HACKING THE DARKSIDE

After years of contemplating whether or not I should start shooting compound, I finally took the plunge. I had already taken my first shot with a compound bow and almost needed a defibrillator that day. I also purchased all of my own equipment and realised I wouldn’t be able to afford food for the rest of the month. It was all worth it but now it was time to figure out how to really shoot a compound bow.

I thought there would be some carry-over from recurve – and I was half right. Things like needing to keep a solid bow arm and continuing to move through the shot were transferable but I needed to learn everything else from scratch.

RELEASE AID

While I was waiting for my equipment to arrive, I spent hours watching technique instructional videos while I was waiting for the rest of my equipment because I was able to start working on my shot right away. I made myself a shot-trainer with a small wooden dowel and d-loop material. A great YouTube video that helped me get started with practicing using a release aid was from one of my favourite compound archers, Jesse Broadwater. He explained how a release aid should sit and settle in an archer’s hand. Jesse suggested that holding a release aid should feel as if you’re hanging from monkey bars right before you slip and let go. After coming to full draw and allowing the thumb to come off the peg everything should relax. The wrist and hand should be flat and the release aid should settle in the fingers as you move through the shot. As I practiced this, I noticed that my timing became more consistent with the shot-trainer and I began to understand the way the release aid worked. Rather than applying pressure to a particular finger or forcefully rotating the release aid, it worked most consistently if I relaxed my string hand and allowed the release aid to move naturally.