Eye dominance

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fisherman1992

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I forget if I already asked but when I shoot my left handed bow with my right eye closed my bow moves to the right and I cant shoot

Im getting my PAL and am gonna try both eyes on the right

Basically what im asking is am I right eye dominant

Also the finger trick and the small triangle closing one eye i can see out of my right eye but ive been doing archery for awhile now and am getting a shotgun when I get my PAL

BTW I got a cornea transplant in my right eye and was legally blind for over a decade in that eye due to surgery complications that they fixed

That's why I shoot my bow left handed should I change I think im a decent shot

Sorry if I already posted this before
 
About the best way I found to do it is to get a partner. Both of you sit in chairs facing each other across a room - say 15 feet (5 meters) or so. Point your index finger at his/her nose - they will be able to see which eye you have your finger lined up with - done and done. I discovered that one of our granddaughters is left eye dominant that way.

Is also possible to check yourself without a partner - point at something a distance away with both eyes open. Now close one eye - did it move - yes or no. Now open the closed eye and try the other eye - did it move - yes or no. The eye that you closed and had movement is NOT your dominant eye. The eye that stayed open, and the image did not move, is your dominant eye. You will probably shoot better (or at least, aim better) if you use your dominant eye, but many "left eye dominant" people have fired right handed rifles.

Is an old time "dangerous game hunter" practice to fire your rifle off the wrong shoulder using the "wrong" eye. Imagine being right handed and right eye dominant - creeping through the bush looking for a wounded water buffalo - the threat emerges from your right side as you step forward with your right foot - how can you get the shot off the quickest - old time thinking was to freeze and fire off your left shoulder, and using your left eye to aim with.
 
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There was a girl in a Hunter Safety class that I taught in the 1980's. We always had a "range day" as part of that course. For shotgun, I had a fence post in the ground - maybe 20 paces from the firing line - I would hang a clay pigeon on that - most everyone would get that clay pigeon with their first shot - I was using a Cooey 12 gauge single shot with cheapie Canadian Tire ammo - probably #4 or #6 lead shot. Once they could hit the stationary clay, I would put a couple up with my spring powered thrower - straight away from the shooter - the "secret" was to wait until the thing "leveled out" in flight, then smoke it. That girl was missing the stationary clay pigeon - by standing behind her, I could see she was aiming way off to one side - yet she said she was seeing the round top of the receiver, with the barrel bead centred and on top of that receiver - how she was firing. It took me some time to figure out she was seeing the receiver with her right eye, and the bead on the barrel with her left eye - someone had told her to fire off her right shoulder. We swapped to her left shoulder - she smoked several clay pigeons on that fence post and then got several clays in the air. I realize now that we were "aiming" that shotgun - probably not a correct technique, but really helped me understand what "eye dominance" was about when shooting.

My last boss had been a USMC shooting Instructor in his younger days - as per him - he would get a group of new people - some from farms / some from cities - some previously experienced at shooting and some that had never held a gun before. Within a specified number of weeks, he was required to have X per cent of them pass their Marine Corps shooting test. Again, as per him, there was about many ways to do things, and most were the "wrong way" - unless it was the USMC way - that was the only correct way to do something. For him, you learned to shoot with iron sights, rear aperture sight, front post sight and both eyes open - as per him, any other way was "wrong". Marines had done that for circa 100 years, and felt no need to change that.
 
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It's best if you are right eye dominent to pull a bow with your right hand. The same goes for shooting a shotgun. Right eye dominent and use your right shoulder.
If you have to pull a bow with your right hand and it is your left eye that is dominent then you will have to squint or cover your left eye. The same for shooting a shotgun.

Or vise versa, it depends on which eye is dominent.

Take a tube about 3 feet long. Hold it between your two hands extended out. With both eyes open sight through the tube at something distant. Then without moving your hands or the tube, close one eye. If you are still looking at the same object you just closed your non dominent eye.

It is really that simple.
 
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Potashminer said:
About the best way I found to do it is to get a partner. Both of you sit in chairs facing each other across a room - say 15 feet (5 meters) or so. Point your index finger at his/her nose - they will be able to see which eye you have your finger lined up with - done and done. I discovered that one of our granddaughters is left eye dominant that way.

Is also possible to check yourself without a partner - point at something a distance away with both eyes open. Now close one eye - did it move - yes or no. Now open the closed eye and try the other eye - did it move - yes or no. The eye that you closed and had movement is NOT your dominant eye. The eye that stayed open, and the image did not move, is your dominant eye. You will probably shoot better (or at least, aim better) if you use your dominant eye, but many "left eye dominant" people have fired right handed rifles.

Is an old time "dangerous game hunter" practice to fire your rifle off the wrong shoulder using the "wrong" eye. Imagine being right handed and right eye dominant - creeping through the bush looking for a wounded water buffalo - the threat emerges from your right side as you step forward with your right foot - how can you get the shot off the quickest - old time thinking was to freeze and fire off your left shoulder, and using your left eye to aim with.
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I've done those tests im wondering if I should buy a right handed bow

When i close my left eye it moved to the right so I shoot with both eyes open to compensate

Also on top of my cornea transplant I have a ICD on my left side and cant shoot a shotgun on my left side so either way I have too shoot right handed

Im just wondering if im actually right eye dominant the guy who runs the archery club said he's almost 💯 sure im right eye dominant
 
guntech said:
It's best if you are right eye dominent to pull a bow with your right hand. The same goes for shooting a shotgun. Right eye dominent and use your right shoulder.
If you have to pull a bow with your right hand and it is your left eye that is dominent then you will have to squint or cover your left eye. The same for shooting a shotgun.

It is really that simple.
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When i did the safety course they had to aim a gun and my right eye wanted to take over

I was legally blind in that eye too now I had a cornea transplant and am recovering it takes a year too get glasses for that eye I had to get all 5 layers of my cornea transplanted
 
guntech said:
It's best if you are right eye dominent to pull a bow with your right hand. The same goes for shooting a shotgun. Right eye dominent and use your right shoulder.
If you have to pull a bow with your right hand and it is your left eye that is dominent then you will have to squint or cover your left eye. The same for shooting a shotgun.

It is really that simple.
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Its posting multiple times sorry for posting the same post
 
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guntech said:
It's best if you are right eye dominent to pull a bow with your right hand. The same goes for shooting a shotgun. Right eye dominent and use your right shoulder.
If you have to pull a bow with your right hand and it is your left eye that is dominent then you will have to squint or cover your left eye. The same for shooting a shotgun.

It is really that simple.
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ssupposedly brady ellison shoots cross eyed he's right handed and left eye dominant and I shoot decent with my left eye UNLESS I close my right eye
 
fisherman1992 said:
ssupposedly brady ellison shoots cross eyed he's right handed and left eye dominant and I shoot decent with my left eye UNLESS I close my right eye
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You are not shooting from your eye, you are shooting from your shoulder (either left or right). If your dominent eye is opposite of the shoulder being used you need to close it, so the shoulder and eye being used match up. Other wise you will be looking across the sight plane, not down it.

What Brady Ellison does matters not.
 
I have a problem basically of eyes that fight over it. :)

When I had lenses/glasses the optometrist adjusted them to help solve it but after cataract surgery and no need for lenses(after 50+ years of glasses) I do close the left eye and shoot right handed. Recently anyway.
 
Easy way…instinctively point at something 30 feet away with either hands index finger.

Close an eye- if you are still pointing at it your open eye is your dominant eye

If you are not pointing at it your closed eye is dominant
 
fisherman1992 said:
I've done those tests im wondering if I should buy a right handed bow

When i close my left eye it moved to the right so I shoot with both eyes open to compensate

Also on top of my cornea transplant I have a ICD on my left side and cant shoot a shotgun on my left side so either way I have too shoot right handed

Im just wondering if im actually right eye dominant the guy who runs the archery club said he's almost 💯 sure im right eye dominant
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Do the tests. KNOW which is your dominant eye. KNOW IT. Now which eye can you SEE your potential targets best with? If that is your dominant eye, then now you know what you NEED.

1.Right eye domnant.
2.You get a good visual with your right eye on what you be shooting at.
3. You NEED RIGHT HANDED equipment.

ALWAYS START with correct equipment and learn to use it. Don't handicap yourself on purpose when you are trying to learn some by using wrong equipment.

Then you are ready to start learning the "how to" of things.
 
4star60 said:
I have a problem basically of eyes that fight over it. :)

When I had lenses/glasses the optometrist adjusted them to help solve it but after cataract surgery and no need for lenses(after 50+ years of glasses) I do close the left eye and shoot right handed. Recently anyway.
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Shotguns and archery are completely different disciplines. But you do what to use equipment matching your dominant eye for anything other that blind in that eye. Then you switch your equipment to match the only eye you got.

Short of blindness, you want to always shoot clays, moving targets, shotguns with BOTH EYES OPEN. I assume you DRIVE with both eyes open and "aim" your car down the road. So it is with shotguns. You point them, you don't aim them. Stand up straight facing square with a target. Close your eyes and shoulder the weapon under your dominate eye. The stock should be on your shoulder, cheek touching the come and when you open your eyes you should be looking straight down the barrel. IF IT FITS YOU.

If you don't have a top shotgun instructor to help you, you can get one set of Tom Knapp's Easy Hit Shotgun Sight, to install on the gun you want to practice with most. It is more than just an "easy hit fix". It is a LEARNING AID to help you develop proper and CONSISTANT placement of the gun for shooting.
 
Not much help here other than to bring up potential alternating eye dominance. I have that. Whichever eye is the least restricted visually takes over. It's a huge PITA when it comes to shooting.

I don't have to fully close my left eye but I shut it just enough to make things blurry to force my right to take over. If I switch shoulders the problem switches sides. No matter which side I shoulder with iron sights I see the side of the barrel because that eye, the one with the clearest view takes over.
 
I am strongly right handed - and just as strongly left eye dominant. A shotgun ‘should’ be targeted with both eyes open. I have tried all the gimmicks and tricks and can advise they don’t solve the problem although some help a bit. I tried shooting left handed but my patience ran out. I found the best solution for me was to train myself to close my left eye as I shouldered the gun. It’s not ideal but it helps. I am routinely advised by fellow shooters to keep both eyes open and I just as routinely ignore them. Go with what works for you.
In retrospect (I’m now old) I think I should have given the left handed shooting a longer try. If you are coordinated enough on your opposite side I’d recommend giving it a serious try. Otherwise try the tricks and gimmicks and figure out what works best for you.
 
fisherman1992 said:
I forget if I already asked but when I shoot my left handed bow with my right eye closed my bow moves to the right and I cant shoot

Im getting my PAL and am gonna try both eyes on the right

Basically what im asking is am I right eye dominant

Also the finger trick and the small triangle closing one eye i can see out of my right eye but ive been doing archery for awhile now and am getting a shotgun when I get my PAL

BTW I got a cornea transplant in my right eye and was legally blind for over a decade in that eye due to surgery complications that they fixed

That's why I shoot my bow left handed should I change I think im a decent shot

Sorry if I already posted this before
Click to expand...
Whatever you are comfortable with and getting good results with
 
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