String tearing up corner of mouth/cheek

[bowhunter15]

YouTube Video  

In the past I've struggled off and on with the string hitting my nose. I've mostly corrected that by keeping my head pointed at the target. But I still have the issue of the string rubbing against my face, particularly the corner of my upper lip. Can you tell from the video if there's anything obvious going on here that is causing it? I don't feel like I'm overdrawing or pulling the string too tight to my face.

On an unrelated note, I see that I nearly always react to the shot by flinching a little, but it appears to happen after the arrow is gone. I've been shooting quite well, but would gladly take pointers on how to get rid of that flinch. Thanks.

[nhbuck1]

you sure its the string and not the tab? tab may be too long?

[nhbuck1]

try a glove and see if theres a difference to rule that out

[McDave]

I believe nhbuck is correct.  Your tab is clearly hitting your face, and is probably too large.  I can see that you have a good release where you are relaxing your fingers rather than opening them, so you should be able to use a tab that is cut shorter than your fingertips.  I have to congratulate you on not flinching away in anticipation of the tab hitting your face, painful though it may be.  I looked very carefully for head movement before release, and didn't see any.

What I couldn't see is your alignment.  You need to have good straight alignment of your string forearm with your arrow to avoid hitting your face with your string or tab.  Have someone stand behind you and put an arrow on your shoulder blades when you are at full draw.  Is it pointing at the target?  Video yourself from above and behind and make sure your drawing forearm is in line with the arrow.

Once this starts, it becomes a vicious cycle, because your skin becomes much more sensitive when it has been rubbed raw.  A certain amount of skin contact is inevitable when you shoot the bow, and normally you just ignore it or your skin just toughens up.    It probably would be a good idea to hold your hand far enough away from your face for a while to let it heal, so it isn't a constant irritation every time you shoot the bow.

[bowhunter15]

Originally posted by McDave:
you should be able to use a tab that is cut shorter than your fingertips.

Thanks guys. This is news to me. I have a size "small" tab but always positioned it on my hand so that the tab was extended slightly past my fingertips. It should be a really easy check to just slide it up my hand a bit to expose my finger tips. I guess I never realized that a tab could cause all that irritation. Now that I think about it, the tab does slide across my skin just as fast as the string does, if not faster, so it makes sense. I'll try that and the glove to see if I can determine tab length as the cause.

I'll try to upload an additional clip from overhead. If feels as if I'm in alignment, but what I feel and what is actually happening could be two different things.

[nhbuck1]

have you figured it  out?

[bowhunter15]

Placing the tab further up my fingers solved the scraping on my face/lip. I'm still hitting my nose now though.  It doesn't seem to matter if I anchor far back on my face or pointer finger on incisor. Shooting split finger appears to help, but split and a low anchor are a recipe for poor up/down accuracy for me.

My release still feels pretty clean. I can eliminate the nose hit by anchoring really far forward, but can't hit full expansion that way. Or, I can anchor so I'm barely touching my face, but then the arrow isn't under my eye and string isn't aligned with riser so the left/right isn't consistent. I'll try to upload more video tonight.

[moebow]

15, where in MN are you?  I can help. If anywhere near Grand Rapids, come and see me.

Arne

[bowhunter15]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycQeK5LCOo8&feature=youtu.be  

Here's the video from tonight. The last clip shows the release the best. I'm still blinking at every shot, even when I focus on keeping my eyes open. I think that's a habit I'll have to fight to break once I gain confidence that my face is in the clear.

Arne, I'm in Minneapolis. I'll be in the BWCA this coming weekend, but would greatly appreciate the offer to meet up. I'll be in Grand Rapids near the end of July. I'll send you a PM to see if that time will work.

[bowhunter15]

I was just watching some barebow competition shooting on YouTube. Scott Bills and Dewayne Martin. Each of them have the string tucked way in high and tight to their face - closer to the nose than I am, so I thought.

Anyways, I tried Dewayne's anchor, with the inside of my pointer finger cupping on top of the crest of my cheek bone. Low and behold, no nose slap. But it was also much harder to get the string aligned with the riser which might cause long range issues.

[moebow]

Yes, that time frame will work.  PM or email when plans solidify.  amoe@paulbunyan.net

Arne

[nhbuck1]

whats your draw length and how many inch bow are you shooting?

[bowhunter15]

Originally posted by nhbuck1:
whats your draw length and how many inch bow are you shooting?

Draw is 28". Bow is 60".

[Brock]

some guys will turn their face towards the string if bow too heavy or bad form...have seen that cause string to hit lips and nose or cheek as well.

[p1choco]

Maybe it's just me.I liked to bring the string too my face. It looks like you're bringing your face to hand right as you come to full draw.