All,

Despite many tries and that releases are more consistent I can't get my retired father to switch. I had the bow set up dead on with a D-loop but he wants to shoot fingers. I placed the nock so the arrow is square to the vertically, is that the appropriate spot for a finger shooter?


Next question, when he draws the bow (he's right handed) the arrow tends to leave the rest and either hover high and to the right of the rest or the top right brush on the octane capture rest makes contact. The bow is set in the low 50's to high 40's, and he has just started shooting again after a 15 year hiatus. He does struggle a little drawing the bow could that be leading to the arrow leaving the rest at full draw?


Thanks,
Tom

Hi Tom, is your father shooting split finger or three fingers under? Some times where he places his fingers or elbow can cause this problem. If he is shooting 3 under maybe place a brass knock under the arrow noc so he can place fingers the same every time. If shooting split finger maybe use a can't pinch tab and if he still has problems make the can't pinch thicker. Hope this helps Tom. Will try to call you some time soon. Gene

Tom, when shooting finger its best to use a finger shooting rest like the timberdoodle. Also when setting up a rest for shooting fingers the nocking point and arrow rest set up is different. Check out this link as this may answer more of your questions. http://www.oneidaeaglebows.com/media/pd ... ctions.pdf
When I set up a bow for a finger shooter I set up similar to the instructions in this link also.

Hello,

I'm a finger shooter and I will try to tell you my experience. I shoot my BE 3 fingers under the arrow.
At first, I confirm Joe's choice. Timberdoodle is the best choice you can do for your father's bow. It works very well and is very easy to set up (2-3 minutes)
For the nock point, I generally use a very little bit up then square angle (sorry, my english is not so good).
Can you tell us how you set the bow? Draw lenght and weight, and what kind of arrow (spine, lenght, carbon or alloy) This will help us to give you some advises...

Hello,

I acquired my Black Eagle last winter and set it up to shoot with fingers. Here is my experience. Hope some part of it will help somebody.

I think it will be difficult to use a capture type rest like a whisker biscuit or the rest you have with fingers. When releasing with fingers, the string is deflected slightly as it rolls off the ends of the fingers causing it to oscillate through the power stroke. To offset this, the arrow needs to push sideways against a rest with some give and slightly downward as well. I used a NAP Centerest Flipper, but Joe's recommendation might be better.

I set my nocking point a little high and paper tuned to get it right. It ended up about 1/4 inch above square. I also adjusted the center shot position of the rest so the arrow pointed slightly to the left of center to account for what happens upon release. Again paper tuning helps get it right. I ended up with a stable shooting bow making perfect bullet holes through paper at 6-7 feet. I also used a carbon arrow spined properly for my 55 pound setting.

Now for the bad news. I gave up shooting with fingers and went back to a release because of finger pinch. I wanted to shoot with split fingers (one above and two below). Because of the limb action on the Oneida bows, the string angle gets much more acute than you would expect for bows so long. I found I could not shoot consistently keeping three fingers on the string, not to mention the pain. So I began to allow the top and bottom fingers to slip off the string just after reaching peak draw weight leaving just one finger under the nock at full draw. That worked well, but I abandoned it feeling that it might not be the most reliable way to shoot in hunting situations.

One more note (opinion). I think shot the BE with fingers better when I had the 65% letoff modules in. But I wanted to shoot 80 percent letoff, and the string is much more sensitive to the irregularities of a finger release when your only holding 20 percent.

i shoot split finger with a timberdoodle rest, noc approx 1/8 above center and am making bullet holes in the paper during tuning.

The biggest help for me was the timberdoodle. i read a bulletin published by easton about arrow deflection during shooting and how different rests accomdate different shooting styles (finger shooters need a 3 o'clock stabilization to counteract the horizontal flex of the arrow shaft, while release shooters experience a vertical flex in the shaft). I was using a NAP quicktune prior to the switch and had problems with loose groups.

After the switch i have been taping cherries (in season in eastern WA) to my target to shoot and have been killing them at twenty yards (and making a mess of my target).

Give the timberdoodle (or other finger specific rest) a try, you will be surprised with the difference.