How to Shoot a Bow With Two Eyes Open

Most people's natural reaction to aiming a bow or gun is to squint or to close an eye to focus more intently on the target. When your eyes focus on a specific spot at a distance, they tend to divide the image---only one of which is the real target. You can train to aim with both of your eyes open by distinguishing your dominant eye from the non-dominant and practicing focus with both.

Things You'll Need

  • Bow
  • Paper
  • Scissors
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Instructions

    • 1

      Determine which of your eyes is dominant. Take a piece of paper and cut a 1/4-inch square hole in the center. Raise the piece of paper up an arm's length in front of you and focus both of your eyes on a distant object through the hole. Slowly bring the piece of paper toward your face while keeping focus on the object. Continue this until the paper is right against your nose. Whichever eye keeps the best focus will dominate and eventually clarify the object better than the other.

    • 2

      Use a bow that has a peep hole. When you pull the bowstring, you are combining the far sight of the peep with the near sight line of the bowstring. If you are right-handed, you will pull the bowstring toward your right eye, and left-handed people will pull the bowstring toward their left eye.

    • 3

      Aim at the target with both eyes open, aligning the rear sight of the bowstring and the far sight of the peep. If you are right-handed and your right eye is dominant, you will pull the bowstring with your right hand to your right eye and will therefore view the target with your left eye. Once your vision splits the image of the target, aim toward the left far sight image and the right target image.

    • 4

      Squint your non-dominant eye if you see a split target. Keeping both eyes open allows for a larger field of view, so not only will it bring more light into your eyes, but will also bolster the depth of the target. Closing one eye is a sure way to determine which eye is in control of the target sight, but aiming with both eyes open will open up your field of vision and can be a fast way to gain precision with practice. Practice aiming with both eyes open every time you shoot. It takes a lot of practice and control to learn this method so keep trying!