It’s a bright sunny day, there’s no wind and your excited to have the day free to shoot some outdoor targets. You check your stance, draw back your bow and aim. You let the arrow fly. Your shot is… off – by six inches or more. What’s the deal?

There are lots of reasons that your shots may be off to the right or left or above or below the target. We’ll cover the most common reasons for archers’ shots being off target, and what you can do to correct them. So if you’re ready to correct your shot, let’s start now:

One all around important factor is your mindset – it plays a huge overall part in your form, shot sequence, release, follow through and much more. I would recommend that all archers read this, it’ll give you the drill that will up your accuracy big time.

Weak Arrow Spine

One of the most common reasons for shots being consistently off target is that you’re shooting arrows with a weak spine. Arrows that are too weak for your bow will cause them to bend too much in flight, making them hit off target.

If you’re new to archery and you picked out the arrows yourself, you may want to hit up a professional archery shop. Have one of the staff there take a look at your bow and the arrows that you’re currently shooting. Many new archers will buy arrows that they think are good for their bow – while that’s anything but the case. I wrote a guide all about arrows and what you need to keep in mind when buying them, check it out before you buy your next set of arrows.

Follow Through

Also keep in mind your follow through when you shoot. It’s important to get into the habit of waiting after you release. Lots of people who are new to archery will draw back, aim and release their shot – and then instantly look to see where their shot landed.

This causes the shot to start to veer off course as it leaves the bow. From now on when you practice, make your self wait before you check your shot. You should never move after you’ve released an arrow until you hear the arrow make contact with the target.

So, every time you shot an arrow, wait until you hear the shot connect before you change your stance. Start doing this with every single arrow that you shoot and in a few weeks you’ll see an improvement in your accuracy.

Anchor Too Far to One Side

If you’re like most archers, your anchor point is most likely either your chin, the side of your mouth or your cheek. But are you holding your hand too far to one side horizontally when you anchor?

Keep this in mind for the next time you shoot. See if you can tell if your anchoring a bit too much to one side. Being consciously aware of this now, slide your hand a bit left or right on your chin (or wherever your anchor point is) and see if this makes a difference in improving the accuracy of your shots.

Anchoring too far to one side or the other is a common problem in many archers, and causes their shots to be off to one side or the other.

Are You Over-Bowed?

What draw weight are you shooting? Being over-bowed means that you’re shooting a bow with a draw weight that is too heavy for you. If you didn’t already know, an archer’s form is one of the most important things in archery. It’s important to have proper form as your form will greatly affect your accuracy.

When you’re over-bowed you tend to have poor form as you’re trying so hard just to keep the bow drawn. If you’re starting to shake and sweat after only a few seconds of trying to keep your bow drawn – you’re over-bowed.

A Simple Over-Bowed Test

A simple test to determine if you’re over-bowed goes as follows: Draw back your bow to a full draw. You should be able to easily and comfortably hold your bow at full draw for at least 30 seconds without too much strain or muscle fatigue.

If you do find that your are indeed over-bowed, if you’ve got a take down recurve bow, depending on the make and model of your bow – you may be able to purchase replacement bow limbs at a different draw weight. Many popular models of take down recurve manufacture their limbs in draw weights from 25 pounds to upwards of 60 pounds on average.

If you’ve already committed to a bow that’s just plain too heavy for you to shoot, don’t worry. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can still shoot that bow – if you increase the strength of the muscles that you use to shoot your bow.

The following is an exercise routine designed to help those who are over-bowed to build their strength up to shoot at that higher draw weight.

Over-Bowed Muscle Building Routine

Start by drawing your bow back to your chosen anchor point at full draw. Now, hold your bow at full draw for as long as you possibly can. You may only be able to hold it for 5 or 10 seconds, but keep in mind that the goal that we’re eventually trying to get you to is 30 seconds.

Let your string down with your string hand on the bowstring – Do not dry fire your bow! Wait at least one full minute, to take a break and allow your muscles to recover a bit.

Now repeat the above exercise again, drawing the bow back and holding it for as long as you can.

Continue to repeat the hold and rest periods, holding for as long as possible, resting one minute and holding again. Repeat the entire process for up to thirty total repetitions.

Now switch arms. That’s right, hold the bow in what is normally your bowstring side, with your dominant hand now holding the bow.

Repeat the above exercise of drawing back to your anchor point at full draw and holding for as long as you can, then resting for at least one minute. Repeat that process for up to thirty repetitions.

Do the entire routine every day, or at the very least a minimum of three times per week. If you’re diligent and you really stick with it, you will see a big difference after thirty days of consistently practicing this routine. Once you hit the sixty day point, you will have greatly improved your draw strength and your control over your draw.

Remember that the ideal goal is to be able to hold your bow back at full draw for thirty seconds on each repetition. If you’re not able to do that right away, work up to it by holding back for as long as you can each time. Pick up a stop watch to help you keep accurate time while you’re going through the full routine.

Draw Length

If you’re shooting a bow with the wrong draw length for you, it will affect your accuracy. Shooting the wrong draw length will throw off your grip and mess with your form as well.

What’s the draw length of your bow? If you don’t know, go to your local archery shop if you have one and have them measure your bow at full draw.

What’s your personal draw length? If you’re not sure exactly what your own personal draw length is, there’s an easy method for figuring it out:

Stand with your feet shoulder length apart and raise your arms up, so that they’re out at your sides (like midway through a jumping jack). Now face your palms forward, the same direction that you’re looking.

Have a friend measure the distance from the tip of one of your middle fingers to the tip of the other. Make a note of this measurement. Now simply divide that number by 2.5. That’s it, you’ve now got your approximate draw length.

Are Your Arrows Shooting Weak?

Another thing you may want to have your local archery shop take a look at is whether or not your arrows are shooting weak. If they are, you need to start shooting with lighter field points on your arrows.

So if you’re not sure if your arrows are shooting weak and you don’t have an archery shop nearby that you can ask for advice, just try shooting lighter arrows. Replace heavy arrow points with the lightest field tips that you can get your hands on.

Also try shooting a set of completely different, lighter arrows if you have some.

If either lighter field points or lighter arrows solve the problem, your arrows were shooting weak.

Arrows Shooting Stiff or Weak Test

The following is a simple test that will let you know if your arrows are shooting either to o stiff or too weak. All you need are some arrows, and some space to shoot and check the results.

Keep in mind that the following test is based on right handed archers shooting either a recurve bow, traditional bow or a longbow. If you’re left handed, you’ll have to reverse the directions (left and right) in the test below.

Start by standing at a distance of about twenty yards from your target. You’ll need three of your normal, fletched arrows as well as two bare shaft arrows. Aim at the very center of the target and shoot all of the fletched and bare shaft arrows as would normally.

If the bare shaft arrows are hitting to the left of your normal fletched arrows than your arrows are shooting stiff.

If the bare shaft arrows are hitting to the right of your normal fletched arrows than your arrows are shooting weak.

If you do find that your arrows are either shooting to weak or too stiff, don’t worry, it’s usually a pretty simple fix.

If your arrows are shooting stiff, pick up some field points that are heavier than what you were shooting. While if your arrows are shooting too weak, replace your points with lighter, screw in field points.

Bow Hand Torque

Do you ever feel a slight yank while you’re releasing the bowstring? Another of one of the most common (and often overlooked) causes of arrows landing off target bow hand torque.

Bow hand torque is just a fancy way of basically saying grab of the bowstring upon release. Sometimes the bowstring will slightly grab or pull just when you’re releasing the string. This quick jerk in the string will send the arrows left or right of their target.

So the next time that you’re shooting, keep this in mind. Trying shooting as you normally would, paying special attention to trying to feel for if your bowstring is pulling, jerking or grabbing when you release your arrows. Try shooting using one of these a few times if don’t already and see if that solves the problem.

Bowstring Plucking

How exactly are you holding the bowstring in your string hand? Another common reason that your arrow will hit off to the side of the target is bowstring plucking. This is especially common with newer, inexperienced archers.

Regardless of if you’re shooting using split finger draw or three under draw, you should still be holding the bowstring on the same parts of your fingers. You should be holding the bowstring on the ‘meat’ of your fingers, that is the part of your fingers in between your fingertips and the first joint.

Allowing the bowstring to enter the joint of your fingers will cause the string to jerk when you release the arrow – this is known as bowstring plucking. So be aware when you’re shooting that you are holding the bowstring on the right part of your fingers.

Well, I’ve given you a lot of things to test out. Try to test each of these to determine what exactly is causing your shots to be off, it could even be more than one of them. Go through all of them one at a time and see if one or more of the above solutions improves your shots and your accuracy.

You may find that you need to go through them more than once, as sometimes you’ll find something that needs to be corrected on the second round of tests that you missed the first time that you ran through the list.

I hope I’ve helped you to correct those off target shots, they can really be a drag. So, get out there and run through this list. You can get your shots back on target in no time, once you find and eliminate the cause of your shots being off. Good luck in improving your shot, and as always – have fun out there!