Anchor point / draw length for short distance shooting?

Hi Thomas,
thank you very much for the quick response! I am relieved to hear I'm not doing it all wrong. Archer's paradox and deflection don't seem to be a problem for me at the moment. Learning how to grip and turn the bow correctly was an epiphany. Since then, my arrows fly quite straight most of the time - and I spend a lot less money on them because the cheapest work just fine. The KTB makes practice easy: If the arrow touches the bow, it makes a noise and doesn't fly straight, so I know immediately if it was a good or a bad shot.

In addition to the rotation of the bow grip, I push it forward away from me to avoid the bow arm falling down or moving to the side. I try doing this straight so the force on upper and lower limb is equal. Do I understand you right one should push the lower part of the handle more? Does this mean the lower tip of the bow points a bit forward after the shot? I thought that the bow should be vertical after the shot or with the upper limb tilted a bit forward. I'm curious how a correct follow-through should look, especially after a straight shot at a very short distance (5-10m). My current attempt is portrayed in the attachment.

Do you personally use a different form or anchor point for very short distances? Imagine a small target 5-10m away, on the ground. Isn't it difficult to bend that much down and forward with the korean archery "standard" long draw and arrow pointing upward?

Anna

For my part I agree strongly with Storm on this point. I push the bow to tilt it forward from the top and also grip the bow almost from the side as the Japanese Yumi archers do. When done correctly with a smooth release the effect is almost magical. The arrow rest is the air. Slightly above your thumb and slightly to the right of the bow (for a right handed thumb ring archer). If done perfectly the twisting torsion on the bow will make the string will align itself to the flight path of the arrow and an arrow of any spine will fly straight out of your bow. Sounds simple but this is the most complex thing in archery. No one can tell you how much to twist or how much to tilt . You have to determine that yourself empirically. It can take years. You have one of only two types of bows that I know of that can be drawn and flexed in 3 dimensions to make the perfect shot. The Japanese Yumi is one and the Korean traditional bow is the other. If you pursue this, once it happens you will be hooked but you may have to shoot a thousand times before it happens again. It is that elusive but your accuracy at short distances will improve remarkably.

Ann,
I couldn't hit anything with a korean bow and thumb ring draw until I tried this method shown by Justin Ma on Youtube. Essentially you empirically find where the arrow goes as you used incrementally longer draw lengths. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzhA0AsNx6U
iCooper,
When you draw the bow normally you flex the limbs only in the Z axis forward and back . A simple release sends the arrow nock in that one direction. When you twist the bow grip as you draw you slightly twist the limbs sideways. On release that sends the nock a fraction of an inch to the right on the X axis before the nock leaves the string. That's a second dimension of travel which will align the arrow with its direction of flight. When you tilt the bow forward in the grip and release that raises the nock slightly before it leaves the string. That's a third dimension of travel that lifts the feathers off your thumb knuckle as the arrow clears the bow. If done correctly it feels as if you're flinging the arrow from the bow without it touching bow or thumb as it leaves. If you work very very hard at this you should be able to do it consistently in about 10 years. I certainly can't yet.