What is the difference between left and right handed bows

This is a right handed bow. So the archer will hold the bow riser with their left hand, and draw back on the bow string with their right hand. Just remember, right handed bows fire from the left, and left handed bows fire from the right.

Some bows can be both right or left handed if they have an ambidextrous riser, I see this more with youth model bows. While other bows are sold as either left or right handed versions of the same model. For example, The bows in my Favorite Compound Bows and Favorite Recurve Bows lists have options for both left or right handed bows of the same model, ambidextrous risers, or will be left or right handed only. Their dominant eye is opposite their dominant hand.

For example, an archer with right eye dominance who is left handed is considered a cross dominant archer. Cross dominant archers have a tough decision to make. Get a bow that compliments their dominant hand, or one that compliments their dominant eye. Either option can work, and the answer is personal preference. Cross dominant archers can either shoot a bow with wrong handedness, or close their dominant eye while shooting. Also, archers are more accurate when their dominant eye is closest to the bow string when aiming at a target.

No, you will not be able to train your other eye to be dominant. Even though you will not likely change your eye dominance, an archer can still be successful shooting with their non dominant eye. They will need to shoot with their dominant eye closed or covered, and train their non dominant eye to be more accurate.

Archers who shoot with both eyes open, or with their dominant eye, tend to be more accurate. A cross dominant archer using a wrong handed bow, will be more accurate than an archer shooting with their non dominant eye. Archery can be used to improve your eyesight, if you still feel like you want to train your non dominant eye rather than using a wrong handed bow, check out my Use Archery To Improve Eyesight article where I show some archery drills that can help improve an archers vision no matter which eye they decide to shoot with.

Yes, a left handed person can shoot a right handed bow. To correctly choose a bow that gives you the correct handedness, you need to examine its composition more closely. For right-handed bows, the arrow rest is found on the left side of the riser.

This is a good way to determine the handedness of recurve bows. Compound bows are designed to be shot only one way — either left or right-handed. They cannot be used interchangeably. Most compound bows have built-in targeting lenses, and you can use these devices to determine the handedness of a compound bow.

While this may be technically possible for some bows, it is rarely recommended. Most bows, whether they are recurve bows or compound bows, are designed with a specific handedness in mind.

If it is deemed to be possible, this usually means that the arrow rest must be switched over to the opposite side, and the bowstring must be restrung into a different alignment to suit the new characteristics of the bow. It may even be cheaper to completely sell the left-handed bow and buy a separate one that is suited for a right-handed shooter.

Left-handed bows have a couple of visual cues that can notify you that they are suitable for left-handed shooters. Left-handed bows are much harder to find than right-handed bows because of their low sale value. By closely inspecting the design of a compound or recurve bow, you can determine if it is a left-handed bow. They will be on the left-hand side for a right-handed bow, or the right-hand side on a left-handed bow.

Taylor embarked on a professional writing career in and frequently writes about technology, science, business, finance, martial arts and the great outdoors. He received a Master of Science degree in wildlife biology from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Arts in biological sciences at College of Charleston. He also holds minors in statistics, physics and visual arts. A heavier draw weight translates to faster arrow speeds, decreased drop over distance, and deeper arrow penetration. So the more weight an archer can draw, the more accurate and effective their shooting will be.

Also referred to as your master eye or power eye, your dominant eye plays a key role in archery. You want your dominant eye to be in line with your bowstring and arrow shaft when you are aiming at a target.

Parallax refers to a common optical illusion that makes objects seem to shift when viewed along different lines of sight. One example of parallax occurs when we are riding in our car. As we drive, the objects up close, like road signs and telephone poles, seem to zip past us at high speed. However, the trees and buildings in the distance look like they are moving more slowly.

The furthest objects may not look like they are moving at all. This is because objects that are closer to us have a larger parallax than those viewed from a greater distance. Eye dominance plays a major role in parallax. Just like our dominant hand tends to be stronger than the other, our dominant eye is also stronger than our non-dominant eye. Because it is stronger, our dominant eye works a little bit harder than the other one.

Although your finger will look like it shifts each time you switch eyes, the amount it appears to shift will be different for each eye. When viewed with your dominant eye, your finger should still cover most of the object. However, when your non-dominant eye is open, your finger will shift significantly, and may not even cover the distant object at all. If this seems confusing, here is a video that uses another parallax exercise to determine eye dominance.

This is why it is crucial for archers to understand which of their eyes is dominant. If your finger does not appear to shift from left to right when you alternate eyes, you may be part of a small minority that does not have a dominant eye. This means you are ambi-ocular and your brain receives and processes information from both your right and left eyes equally. As an archer, this means you should be able to aim effectively with either eye.

Whether you use your bow to shoot targets or big game, eye dominance is important. While we use both eyes to see, most of us have one that is at least a little stronger than the other.

The stronger eye is the one you want to use to focus on your target. If you are lucky and most people are , your dominant eye will be on the same side of your body as your dominant hand. The problem comes when you have a condition often referred to as cross dominance. Cross dominance means your dominant eye does not correlate to your dominant hand.

In other words, they are on opposite sides of your body. While cross dominance is sometimes considered an advantage in sports like baseball and golf, it can be a huge hindrance for archers. Lining up your dominant eye with the arrow shaft is the best way to shoot accurately. The answer to that question is easy if you are also right-handed.