eye dominance

['Lil Man]

Hello. I have been lurking for 'bout a year now. It seems like there is much knowledge on this board. I am a rookie hunter and fisherman. I was wondering if anyone else shares the same problem I have. I am right handed, but left eye dominant. How do you correct this problem? I have trouble drawing a bow with my left arm, not the strongest man in the world. Any advice is appreciated

[Drakeblake]

Welcome to the board first off. Second off Im sure everybody is looking forward to your traditonal introductory story so lets hear it. What I would do to correct the problem is to get ahold of some shooting glasses and put a piece of scotch tape over the left lens. This will cause your vision out of your left eye to be blured and will force your right eye to take over the task of being domonant. Try this and see if it works.

-blake

[skein]

Welcome, L'il Man. Good to have you posting.

I, too, suffer from being right handed and left eye dominant. I've been able to overcome everything except for shooting a bow instinctively. Every few shots, and I never know when it's going to happen, I'll just aim with the wrong eye and wonder why the heck my arrow went over there.

Of course with a scope it doesn't really matter, but I also shot lots with iron sights, both eyes open, and gradually learned to compensate. I've actually become a pretty proficient rifle shot that way, but only after I'd gone through thousands of rounds.

With the bow, try a peep sight. It helped me tremendously, even though I lost the ability to use my recurve and go light and simple. But at least it allowed me to get out there.

Good luck to you.

Skein

[ 02-16-2004, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: skein ]

[Bait O' Eggs]

My son who is 6, is left handed and right eye dominant. Took me a while to figure out why he kept cranking his head over the scope and using the other eye. [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]

I am glad I dont have that problem. :grin:

Not sure how you correct it, just live with it I guess.

[Gun Rod Bow]

A common problem in shotgunning. As I recal something like 15% of men and like 55% of women are cross eye dominant.

As DB said, a patch of scoth tape over shooting glasses at just the point of focus will allow peripheral vision without "hard focus". With a bow, closing the left eye will work.

Good luck and welcome aboard.

[Tilla]

Got the same problem.I just shut that left eye.

[Spotted Owl]

To fix that problem I used a pirates patch from halloween costume every time I went shooting of any kind. After that becomes routine try without the patch. After another while start working on shooting both eyes open.

I also agree with skein a peep will help a tremendous amount. Take your time rushing this will only cause more problems.


Good luck don't give up and everything will work out great you'll SEE. :grin: :grin:


Sled

[DriftR]

Let me offer a little help. I was a trapshooter for many years, travelled to many different registered shoots in the Western states. Not only is trapshooting expensive but additive. Being a left handed shooter I have a dominant right eye. GOOFY FOOTER. Well, adding the tape is a step, but in the wrong direction. Let me explain. When you cover up the lense with a patch of tape you deprive youself of seeing all the peripheral vision. Don't do it. I just use a stick on dot. Hold the gun up to your shoulder like your going to shoot. Move the dot around until it blocks that dominate eye. You'll know this when your gun eye takes over. But you will still be able to see around the dot. This allows you to keep both eyes on the target. You might say that seems like a lot of work. Well, I can tell you it allowed me to become a AA 27 AA shooter in competitive trapshooting after I got that spot on my right lense. Won a lot of tournaments. To those people who laughed when they saw that spot on my glasses, they are the same ones who lost their entry and option money to me. I don't shoot anymore but if I did I would still use the spot sticker on my right lense.

[MikeT]

I've got the same situation: right-handed but left eye dominant.
I learned to shoot left-handed years ago and have never looked back. It seems perfectly natural now; in fact I couldn't shoot right-handed if I tried. For a person that plans to stick with shooting sports I think this is the best long-term solution.

Mike

[DAB]

Take DriftR's advice you wont be sorry.
DAB

[fishin]

Same problem. My dad made me switch to lefty when I was small using cap guns. The worst part is the small selection or premium prices when it comes to left handed rifles.

I think if I was just starting out I would focus more on trying to overcome it and stay with right handed equipment.