How To Aim A Recurve Bow – With & Without Sights

Aiming a recurve bow is typically more challenging than aiming a longbow or compound bow. 

Unlike compound bows, recurve bows often do not have any advanced mechanical aids. You have to hold it at its full draw weight every time you shoot, which often causes fatigue, especially among beginners. 

Shooting a recurve bow also requires significant muscle control. The recurved limbs store more energy than straight-limbed bows, which means your arrows will travel faster than expected. Even small errors in technique and form could send your arrows off target.            

In this comprehensive guide, I will discuss the important points for precisely aiming a recurve bow with and without sights. 

Let’s begin!

Aiming a recurve bow with sights 

Traditional archery is all about unaided shooting, letting your instinct and muscle memory guide you. But it can take years to master the art. That’s why many people prefer using sights for more accurate, consistent shots.  

Before diving into the aiming process, let’s look at the types of sights and how they are used.  

What are archery sights?

Archery sights are small accessories that help archers aim accurately. They attach to the riser, i.e., the handle of the bow, and provide a reference point so you can correctly align the bow towards the target. 

Types of sights 

There are two main types of sights available for recurve bows. You can choose any of them depending on your experience, preference, and shooting style.     

Movable sights and optical sights are also available, but they are too complex and mostly used for competitive sports. 

Benefits of using sights

The main reason people use sights is to reduce errors and shoot accurately with every shot. Here’s how they help. 

• Sights minimize distractions from the view and help you concentrate on the target.
• They eliminate guesswork, especially when shooting at varying distances. 
• Instinctive shooting is hard to master, and an archer may lose their motivation quickly. Sights can help with the learning process. You can start with these aids, and when you have learned proper form and technique, you can upgrade to the instinctive shooting method. 

If this works for you, here’s how you can use sights to ensure better accuracy of your shots. 

How to use sights  

While sights are fairly simple tools, using them is not as simple as staring at the pin and shooting. You need to adjust or calibrate them to ensure accuracy. 

Sight calibration 

Here’s a 3-step guide to calibrating or aligning your sight correctly so you can shoot accurately at any distance.

1. Stand at about 20 yards from your target. 
2. Shoot 3-5 arrows and see where they land with respect to your target point.
3. Use the table below to adjust your sight.

Once you have made the initial adjustment, shoot a bunch of arrows again and see where they land. Repeat the process again until you start hitting the target point almost accurately. 

Now, increase your distance to 30 yards and repeat the above steps until you have 50 yards, which is the maximum effective shooting range of a recurve bow.   

That’s all about using archery sights for aiming. 

Now, let’s learn three fundamental processes that you should follow while using sights.  

3 things to keep in mind when using sights

As I said above, sights are reference points to help you aim instead of shooting intuitively. Here’s how you can use them correctly. 

Keep both eyes on your target 

This is a crucial aspect of traditional archery. 

Even when using sights, you are not supposed to be overly concerned about aiming. So, do not stare at the pin. Instead, concentrate on your target with both eyes and let the pin fall into place as you gaze. This helps your brain process the visual information more accurately, giving you a more accurate sense of the target’s distance and depth. 

Using both eyes reduces eye strain, especially during extended archery sessions. 

Choose an anchor point and use it consistently 

An anchor point is the place where the archer’s draw hand rests against their body when at full draw. It is usually the corner of the mouth, chin, jawline, or nose. 

Try multiple points and choose the one that you find most comfortable. Stick to this point consistently because your anchor point directly affects your arrow’s trajectory.     

Assess your accuracy and adjust your sight 

This is a continuous process.

After every round of shooting, evaluate where your arrows have landed with respect to the target point. Identify the pattern and adjust the position of the sight to fix recurring issues. 

If there is no pattern, you probably need to work on your form and technique.   

My comprehensive blog on shooting a recurve bow has valuable tips on maintaining good form and technique in archery.  

While sights can help novice archers, you would eventually want to shoot without them, just the way the ancient warriors did. Let’s explore the basics of aiming a recurve bow using your natural instincts and body awareness.  

How to aim a recurve bow without sights 

There are several ways to ‘aim a recurve bow without aiming,’ and these methods have a rich history of thousands of years.

Just in case you are interested, my blog on what a recurve bow is briefly mentions its history and explains its structure so you know how it works.   

Coming back to traditional archery styles, here are the three main techniques.  

Instinctive shooting

In this technique, you completely rely on your mind’s ability to judge the distance and shoot without explicitly aiming. For this, you need to establish strong eye-mind-body coordination.    

Although this sounds like quite a lot of work, it is actually as simple as throwing a ball to a friend or tossing a wrapper into the bin. You don’t calculate the angle or force; you just trust your instinct. 

Here’s a brief 5-step guide to master the art of purely instinctive shooting. 

1. Start shooting from a close range, possibly 10-20 yards. Let your muscles get used to shooting without any aids. 
2. Practice every day. Instinctive archery requires discipline and consistency. The more you shoot, the more muscle memory you develop and the better you become. 
3. Focus on the target. Do not look at your arrow or any reference point. Fix your eyes on target so everything else becomes blurry. 
4. Visualize your shots. Imagine the arrow’s path and choose your shooting position accordingly. 
5. When you are ready, choose a farther distance. Gradually increase the distance and see how it affects your shots. Keep adjusting your position as needed.      

Shooting without any reference point can be a bit challenging. That’s why many archers prefer gap shooting, where the tip of the arrow is used as a reference point to help guide your shots. 

Let’s look at the details. 

Gap shooting 

The ‘gap’ here means the visual distance between the tip of the arrow and your target point. You estimate the distance visually and align the reference point, i.e., the tip of the arrow with the target.

The rest of the process is the same as shooting with sights.   

Gap shooting requires practice in estimating distances and changing your shooting angle accordingly.

Here are 2 tips that can make things easier. 

1. Find your point-on distance, i.e., the distance from which you can aim directly at the target point and hit it accurately.  
2. When shooting at a distance shorter than the point-on distance, you need to aim below the target point. Similarly, when shooting larger distances, aim higher. 

With practice, you will develop an intuitive memory to adjust your gap based on your point-on distance quickly.  

Let’s look at the third technique of instinctive archery; the string walking method. 

String Walking

As you can guess from its name, you make your fingers ‘walk’ on the bowstring and adjust the angle of the arrow to hit the target effectively. 

The string walking method is the same as the gap shooting method.

• You start by figuring out your point-on distance, which is the distance at which you can shoot the target by aiming directly at it.  
• If your target is shorter than the point-on distance, move your fingers down the string. If the target is farther, move the fingers up. This movement of fingers is known as crawling in archery. 
• You can use a crawl tab to mark the position of your fingers for future reference.   

Just like other methods, string walking also requires consistent practice and self-analysis.  

Thats it! 

Now that you have learned how to aim a recurve bow, let’s understand the pros and cons of shooting with and without sights. 

Pros and Cons of Shooting with and Without Sights

The table below explains the unique advantages and challenges of each of these methods so that you can make an informed decision. 

The above-mentioned methods of aiming a recurve bow are perfect for recreational archers, hunters, as well as those who are into competitive sports. Your choice should depend on personal preference, skill level, and your goals.     

Key Takeaways 

Aiming a recurve bow, whether with or without sights, requires practice and patience. You need to evaluate your results and refine your strategy continuously. 

Consistency is key. It sharpens your aim tactics and helps build muscle memory so you can quickly gauge distance and other factors and adjust your technique accordingly. 

However, this intensive practice can damage your bowstrings. Here’s how to string and unstring your recurve bow when needed. 

Good luck, and keep practicing!