How to Improve Accuracy in Archery

When it comes to archery, practice is really the best and most effective way to improve your accuracy. However, there are certainly steps you can take to make sure that each of your practice session are as effective and efficient as possible.

Instructions

1. Forget about aiming. For the initial few sessions, your goal is not actually about accuracy at all. Instead, it is about developing a solid, consistent stance that can be produced consistently.

2. Focus on form and follow-through. These two features of your archery practice lay the foundation for the development of keen accuracy.

3. Determine the best stance for your shooting style. Most beginning archers prefer an even stance, because this evenly distributes the weight of the body. Advanced archers, however, find an oblique stance is actually much more effective, though it is very difficult to maintain for long periods of shooting.

4. Mark the position of your feet on the shooting line. It's best to have someone else do this while you hold your stance since bending down could cause you to inadvertently shift one or both of your feet.

5. Relax your fingers on the bow. The bow should be supported only by the thumb and index finger, so there should be no pressure put on the bow by the palm.

6. Control your breathing. Believe it or not, the act of breathing causes the body weight to shift dramatically enough to affect your shooting seriously. Steady, consistent breaths to coincide with each stage of your archery practice are crucial to improving your accuracy.

7. Control the pressure your finger places on the nock of the arrow. Excessive pressure will shift the arrow's position on the arrow rest, sometimes even causing it to wave around or fall off entirely. Your arrow's position on the arrow rest is another element that must remain consistent to improve your accuracy.

8. Keep your anchor point consistent. This is the spot where your fingers touch at the end of your draw. Beginning archers may find a low, or chin, anchor point their best bet, though you're encouraged to try out all the positions until you find one that works best for you.

9. Align your sight level and bow level. Fatigue can often cause you to draw and shoot without aligning the sight and bow, but in order to improve your accuracy, you must always remember to keep them level.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure to remove anything that you may have in your pockets. You may not notice, but even the smallest amount of weight in one pocket can cause your body to break good form by attempting to distribute the foreign weight evenly.