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Under the eye

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bjrogg:
Man DC I pay you for some of that rain right now. Know what it's like to want it to stop also. That will probably be during harvest season.
Bjrogg

Pat B:
I shoot instinctively with both eyes open. When my middle finger touches the corner of my mouth I release. I don't see the arrow at all because I'm concentrating on where the arrow will go. Maybe with point of aim shooting placing the arrow under the eye is important because you use the arrow as a reference point. The most important thing is consistency...and lots of practice.

DC:
Can of worms time.  ;) ;) I hate to be accused of being a vocabulary Nazi but I've never liked that term "instinctive shooting". Nobody ever crawled out of the womb, picked up a bow and nailed the gold. I prefer the term "habitual". You start to learn to shoot habitually when you first learn to point at something. You perfect the pointing ability as you age. Everybody does this, even non-archers. Your brain and muscles learn to aim your hand at the spot you are looking at. Look at a 2 year old trying to point at Gramma, his arm flails all over. Gradually he gets it. This ability is handy for any kind of shooting. It just takes a little practice to modify your arm position to suit a bow and arrow. I firmly believe that when you shoot habitually you may not be conscious of the arrow but your brain is, it has to be, the arrow is right in front of your face. Muscle memory has a lot to do with it but I can't imagine that your brain would ignore the arrow for the last little corrections. Rant mode off.

I have been shooting "instinctively" also. Both eyes open. Traffic finger in the corner of my mouth. But I was always conscious of the arrow. I didn't pay much attention to it though. I got to thinking that if my brain didn't have to work so hard figuring angles and stuff (unconsciously) that I may be able to hit the gold. So I started looking at the arrow and noticed that it wasn't under my eye. I modified my anchor point, I now use my index finger in the corner of my mouth so that my thumb is under my jaw. Now the arrow is under my eye. Funny thing, as soon as I reach this position, my left eye slams shut. Go figure. Anyway with the new anchor my good groups are smaller but not as consistent. I'll try it this way for a bit. Usually when I try something new it works for a spell and then not so much. It's not a big change so it shouldn't take too long to get used to it.

Pat B:
When you close one eye you loose your binocular vision. This includes depth perception which is necessary for estimating distance. 
 I would much rather my subconscious mind take over my shooting than my conscious mind. Too much going on surrounding me to give full attention to all aspects of shooting. I have had 2 instances back when shooting a compound bow that drew me to instinctive shooting. In one case I remember seeing the deer walk in, sniff the scrape I was sitting over, I remember standing, concentrating on the spot and beginning to draw the bow. My next memory was the bloody arrow sticking up in the ground. I don't remember my draw, anchor or shot. My subconscious mind took over, drew the bow, allowed a clean release and put the arrow where I was looking. Muscle memory is a big part on this scenario and you only achieve that with lots of purposeful shooting paying attention to form, draw and release. 

DC:
Yeah, I'm going to work on getting that left eye to stay open :D. I played with bows and arrows when I was a kid and always shot "instinctively". I just seemed to be the logical way. Flash forward 60 years and I picked it up again. Instinctively still seems to be the way that makes sense to me. If I thought any other way I would have sights and crap all over my bows ;D ;D ;D

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