Anchor Point & Release Aids - Compound Shooting Form Part 3

We're going to talk in this chapter about anchor point and the correct head position when executing the shot. A proper anchor is made up of three essential fundamentals. The first one being a good solid bone to bone reference that locks your anchor in in a vertical sense. The next fundamental of anchor point is the length. Now this governs how far we're actually going to pull the release aid back and where we're going to sit it on our face in relation to the string. The third fundamental of an anchor point is the peep sight reference. Now the peep sight on its own is the most unreliable aspect of the anchor point, therefore it needs to be set to meet your other two physical attributes of the anchor to ensure consistency. So when we're looking at the very first position on our face, what I like to do is I like to put the jaw bone down in between the first and second knuckle. So I'm going to run the hand in at 45 degrees to my face and lock it in like that. Therefore both the vertical and the horizontal are both locked in and the release can then sit along the jaw bone. So essentially Liam, correct me if I'm wrong here, we're looking for them to pretty much straddle their jaw bone with the release aid, is that right? That's correct. So to put one knuckle underneath, one knuckle on the other side, to almost feel the jaw bone pinch between those two knuckles, is that correct? And I think that would allow them to anchor anywhere near the front, the middle, or the back of that vertical reference to have the string angle meet the shape of the face, is that right? Yeah, and that lock with the two knuckles is going to give a real tight, positive feel which is very, very repeatable, shot after shot, all day long. So essentially with those two reference points nailed down, we'd probably look for the archer to be able to draw back, eyes closed, feel those references first, make that become automatic, subconscious, and then open their eyes and set the peep sight to those? That's correct, yeah. Now one thing that does concern me though is how far back should an archer go along that vertical reference? I'm going to assume you don't want to go back too far and get excessive contact with the string in the face, because I'm sure that could cause some tuning and grouping issues, right? Definitely, yeah. You need to not have too much facial contact, because this can really put unnecessary pressures and divert the string off, which is what we're not interested in here, we're trying to get a bow to tune really good, so therefore our form has got to complement the bow as best as possible. Absolutely. So why don't we draw back and watch you come into your anchor, Liam, and I'll point out these aspects as we go along. Now Liam starts off, he's going to raise his bow up good and high, get the wreath tipped over at a 45 degree angle, drop down low, climb into his anchor, maintaining his head position, release aids along the jaws, knuckle underneath, knuckle over the top, string on the tip of his nose, minimal contact with the string on his face, looking straight through the peep sight. Now one other thing to consider along with this too, is if you've got your facial feature reference with the string on the tip, you've got your hand along the jawbone, but you're not quite feeling comfortable, one trick that I've used is to adjust the length of my loop accordingly. Sometimes I want a little shorter loop, or a little longer loop for better feel. Typically I'll go with a little bit longer loop indoors, because I'm looking to maintain those references, but I want to get my body around in a little more of a position to allow me to access the part of my back I'm using to execute the shot. Believe it or not Liam, just one small adjustment there can make a huge difference, as little as an eighth of an inch, a lot of people don't think about that. For me personally, I find that a little increase or decrease in loop length allows me to get the back half of my shot, using my scapula, into the correct position to actually execute the shot correctly, which is what we'll talk about later in the DVD. Now as far as loop material Liam, I go with the BCY, number 24, the 2.4 millimeter, with a polyester jacket in the SpectraCore, what's your favorite loop material, what do you use? I use exactly the same, the 2.4. My obvious choice for BCY, the 2.4 with the polyester jacket, allows me superior grip on my center serving, to prevent loop slip or loop spin, to maintain my peep sight alignment, and also with the SpectraCore for strength and for minimal stretch. This chapter of the video is brought to you by Kasa Enterprises, and we're going to discuss release execution, and we're also going to talk a little bit about the various types of release aid that are available to us on the market right now. Carter in my opinion, and Liam I'm sure you'll agree with this, is probably the best manufacturer of quality releases on the market. Currently right now they offer over 25 different models of releases, which span four categories, thumb style trigger releases, hinge pivoting style back tension releases, resistance style releases, and also strap releases. And I think the thing that stands out most about Carter, as you talked about a little earlier on, is just the sheer quality that you're getting with these products. Oh yeah, the quality is second to none. I mean, Jerry Carter has been manufacturing release aids for close to 20 years. All the parts are CNC'd out of very high quality materials, 6061 T6 aluminum, premium hardened stainless steel internal components, and good quality springs. I mean there's definitely no shortage of quality in these releases. You are getting what you pay for. Definitely. I mean myself, from a personal point of view, I've been shooting the Carter just because for I think a little over five years now, and it's the greatest release aid I've ever used and I see no reason for me to ever change that. Yeah, I've been shooting Carters. Carter was actually my first trigger release aid, and I picked one up probably in the mid 90s somewhere, and I believe I've still got that release in my collection. And they're flawless really. I mean they will stand the test of time in the elements, out in the rain, in the weather and what not. My Carter's never let me down. Absolutely not. Okay, so I guess the first style of release aid that we're going to look at Dave, is actually the back tension release as it's known. Or the hinge style release, which I prefer to call it because I think it paints a clearer picture of how it's supposed to be fired and activated. Yep. What is that one you've got there? This one I've got here is actually the Carter attention release. I've used this as a training aid now for many years and actually used this full time when I was a junior archer in the British junior team. Right, now this is the three finger retention we've got and I believe they make it in a four finger and a two finger as well, is that correct? That's correct Dave. And I think that's just a great example of how versatile some of these Carter products are. Note that they take a simple idea and they transfer it into loads of different smaller ideas so that it can be used and fits everyone better. Yeah, because I think varying on your style and what not, the different finger models and also the different shapes of handles. I know they've got the Colby, which is more of a straight handle if you prefer a straight handle or what not. Myself, I agree with you. When I'm training with a hinge style release aid, I really prefer to go with something that's got a little bit of a sweep to it. Because if I look at my hand, the shape of my hand, when I pull those knuckles over, they've got a radius and shape to it. Very much like the release aid itself. So for me that's very natural, very comfortable and it makes sense. Definitely. I think one of the main drawbacks of the hinge style release though, I find, is that it actually creates too much movement on my face when I'm actually trying to execute the shot. And that tends to be why I wouldn't use that release in a tournament, but I do see it as an excellent training aid. Yeah, I guess that all depends on your style and what not. We're very similar in anchor point. When I get really tight to my face like that, I do feel the movement and what. But it also depends on where I have the moon set for it. Now on this A-Tension and all the Carter hinge style releases, it features the RAS system, which is the rapid adjustment system. Back here in the back, if you loosen this set screw, back it out, there's a spring loaded pin in there that you can actually take the tension off of and you can hear it actually click, click, click, click, click, click, to make those real fine movements to get it exactly where you need it. So I guess the next style of release aid we could take a look at, Dave, is the resistance type of release aid. So a great example of that is the Evolution Plus that I've got right here. Now resistance style release aids, that's a release aid made by Carter that fires off a holding weight? Yeah, that's correct. So you actually hold down the safety as you pull back through the peak weight, then when you reach the desired anchor point, you take your thumb off the safety and then increase the pressure in the same way as we're going to talk about when we discuss shot execution, and that increase in pressure actually fires the release. So they're activated off a holding weight, so you'd probably set that normally a couple of three pounds above your holding weight would be my take on that. Three to four pounds I would guess. In the amount of time that I've spent on those, I've found them a very good training tool, but for out and out accuracy for me with a highly fine tuned motion on the back half and a finely fine tuned amount of tension, I had a hard time getting the out and out accuracy that I can get out of some of my other Carter releases. Definitely, I would agree wholeheartedly. I found that sometimes it created a little bit too much movement in the back end of my shot which in turn moved the front end of my shot. Through that engagement of it, right? Which upsets the aim of the bow and the way it holds just a little, but as a training aid I believe to learn the correct way of shooting, which is what we're trying to teach in this production, there's no other better training aid. Yeah, I've got to agree too and you've probably seen it with some of your students and I've seen it in my seminars. It does however get people to switch off the aiming and start thinking more about the pulling, the building tension and the motion, so they can get the shot to break and learn to trust the sight later on, definitely. Definitely and later on in this production we're going to do a little bit of talk about training methods and ... Yeah, and definitely talk about how we can incorporate that more. Now one thing I did notice here on the table is we've got a release aid called the back strap. It's a Carter release aid, back strap, it's also a resistance release aid that has a strap style on it. What's your take on this one, Liam? Well, I mean ... Strap style releases in general. We understand how the mechanism works, it's very similar to the Evolution. My opinion on the strap style release is that it doesn't give you the clean, consistent anchor points that you really need with a release. When we talked earlier about how the release needs to be locked into the vertical, horizontal and length axis perfectly each time in order to repeat that perfect shot, it's just my take in the experience I've had with students and with my own experience that I can't get this wrist strap style release to work just as well. Yeah, I don't think it complements our form and our fundamentals very well, but with that said though, I know I have and I'm probably sure you have, I've had my butt kicked by a number of people shooting these out on the field on any given day. It can happen, accuracy can definitely be attained, but I do agree, a little difficult to get an anchor, it just doesn't suit my style, I guess. Most definitely. We've also got over here the Attraction release, which is, it's like a hybrid, am I right, Dave? Yeah, I think the Attraction is definitely a cross between a trigger style release aid and a resistance style release aid. The Attraction, it's named the Attraction aptly, it's not a spring activated or a spring powered release aid, it actually operates off of two magnets in there that hold the sears together. Oh, right. And then I guess the fourth and final type of release that we're going to take a look at is going to be the thumb button release, right? Yeah, the thumb release, or I mean, probably for guys like you and me, this is our workhorse, this is our moneymaker right here, day in and day out. I've trusted thumb style releases for a heck of a long time and I'll probably be shooting them for a long time to come, but definitely the workhorse of the professional archery industry for sure. It's my opinion, and I think you'd probably agree with me when I say, this is the release which gives us the most consistent, most repeatable type of anchor point, and when we discussed anchors before, and you watched me and Dave draw back the bow and anchor in, it definitely showed how tight and solid and repeatable we can get these releases, am I right? Yeah, good solid anchor, a varied array of finger shapes, sizes, layouts, you've got two finger, three finger, four finger, radius, straight handle, you've got big releases, small releases, and like I mentioned before, Carter with over 25 different models, the majority of those are trigger releases, so you've got a really, really wide array, plus a different assortment of how you can set your thumb barrel up. You can go with a two peg like I try to use indoors, or you can go with a round barrel sometimes, just a lot of options with the trigger release. Definitely, and I think it's also our opinion, and the main reason why we do choose this thumb button style trigger release is because it creates the smallest amount of movement in the back end of our shot, which means the least disruption to our aiming picture and our whole shooting form, and that's why we choose it. Yeah, definitely with our style, when you reach that point of engagement after you draw back, load in, get the sight centered on the target, set your thumb on there, I mean you look at how much movement it takes to make this release aid fire, I'm literally moving five thousandths of an inch or so, the thickness of a single sheet of paper is really all the movement I have to have in my shot to make it break, versus some of the other ones, so definitely spot on with that. And me and you both actually use the same release, funny enough, which is the Just Because, and I would go as far as to say it's the quintessential trigger release. It is the quintessential trigger release for a top professional, or anyone that's looking for out and out accuracy, the Just Because release is actually the second release in the line of releases that I worked hand-in-hand with Carter to design, the first one was the Just Cause. The Just Cause was modeled very much like the Target 3 that I used to shoot, I wanted a little straighter handle, I wanted enhanced points between the fingers, so I could definitely nail down where my hand position was, and funny enough, the hole serves no purpose other than that, that's about it. I've always wanted a release with a hole in it, so they gave me one. And then like I said, the second one in the line, the quintessential release aid choice for top professionals or those seeking out and out accuracy, the Because. You've got a little more radius, a bigger hole, and more enhanced points between the fingers. And I also think that they put the interchangeable tension system in all these releases now, right? Yeah, that's pretty much standard across the line now. Every release comes with an assortment of springs. So that actually allows you to change the stiffness of the trigger mechanism. Yeah, now you've got two adjustments that you didn't have before, you've got travel, first and foremost, and then you can take the top screw out, dump the it's block out, throw another spring in there, and change tension. Back in the old days, you used to have to box it up, send it back to Carter, and they'd get it back to you. It's just another great example of how versatile all these releases and the Carter brand is in general, am I right? Straight across the board, they've got the widest range of releases, and like I said, we've discussed it already, they've got 25 different models, different shapes, sizes, finger placements. You want them with a hole, you want them without a hole, you want them straight, you want them radius. I mean, they've got them all. I don't think there's a need out there that Carter hasn't addressed within their release line. Most definitely.