Archery is a sport of skill and technique where your fundamental form is the foundation of consistent and accurate shooting. Whether you’re hunting or shooting in an archery league, the basic fundamentals will help you make the shot.

The basics of archery form and technique include things like: stance, grip, posture, bow arm position, anchor point, release, and follow-through. By practicing these archery tips, you will increase your shooting skills in no time. Let’s dive into each one in more detail.

Archery Stance

Your foot placement during a shot can have a big effect on your arrow’s flight. This is because your body has a natural center point. If your feet are not positioned properly, the shot may start to lean towards your centering point during the actual shot, causing it to be slightly off. There are three basic stances that most archers choose, and each one is a little different. These are:

• Squared Stance – feet are “square” with each other, and draw a line perpendicular to the target.
• Closed Stance – hips should be “closed” to the target, with the lead foot that is closest to the target is slightly ahead of the other.
• Open Stance – hips are “open” to the target, leading foot closest to the target is slightly behind the back foot.

Having the right stance is important because if you don’t, your body will naturally fight you as it tries to “center” itself. This will manifest in shot imperfections. With a proper stance, you can rid yourself of this possibility and greatly improve your accuracy.

Bow Grip

Having proper handgrip on your bow is one of the most important aspects of shooting accurately. Your bow hand has a major influence on the impact of your shots. If you don’t have a proper grip, it doesn’t matter how accurate or tuned your bow is, your arrow impact will be inconsistent.

A bow is most accurate when it is fired with little to no influence from your bow hand. Hand torque is when an archer squeezes their grip, holds the bow in the wrong part of the hand, twists, or “torques” the bow during a shot. This is one of the leading causes of bad shots…but luckily the solution is very simple.

To properly hold a bow and prevent hand torque, hold it just off center, in the meaty part of your palm, in line with your thumb. This allows the bow to jump forward upon release unhindered, reducing hand torque and giving you the most accurate shot possible. Your fingers should remain loose and limp during the entire shot, letting the bow do its thing. Your hand simply acts as a base for your bow, providing solid support for the shot.

This type of grip requires you use a wrist sling or finger leash to prevent the bow from jumping out of your hand completely. If neither of those are available, you can try connecting your thumb and middle finger around the bow grip. This keeps the bow in your hand and helps reduce hand torque compared to a full-hand grip.

Archery Posture

Your body’s posture is another aspect of form to consider which can negatively affect your shot. In order to hold proper posture, stand tall and don’t lean forwards or backwards. If you find yourself arching your back while at full draw, try to tighten your core and straighten your back. To give you a visual, just imagine yourself standing in the shape of a “T”.

Throughout the shot, keep your body upright and relaxed…even after the shot. Keep your back and shoulders relaxed, in a neutral position, with your head fully turned and facing your target. The key to body posture is to stand tall and remain relaxed. If you’re tense, you are much more likely to “flinch” or move at the last second, causing erratic arrow flight and impact.

Bow Arm

Your bow arm is the arm used to hold your bow. Good bow arm form extends nearly straight, with little bending or locking out completely. Locking out your arm will hyperextend your elbow, which will make the string more likely to slap your forearm. Using an armguard is a simple way to help protect your forearm when this does happen, but this will rarely happen if your bow arm is held properly.

A bow arm that is over bent, on the other hand, will quickly fatigue your muscles, causing you to tire and lose consistency over time. It is much more difficult to produce consistent results when your bow arm is too bent. It’s a small detail, but elbow position is a lot more important than most archers realize.

Anchor Point

An anchor point is a point of reference on your face where you place your bowstring and/or hand for each shot. Most anchor points consist of three different contact points, such as where the string touches the corner of your mouth, your nose, and the peep sight alignment. The more contact points you have, the more consistent your anchor point will be…and in return, the more consistent your shooting.

One anchor point every archer should have is some kind of “hard” anchor point, such as a thumb bone pressed against your jawbone. This makes it very fast and easy to find, especially when shooting quickly.

If you are using an archery release aid, some of them may force an archer to have multiple contact points. There are also simple pieces of gear, like a kisser button, that attach to the string and provide more contact points for consistency. Different archers will use different contact points, so find what is most comfortable for you and stick with it until you don’t even have to think about it.

Archery Release

The way you release a bowstring is a simple but important step in achieving accurate shooting and proper form. Many archers struggle with anticipating the shot and “flinch” upon release. This is called target or trigger panic and can severely decrease accuracy and consistency. In order to perform a proper release without flinching or moving, the shot should come as a surprise to the archer. However, this is easier said than done and will usually take a lot of practice to perfect.

For those shooting with fingers, like traditional or instinctive archers, the release should come as a surprise as well. When at full draw, the archer should increase back tension while slowly loosening their hold on the string. This must be done carefully and with as much consistency as possible. Your fingers can easily twist or torque the string, causing erratic arrow flight and impact.

For this reason, many compound shooters use a release aid. Make sure your release is comfortable and the right size for your hand, avoiding releases that are too large. Using a release that isn’t sized correctly may create bad habits that are difficult to overcome. Whichever style of release aid you choose, be sure that you squeeze the trigger or use back tension to smoothly release the arrow.

Follow Through

Last but certainly not least, follow-through is what you do after the arrow is released. After a solid release, proper follow should be maintained until your arrow finds its mark. Keep your bow held in the shooting position, with all aspects of proper form until the arrow has completely cleared the riser and hit the target. This will keep you from dropping your bow arm or torquing your hand until the arrow has left your bow and is well on its way to the target…resulting in an accurate shot.

Continue to keep your grip completely relaxed throughout the entire shot. If you are worried about the bow traveling forward and falling out of your hand, use a wrist sling or finger leash that will hold your bow in place. Like we mentioned with the grip, this is the one area that causes the most accuracy issues so you want to ensure that you maintain a relaxed grip well after the arrow has left the bow. Whatever you do, just remember to keep your hand relaxed and don’t grab the bow.

Your sight should also stay on target even after you have released the arrow. This will ensure that you don’t accidentally move the bow left, right, up, or down during the release. Remember, even microscopic movements can affect your arrow flight, so we are trying to keep all movements down to a minimum.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many different aspects when it comes to proper archery form and technique. Each of these aspects plays an important role in helping you to stay consistent, which will then lead to greater accuracy. Without even one of these components, you can experience a bad shot. Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of proper archery form and technique. By practicing and living by these archery form principles, you will see great improvement with your shooting in no time flat!