Aiming the arrow: The Bow and Dynamic Spine

     Knowing your bow, learning how it shoots before sorting through the arrow tuning process...I know, I know...I keep repeating that.  Well,  it's important to understand that concept now that we're diving into the arrow build and understanding dynamic arrow spine.

     We've discussed how the Hill style longbow, held correctly and shot in a fluid, bent elbow manner, will allow the bow to be pushed slightly to the side by a stiff arrow, and will also allow a weaker arrow to flex around the bow, hence giving a wider range of arrow spines to work out of the same bow.  We've discussed how the spine ranges of arrow spine groups can vary, and how having this flexibility of shooting a wider range of spines helps simplify the arrow making process.  These components of form and tackle contribute to make the Hill style longbow more forgiving of shooting errors when under the duress of a critical shot, and make it easier to build matched, good shooting arrows.  

     However, there are components to longbow design, especially when calling it the Hill style longbow, that are detrimental to this process and to which not many shooters give it a thought.  I'm thinking of two things in particular...heavy risers and bow quivers.

    The Hill style of longbow is a physically light weight bow, much like the old target or English style longbows that predated it and they all shared this aspect;  they all would allow the bow to move in a firm yet relaxed grip and bent bowarm.  Nowadays, with the common practice of guys wanting to make their ASL / Hillstyle longbow shoot and feel like their heavy recurve or R/D bow, they opt for G10, phenolic, Ironwood, or other heavy mass handle types which are much harder for the stiff arrow to push aside. In addition to the physically heavier bow weight, the arm is held more rigidly to stabilize the shot and the shot becomes more static in form, even if still done quickly.  If the bow can't move, the arrow must.  Gone with the heavy bow is the ability to shoot stiffer arrows and the arrow spine range that the bow will shoot just got more narrow.  A counter-move to this phenomena is the bowyer's tendency to make the bow more centershot, to make it more arrow spine adaptable...now we've got the dog chasing its tail again and the ASL / Hill style longbow gets further from being just that.   Some of these heavy weight bows are extremely sensitive to arrow spine and the arrow needs to flex so much to clear the bow, that it may cause fletching to hit the shooters hand / fingers upon release.  

     Adding a bowquiver to the ASL / Hillstyle longbow will do basically the same thing.  More mass...and proponents say the mass weight helps their bow arm be more stable...keeps the bow from moving to the side under pressure from a stiff arrow.  The shooter's form also takes a little more rigidity, the bow arm gets a little straighter and the hold is just a little longer and once again, softer arrows of a narrower spine range are needed.  With the softer arrows comes the demand for more perfect shooting form, especially under duress, and the more chances for something to fail...ie, the arrow doesn't hit the deer where the eyes are looking and it lacks sufficient energy and speed to get good penetration.  So the shooter is forced to concentrate on shooting with more perfect form and becomes more static to control the shot,  the dog chasing its tail again.  

     I love a bowquiver on a recurve.  That combo shoots very well for me.  But it's not an ASL / Hillstyle longbow, so why force those components to mix together to give results that aren't as simple and flexible?

    Let's go back to shooting the Hill style longbow the way it was meant to be, the way it became a style of bow design back in the day as a progression of archery tackle from target archery to the hunting fields.  Committing to shooting in the Hill style form, using Hill style tackle and understanding how it all fits together will reap great benefits in simplistic, accurate shooting.

     We've perhaps heard the story of how Hill would sort his arrows and group them by bundles based on how they shot.  Arrows that grouped in the middle were one group, arrows that flew left of the line or right of the line were grouped accordingly.  Also recorded is him shooting groups of arrows at a certain bush or other item before going out hunting for the day, to make sure his eye was on and the arrows were flying well. We read that in passing without giving it much though...he was "spining arrows" we assume.  I believe there's more to it.  He was sorting arrows to see what arrows shot well from which bows, that's pretty obvious, and would shoot the various arrow groups from different bows as needed.  Let's look at this from a dynamic arrow spine standpoint of "aiming the arrow".  If the arrow spine is correct for the bow, it will shoot to the point at which it is aligned.  Period.  If the spine is a little stiff and the arrow pushes the bow to the side or if the arrow spine is a little weak and flexes more, they will still fly the line to the point at which it's directed.  Within reason of course.  Let's think of this scenario:

     If Hill was shooting a bunch of arrows, and some of the arrows flew to the right out of a particular bow...what if his mindset was not to shoot the arrows out of a different bow, but to adjust his shooting of that particular bow to fit the arrow?  What if he had chosen a certain bow for the task at hand, and didn't have a bunch of arrows sorted out for that particular bow?  I have never heard or read that aspect of his shooting before but based on shooting my personal bows, this concept is extremely valid.  Knowing how your bows shoot, knowing their nuances, can allow the shooter to make adjustments.  Hill said, "the secret is in the hands".  There's that statement again.  How does it apply here?  If the arrow is shooting to the right, for a right-handed shooter like Hill, there would be two main causes brought to mind:  The arrow is underspined weak, or the arrow is very stiff and physically heavy enough to push the bow to the side more than usual...or the third, plausible cause...the bow is held in a manner, due to grip shape or size, that made the bow react differently in Hill's hands than his other bows.  If the grip shape and size could force the hand into a position that would allow the bow to move differently upon release, the arrows would fly "off-line", or are they really?  My personal shooting says "not".  

       I have a particular longbow, named White Eagle in deference to Hill's White Eagle bow,  which I made 15 years ago.   I shoot that bow very well and have shot a lot of game with it.  It shoots to the right.  Yep.  If I just swing up and shoot in my fluid motion, which takes about one second, the arrow flies right of my chosen target.  The arrows are wrong spine huh?   Nope.  I shoot the same arrows from it as from all my bows.  Here's the thing...if I align the arrow with the point I want the arrow to go, it flies there perfectly.  I aim the arrow, not the bow.  The grip shape on that particular bow, feels super good to my hand, but it allows my hand to naturally hold it to the right. It may be the way the bow recoils in my hand at the shot, it may be a touch small for my hand if I get really particular about it.  But I don't need to.  "The secret is in the hands".  I have shot that bow enough, I know "where it shoots".  I pick it up and within two or three shots the arrows are flying directly where my eye is looking, on line to the spot.  I can shoot up to 15# of spine range all into the same line of sight.  But the bow likes to be held a little differently in my hand than my other bows. I hold it a certain way, and within a few shots I don't think about it, because I know how the bow shoots,  I learned the bow and then started tuning arrows and I found the bow forgiving of shooting errors and arrow variances which makes it a very accurate bow for hunting under varied conditions. Being able to shoot the same arrows, relative to bow weight, out of multiple bows is a nice benefit 

      To me, this is what Hill was doing when he was shooting the arrows at a bush to start his day, and which I also do when I get out of the truck to begin hunting or roving.  He was getting a feel for the chosen bow of the day and to where it shot his arrows.  I shoot at a long range target a few times to get the feel of the bow, how it fits into my hand, and let the mind adjust to the arrow path.  Shooting with the fluid form, and loosely firm bowhand and bent elbow allows the bow to move as needed, and each bow I have can shoot the same arrows, all the same.  I think this is utter simplicity of tackle and what helps make the Hill style longbow so forgiving, and also more appealing.

     The more I would rob the bow of this forgiveness by making it really heavy (by wood or bowquiver weight) and less forgiving of arrow spine, the more I would hinder my own shooting abilities to perform a quality shot under duress.  Bending the bow to fit my desires of what I think a bow should feel like when shot instead of learning how the bow shoots, in my opinion, isn't the best recipe for field / hunting shot success.  It can work, yes, but it hinders the simplicity of the Hill style and it hinders the ability to...

    Shoot Straight.