@greystravels replied to your photo “Celebrated May Day with a few hours of shooting ��”
The arrow is on the wrong side.
Thanks for the non-solicited input (I’m assuming since you also “liked” my post that you’re genuinely trying to be helpful, but I don’t know you so not sure why you’d comment something so blunt-- and incorrect). But I’ll take this as an opportunity to explain my style of shooting, in case anyone else out there is confused.
I shoot historically accurate/Asiatic style, which largely means two things in practice. I use thumb draw style release (also known as “Mongolian release”) instead of the three-fingered (”Mediterranean”) release that is favored in the United States. This also means that I shoot with the arrow on the side of the bow that I draw from. This is referred to as shooting from “inside” the bow. It is certainly favored for horse archery as it allows for more rapid shooting than shooting from “outside” of the bow. It also allows for me to hold more arrows in my hand so I do not have to draw from my quiver during mounted speed events.
Another examples of a fine archer who shoots this way is Semih, or @archerlaserengraving on Instagram (definitely check him out! He’s kind of a badass).You can see in this very popular post that he shoots the same style that I do, and also has a similar Asiatic-style quiver to my own.
For a good comparison of the major differences, I think this reply is worded well (my emphasis added) :
Western archery does it as described in the previous comment - Arrow is on the outside of the bow. That is usually combined with the Mediterranean grip or in case of a compound, with a release. Others put the arrow on the inside. This is usually combined with the Mongolian grip: You pull the string with the thumb, usually with the help of a thumb ring. The advantage of this is that you can hold multiple arrows in the hand that is drawing the string and nock and shoot extremely fast - more than one arrow / sec. Also, with this style of shooting, you shoot instinctively - without the help of visors or peeps.
Essentially, this means, I draw with my right hand, therefore, the arrow goes on the right side of the bow. This is not “the wrong side” it’s just a different side for a different stye of shooting. The debate over what is the “correct” way to shoot has been going on for as long as there has been East vs West archery, to the point that it’s A Thing at my local Ren Faire and the people who own the other archery shop are fuckin pricks to us because we shoot Asiatic and I’m honestly fucking sick of having this debate.
For what it’s worth to all y’all in the tumblr-verse, I’m always down to answer questions about my style of shooting--especially since it’s not common at all in the US! But, that being said, please don’t make assumptions and come on my posts telling me I’m “wrong” when I don’t know you, and you know nothing about me or my training. End of the day, you shoot your way, and I’ll shoot my way. Because honestly, it doesn’t matter to me how you shoot, so long as you’re having fun!
