Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Right handed but left eye dominant.

horkeymike

Member
My six year old son is right handed but left eye dominant (has a right handed bow passed down from his older brother). He loves to shoot his bow but looks across the string when he shoots and i can see he is struggling with it. My question is should i buy him a left handed bow or get him a eye patch and have him shoot with his non dominant eye? I would love for him to shoot with both eyes open just not sure how to teach him that and feel we need to get the basics down first. Would like to hear from anyone that can relate to this from personal experience. Thanks.
 
When I first got into shooting guns as a child I was right handed and left eye dominant. This was long before I really had any idea about archery or shooting a bow period, but I had a passion for hunting period. My father started out getting me an eye patch for shooting and practicing in the yard. With my passion at a young age I realized I needed to practice closing my left eye when shooting until it became muscle memory. How I did this was when sitting around I would hold my left eye closed with my hand and release until my muscles got used to holding the eyelid shut. After practice with hand assistance I moved to learning how to close my eye alone and holding it. After a lot of practice I moved to shooting a gun with my left eye closed while my dad coached me making sure I wasn't leaning over the weapon. It's a very slow and gradual process so be patient with him, but it's well worth the time in the end!!! Now as an adult I'm comfortable shooting and hitting anything during gun season, and regularly shoot 37-40 out of 40 during qualification in the National Guard. Only use the patch until he gets a little older, and move onto muscle memory training in the future! You won't regret finding a solution to the problem, and it's great bonding/coaching/practice with father and son!
 
I too am primarily right handed, but left eye dominant. I started shooting left handed from the very beginning and continue to do so today. I think I would have a very difficult time shooting right handed. I would tend to let the youngster go with his natural tendencies and shoot lefty.

Now then, and assuming you are the opposite of your son, be forewarned...at some point in the future when the two of you are hunting out of the same stands that your boy will tell you, "Dad, we need to move that stand, it is set up all wrong, it is for lefties(righties), blah, blah, blah...". :D

At least that has been my experience with my boys. :D They accuse me of setting all the stands up for lefties, as they are righties and I am the only lefty. But the positive...I now have them help me set stands, so I don't have to do it all myself. :D
 
My son is the exact same - 6 years old, right handed and left eye dominate - he shoots a left-handed bow. My wife and father are the same way - right handed but left-eye dominate - and they both shoot bow left handed as well. It is extremely common.

No question, get him a left handed bow. I deal with dozens of right handed but left eye dominant people every year in the shop, they all shoot left handed bows without problem. If you try to force him to shoot right handed he will have issues all of his life.
 
I got LASIK this past fall and with the battery of tests they did they quickly determined I was right-handed/left-eye dominate.

It made me think back to when my dad was teaching me to shoot, I always wanted to reach across the stock and look through the scope with my left eye. I guess I just naturally learned to use my right eye. Looking back I probably would've been a lot better with a left handed gun/bow.

If you can work with him, I'd teach him to use his right eye and shoot right-handed as obviously He will have much greater selection in bows and guns.
 
The girlfriend is the same way, we got her an eye patch for hunting situations, and now have a left handed bow for her to practice with a little bit. She currently shoots a right handed bow and is great target shooting because she can keep her calm, as soon as a deer got in front of her, it went haywire...so solution is an eye patch as we work on muscle memory now
 
My son is the exact same - 6 years old, right handed and left eye dominate - he shoots a left-handed bow. My wife and father are the same way - right handed but left-eye dominate - and they both shoot bow left handed as well. It is extremely common.

No question, get him a left handed bow. I deal with dozens of right handed but left eye dominant people every year in the shop, they all shoot left handed bows without problem. If you try to force him to shoot right handed he will have issues all of his life.

^^^^^^For sure. I shot right handed, but left eye dom. I taught myself, shot right handed for 15 years. It was tough and backwards at first but got used to the left handed bow real fast. Sure made shooting fish alot easier!
 
Go with a lefty bow. Closing one eye means way less depth perception/peripheral vision - 2 eyes open wins.

Will also help him develop some additional dexterity, which will never hurt.
 
Left all the way. Both my eyes are about the same and I can shoot both ways. I write with my right hand but was a switch hitter is baseball, left better than right. I feel much more comfortable when its crunch time shooting left. But, I hold a hand gun in my right. I wouldn't force him into an unnatural change, just my opinion.
 
My daughter is the same. I have her using an eye patch for now. She's slowly getting better with her eye control. No reason to make it harder on them at a young age.
 
I am right handed and very left eye dominant. My first bow was given to me and was a righty. At age 41, I sure wish that I would have started left handed. It is impossible for me to shoot both eyes open. I shoot well enough, just wish I would have started lefty. I do shoot long guns lefty though.

If it were my child, I would go with a left handed bow.
 
Check out archery innovations website. I have found that the anchor sight they make is perfect for my eye situation. Easy to keep both eyes open. I will not go back to a peep and have used this since it first came out. Takes practice to start out but it is amazing!
 
I'm left eye dominant and do everything right handed. Sometimes I shoot with both eyes open, sometimes I close my left eye. It has never made a difference for me. Never had a problem.
 
Do whatever works for him, everyone is different. I'm the same way as he is and I just close my left eye. My brother said when he went to sniper school the main reason they shot with both eyes open was because it reduces strain on your eyes caused from closing one. Whatever gain there may be from having both eyes open is null if it's not comfortable for him to shoot.
 
Last edited:
I'm left eye dominant and do everything right handed. Sometimes I shoot with both eyes open, sometimes I close my left eye. It has never made a difference for me. Never had a problem.

X2!! I am the exact same way! I can shoot a gun left handed almost as well as right handed but still prefer to shoot right, tho i am left eye dominant.. only shoot my bow right! shot right handed for yrs with no problems before i even knew what eye dominance even was!!
 
My daughter is the same. Get a left haneed bow. I see this all the time. Way more than you would think.
 
Maybe a dumb question here.....I hold my bow with my left hand and my release is on my right hand, am I shooting left or right handed?

When I make that triangle with my hands and stare at an object in the triangle and bring my hands back to my face my hands come back to my left eye, so I am left eye dominate, correct?

I have spells where I struggle with target panic and I am not very proficient past 35 yards, but practice quite a bit. I'm self taught with pretty much everything shooting/hunting, so I'm sure there are things I could learn. I shoot both eyes open.
 
Maybe a dumb question here.....I hold my bow with my left hand and my release is on my right hand, am I shooting left or right handed? When I make that triangle with my hands and stare at an object in the triangle and bring my hands back to my face my hands come back to my left eye, so I am left eye dominate, correct? I have spells where I struggle with target panic and I am not very proficient past 35 yards, but practice quite a bit. I'm self taught with pretty much everything shooting/hunting, so I'm sure there are things I could learn. I shoot both eyes open.

Shooting right handed.
 
Your shooting a right hand bow. Center an object in a triangle in your hands. Close one eye at a time which ever eye the object stays centered in is your dominate eye.
 
Top Bottom