Buying and shooting a bow is all about how it fits and feels to you. Shooting a bow should feel natural, like an extension of your own body. But a great bow should fit your dominant eye (which eye you use to aim) before anything!
What is Eye Dominance and Why Is It Important?
Just like everyone has a dominant hand, people also have a dominant eye. While some people are right-handed and use their right hand for most of their tasks, others are left-handed and use their left hand for most things.
The same is true for your eyes. There are many archers who are right eye dominant and use their right eye for focusing on objects. At the same time, there are others who are left eye dominant and focus on objects using the left eye.
So how does this relate to archery? A simple explanation is that the view from each of your eyes is very different. The view from your right eye will be different from the view of your left, which will impact how you aim and shoot a bow.
For example, take one of your hands and hold it out in front of you. Close your right eye, and look at it with your left eye. Now switch your eyes, closing your left eye and looking at your hand with your right eye. If you take careful notice, you will see that your hand appears to be in two different places.
Now open both eyes at once and look at your hand. It will look like it is only in one single place. Most people don’t realize that when you are using both of your eyes to look at something, you’re actually using your dominant eye to actually focus on it.
So when you are at full draw and aiming at a target, which eye should you be using to actually look and aim with? The answer is obviously your dominant eye, whether it be your left or right.
How to Find Your Dominant Eye
There are a couple of different ways to find which one of your eyes is dominant, but one of the easiest methods is a simple test using your hands. To do this test, follow these basic steps:
- Put your hands out in front of you with your palms facing outward and away from you. It should appear as you are stopping a person in front of you.
- Bring both of your thumbs together so that they are touching, as well as your pointing fingers. This should make a small triangle with your hands.
- Look through this small triangle that you have made with your hands and focus on something that is around 15 yards away. You can use anything for this, but it should be small enough so that you can see it clearly through the triangle you have made with your hands.
- Now close each of your eyes one at a time, so that you are only looking through one at any given moment. You will notice that you will be able to see the item in the triangle with one eye and not the other. If you see the item with your right eye, then you are right eye dominant. If it is with your left eye that you see it, then you are left-eye dominant.
There are a few other simple tests that you can use to figure out which one of your eyes is the dominant one, but this is one of the easiest and quickest. Once you figure out which of your eyes is dominant, then you know which one you will need to use for aiming your bow.
Eye Dominance Conflicts
Many people will find that if they are right-handed, then they will be right eye dominant and vice versa. However, if you have discovered that you have a mismatch between your eye and hand dominance, don’t panic! Many archers have found themselves in this situation before.
If this is the case, then an archer can choose to shoot with a bow designed for their non-dominant hand. Another option is they can learn to shoot with their non-dominant eye. Many archers will squint or use something like an eye patch to cover their dominant eye to re-enforce the correct eye to aim with. However, I’ve heard that it’s easier to switch to your non-dominant hand, but do what feels most natural to you.
If you are matched with your hand and eye dominance, then you have the option of keeping both of your eyes open while shooting. This allows for a clearer view, as both eyes are open and can take in light. It also gives a much wider field of vision and gives the shooter more depth perception. It can provide much more comfort, as you will not have to close or squint an eye during the shooting process.
Shooting with both eyes open is ideal, you can even begin to see your arrow flight upon release. It is not, however, a deal-breaker. The most important thing is what feels natural and comfortable to you. If you find that you have a dominant eye mismatch or equal eye dominance, then you can play around and find what works best for you.
Conclusion
Aiming a bow requires an extreme amount of coordination between your visual and motor skills. Both of these have a dominant preference and if your hand and eye dominance are aligned, you can quickly find what is comfortable and works best for you. If there is a mismatch, you might be finding yourself switching handedness or switching to your non-dominant eye.
Determining your eye dominance and having the correct setup can help you achieve more accuracy. Shooting cross dominant, while feasible, will limit your ability to shoot with accuracy. So, if you’re looking to improve your shot, be sure that you’re shooting the right bow with the correct eye and you’ll be good to go!
I am right handed and can only close my right eye. I have never been able to close my left eye independent of my right eye. What does this mean for me when choosing a bow? Right or left handed? Thank you in advance.
You have a few options in this case in no particular order. First option is you can wear a patch over your left eye when shooting. Your second option is to learn how to shoot with both eyes open as your dominant eye should naturally align things for you. The other option is to shoot as a left handed archer. Honestly, I would suggest shooting with both eyes open. If you’re having trouble with consistency, shoot with an eye patch for awhile to train yourself, then remove it once you naturally cater to your dominant eye. Hope this helps!
Maureen, you are not alone. I too have issues closing my left eye independent from my right eye. I’m right handed but have always shot a rifle as a lefty. Although I’m right handed. I’m hoping the left handed recurve bow I just picked up works for me?