Week 3 of Beginners course and use of sights on a recurve

sunmouse · Junior Poster

This week has been fascinating for me and the other half. Neither of us have been using sights. The other half with his Win and Win riser hasn't had them fitted (although he bought a sight for it today) and I have been using the simple one on my trainer bow without much success. I was dreading doing the sight training as it requires drawing the bowstring using the one finger above and two below method, which I had tried doing recently and succeeded in burying my arrows on both occasions into a nearby tree branch as well as burying them in undergrowth. Normally, I shoot with barebow method and get reasonable results from it.

Putting the sight on was a nervous experience. Our club coach adjusted the sight and showed me how to use it. Aim to get the spot on the gold and then draw the bowstring back and anchor it under the jaw, then shoot. It took some doing. One arrow went flying into the back of the hall and I encountered something I'd never experienced before, which was a mis-shoot caused by the nock breaking on the bowstring just as it was being shot. That wasn't nice at all. Finally, I started to get the hang of it and starting shooting consistently, which had been something I was aiming at. What also helped was the fact that the old fellow who had been shooting before me at the club wasn't there. He had been quite slow and had shown signs on a few occasions of almost passing out, his arms used to tremble so much. My other half has now go so used to shooting with a sight that he went out and bought a very reasonable one which, to me, looks more technical than I'd get on with. It has also made his riser heavier.

This weekend, we are spectators at the club's tournament! The other half is rendering some help in getting targets out and setting up some of the site.It should be fascinating watching all those archers at the line, rather like being a spectator at the Battle of Agincourt.