force to get that distance. However, you better start practice with a longbow which is lightweight and will bring you success at first attempt.
So, we discuss all the factors of drawing a bow and also describe the steps of how to bring it. I hope you will get it and enjoy this.