Right hander using left eye...does it ever work?

Easytigers

New member
Hi All,
My son (8yrs old who is on the autistic spectrum) has been shooting for a little while now and we've only recently realised (since moving to longer distances) that he's left eye dominant. He's shooting compound with a peep sight and recurve pin (strange combination I know but he really likes it). At 10 and 20yrds he pretty much can keep it within the gold but at 30+ he's having to aim 9 o'clock black white.

He can't close his left eye (after many hours of trying) and he's hypersensitive and can't bear to wear an eye patch...so I guess I'm asking if there are any solutions other than trying to retrain him to a leftie...only thing is...he's pretty good and don't want to know his confidence. A club member has cunningly fitted a second sight pin to the first so that he can aim at 30 btw.

Many thanks for the advice as I know that if a big change has to be made, then it needs to be done sooner rather than later...

Kind regards,
Easytigers
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
I have a damaged right eye so shoot right handed using my left eye. The sight aperture has to be moved well out to the left compared to a right eye sight aperture. I have mine on an extension thread ( 8-32 if a recurve sight like mine).
It took only a couple of shots to get used to aiming with the left eye through the extended sight aperture. I think it sounds like your son is already using his leftt eye to see the sight.
The thing that surprised me was that the string picture coming from my right eye ( blurred but aren't they for everyone) put the string right beside the sight aperture as seen with my left eye. It was just like seeing the string and sight together when using one eye.
I don't use a peep because my damaged right eye shows the hole as a clover leaf of holes and it just confuses me. Your son is already using his right eye for his peep I assume, so he should see things as normal with that eye.
What I did was to extend the sight threaded rod by the distance between my eyes, about 2 inches. That means I am looking along a line that is parallel to normal but 2" to the left. At long range 2" to one side of the X is ok. At 20y it isn't so good. I have to wind the sight in towards the right in order to get X's at 20y. The first time I tried it at 5y in my garage, the arrows landed 2" to the right; then I realised why.Heehee.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
PART 2
I have seen compounders shooting right handed and aiming with their left eye using a normal sight.
What they do is turn their head less so they see the target more with their left eye. They draw their release aid under their jaw( wrist strap type,) so the string aligns with their left eye. It looks so much like a normal way of shooting that when I first saw the photographs, it was some time before I realised they were shooting in an unusual way. I think that would be the easiest way for your son, as regards changing things.
If you want to try this for yourself without shooting, all you do is draw under your jaw as normal and turn your head away a little till your left eye sees the string. You can even try without a bow, just draw to full draw posture and turn your head away. If you close your right eye when you get to full draw you will easily see when your head is turned sufficiently to aim with the left eye.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
I made my own joint and threaded on a second sight pin.
Sometimes 8-32" is difficult to get hold of but M 4 is just about the same. I made a sleeve and tapped an M4 hole through. I had some M4 rod and both it and the 8-32" screw in well and stop when they meet. If someone at your club has M4 but not 8-32 that could be an option. Depending on the sight block that takes the threaded rod, the M4 may feel tight to adjust, so M4 for the extension would be better. Then you need to screw on a sight aperture. A normal 8-32" will fit on and being a bit tight is no problem.
It is sometimes possible to get extended sight pins but I have never tried that route.
It is also possible to buy a second 8-32" sight pin , and join that to the original. I took out the original and threaded it through the block the wrong way round. Then join the other sight pin and aperture using the threaded sleeve. An M4 threaded sleeve works well.
I ended up with an aperture on each end but a judge saw that I was unable to see the one on the wrong end, when shooting, so accepted it.
As you can see, I have made extensions in a couple of different ways and I mentioned the M4 version simply because the rods and taps to make the sleeve are more readily available.
The drawing to the left eye is the least kit intensive way to go, and allows the aiming eye the chance to do the peep and front sight, which in theory is better.
If you get stuck with the extension sleeve, I can make you a couple easily enough.
 

bimble

Well-known member
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Fonz Awardee
Ironman
AIUK Saviour
Maja Marcen who shoots for Colombia is an archer who shoots right handed, but uses her left eye. You can see her shooting in this video

[video=youtube;1wcPwm95xIA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wcPwm95xIA[/video]
 

dgmultimedia

Supporter
Supporter
Probably a little difficult to get a similar draw length for a child though. Can only be done like that with a wrist release and adjusting the D loop length looks critical.
A slight aside is she allowed to shoot both arrows into the same ( right ) target face? And therefore force one other team member to do the same but on the left face.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

bimble

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A slight aside is she allowed to shoot both arrows into the same ( right ) target face? And therefore force one other team member to do the same but on the left face.
yes, as long as there's no more than three arrows in each target at the end of the end it's fine. Some teams do it that way if one team member prefers to only have to aim at one target, rather than at both.
 

GoneBad

Member
I am left eye dominant and shoot right handed. I have come up with 2 simple solutions. The first was to get an old baseball cap and cut a slit into the peak about 1.5 inches deep directly over the left eye. The left side of the peak can then be folded down. This allowed me to see with both eyes looking straight ahead but obscures the left eye when shooting the bow. My second solution is buying a cheap pair of clip-on flip-up sunglasses (?2.99 fleabay), cutting off the right hand lens and poking the clips through the peak. This allows me to flip the obscuring lens up out of the way.
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