How To Shoot a Bow

THE ARCHER stood astride the shooting line with his left side toward the target. He shifted his feet until they were planted about 15 inches apart with the shooting line between them. He looked at the target, then made some final movements of his feet until he was satisfied the position would give him perfect balance.

His bow was in his left hand with the back down and the string up. From his right side, suspended from his belt, was a quiver containing six arrows. The quiver was not perpendicular; it tilted at an angle of some 200 so that the open end rested at a point about even with the bottom of his pants' pocket. With the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, on which he wore a finger tab, he grasped an arrow by the nock and removed it from the quiver. The left hand moved forward with the wrist up, which placed the bow horizontally in front of him. He laid the arrow across the bow and steadiedit with the forefinger of his left hand. With his right hand he turned the arrow so that the cock feather pointed upward and carefully fitted it on the string. He then turned the right hand so that the palm was up and placed it under the string, fitting the nock in the slit of the tab which placed the nock betwee nthe first and second fingers. He adjusted the three drawing fingers so that the bow string rested on the pads of the three drawing fingers. Both hands were then lowered and to the left, which placed the bow, again, with the back toward the ground. He looked at the target again, straightened his shoulders and inhaled deeply. He lifted both arms upward until the arrow was level with the target and the bow was in a perpendicular position. The left arm was extended forward with the elbow pointing to the left. The left shoulder was down. The left hand loosely held the bow. The right elbow was elevated so that the forearm and hand were in direct line with the arrow. With a combination of biceps, shoulder, and back muscles, he seemed to stretch thus pulling the string with the arrow backward to the region of the throat. The right hand straightened out; the only parts of the hand that were not straight were the last joints of the drawing fingers. The right hand came to rest at the throat where it was snugly anchored with the jaw bone resting on the forefinger and the bowstring touching the chin near its center. The string may have, also, touched the end of his nose. His head was shifted so that the string appeared to be online with the left edge of the pupil of the right eye. His bow was equipped with a sight that had been previously adjusted. The bow was cradled in the left hand, the fingers not touching the bow handle. The left arm was extended rigidly forward.The string was pulled until the pile was on the arrow rest. The archer carefully aimed, placing the sight on the gold or the center of the target. The arrow did not creep forward.

With the right hand firmly pressed against his anchor, it seemed to perform two movements in unison. The hand crept slightly backward and the drawing fingers slightly relaxed thus loosing the arrow which sped on its unerring way to be quivered in the gold......

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