Archery question about hand vs. eye dominance

[cosine]

I'm going to be getting a bow soon just for the fun of it, but I'm not sure what's recommended for dealing with cross-dominance in archery. I'm nominally right-handed but left eye dominant, but since I have decent dexterity with both hands/arms/shoulders I use my left side as my primary side when shooting (long guns on left shoulder, pistols in left hand) to take advantage of my natural eye dominance.

I've looked at a few dozen pictures of professional target archers aiming at full draw, and noticed that nearly all of them were shooting right-handed bows, but it also looked like a few of them were cross-dominant either because of the angle at which they tilted their head when aiming, or because they were closing their right eye when aiming.

Is following hand dominance recommended over eye dominance for new archers, or is just that right-handed bows are much more common than left-handed bows?

[tokugawa]

Shoot left- especially if your left eye is so dominant you shoot a rifle left handed. Trying to shoot a bow cross eye dominant is going to be nearly impossible to do well.

[RoadKingLarry]

The "experts" say to follow eye dominance. And left handed bows are made in lower numbers than RH bows.
There are probably several threads on the subject at tradgang.com. I don't know if you're looking at trad equipment but the theory is the same.
I'm cross eye dominant but manage to shoot right handed.

[brimic]

Bows and shotguns should absolutely  be shot on the dominant eye side.
Rifles you can get away with shooting on the wrong side a bit more, especially if scoped.
My 10 yo son is cross dominant and has a left handed bow- which he does really well with.

Just as important with a bow, is t have it set up to fit you personally.

[cosine]

The "experts" say to follow eye dominance. And left handed bows are made in lower numbers than RH bows.
There are probably several threads on the subject at tradgang.com. I don't know if you're looking at trad equipment but the theory is the same.
I'm cross eye dominant but manage to shoot right handed.

I'm looking at getting a recurve, so I'll check out tradgang and see what they have to say.

I followed my eye dominance when learning to shoot firearms, and was leaning towards doing the same with archery. I just felt like inquiring before getting a bow since the "handedness" of a bow is set in stone, unlike standard semi-autos.

[RoadKingLarry]

I followed my eye dominance when learning to shoot firearms, and was leaning towards doing the same with archery. I just felt like inquiring before getting a bow since the "handedness" of a bow is set in stone,

I have vague memories of being "corrected" for putting a shotgun to my left shoulder .

And you can find trad bows with a shelf on both sides of the handle.

My recommendation on starting with a traditional bow is to go light. I don't care if you can bench press a bus. shooting a traditional bow is much more about technique and form than it is strength.

[charby]

My recommendation on starting with a traditional bow is to go light. I don't care if you can bench press a bus. shooting a traditional bow is much more about technique and form than it is strength.

No truer words have been typed.

[Triphammer]

The usual recomendation is to follow your dominant eye. Personally, I'm right handed, left eye but I can't DO anything left handed. I shoot a recurve right handed, both eyes open, instinctive, no sights/ no gap. Also check Tradtalk along with Tradgang. Trad talk is a little more "modern trad" tradgang is "classic trad". Both great sites the the trad archer.

[cosine]

No truer words have been typed.

Yeah, I'm planning on going with a 30-35# draw weight to start. Also planning to stop by one of the local archery shops and see if they can measure what my draw length should be.

[charby]

Yeah, I'm planning on going with a 30-35# draw weight to start. Also planning to stop by one of the local archery shops and see if they can measure what my draw length should be.

Also look at 25# bows, you can always upgrade after you master it. I shoot a 70# compound and after shoulder surgery back in September I'm going to see if I can it dropped down to 50 or 55# and shoot a lighter arrow to keep my arrow speed up.

I really wanted to go to a recurve but my shoulder will not agree with me on that for a while longer.

[brimic]

Also planning to stop by one of the local archery shops and see if they can measure what my draw length should be.

West Town Archery is excellent- I buy all of my bows there.
http://www.westtownarchery.com/store/storeinfo.shtml

I really wanted to go to a recurve but my shoulder will not agree with me on that for a while longer.

I actually tore connective tissue between my ribs from shooting a recurve too much- it was an old Bear 55lber (an old bow my Dad doesn't use any more)- probably drawing quite a bit higher due to stacking with my draw length being around 31" for a stickbow.

[S. Williamson]

As a kid, I wasn't allowed to have toy weapons of any kind, unless I made them myself. The positive effect was twofold - I made a decently convincing Pule Rifle from Aliens out of scrap 2x4 and my dad's spare hardware bucket, and a form of English Longbow from a small tree.

Nobody nearby knew anything much about archery, so after picking up some cheap aluminum arrows I self-taught. To this day I'm completely cross dominant and ambidextrous with bowshooting, and am a fair shot to 200'. I spent a year or so practicing 2-3hrs a day, though (one benefit of growing up on a thoroughbred farm). Missed a lot and injured myself in unique ways.