How to Line Up Your Sight When Archery Shooting

Archery is an ancient form of hunting, with arrow heads found in Africa dating back to 50,000 B.C. In modern archery, peep sights are used to line up arrows with the archery targets. Lining up your sight correctly can make the difference between striking or missing the target. It is important that you use the same bow and arrows when practicing so that you perform consistent shots.

Instructions

    • 1

      Hold your bow and identify the peep sight. This is a round or circular frame that is positioned in the middle of the bow, at the point where the arrow head is positioned when it is ready to be released. You need to know where it is because this is the point at which you look through to line up the shot.

    • 2

      Load the bow with the arrow.

    • 3

      Stand up straight, and lift the bow into the firing position. Draw your elbow back so that the arrow is at shoulder height, while the bow is perpendicular to your body. The hand that is releasing the arrow should be next to your cheek.

    • 4

      Look through the peep sight. Line up the color index on your sight that matches your distance from the target.

    • 5

      Focus your eyes back and forth between the center of the target, and the colored tab in the peep sight. They should cover one another when the shot is lined up and ready to be fired. Close your left eye (if you are firing with your right arm), and squint to focus these two points together.

    • 6

      Move your arm that is holding the bow to re-position it, if the peep sight and target do not line up. Make small movements to move it up, down, left and right to adjust the position of the peep sight gradually. Keep the hand drawing the arrow back steady.

    • 7

      Fire the arrow. If the arrow misses the target, your body position or the angle at which you hold the bow could be wrong, so change these. Keep lining up the peep sight with the target for each shot to have the best chance of hitting the target.