Coaching Tips 08/7

Barebow Shooting
Barebow is an increasingly popular discipline within archery. As the name implies the bow is
shot bare of any attachments or aids such as sight and stabilisers, although an arrow rest and
plunger button can be used on recurve and compound bows. Short stabilisers can be used on
compound bows and weights (not stabilisers) can be added to recurve bows.
Many believe barebow shooting simply involves looking at the target, drawing the bow and
shooting. This method is not barebow but is called Instinctive. You can have limited success
with this method of shooting but its a very hit and miss method and usually effective only over
short distances up to 30m. Instinctive shooting is widely used by hunters.
The more competitive archer demands greater accuracy and higher scores hence the use of
Barebow or the Point of Aim or Gap shooting method. Not a new method of shooting but
a method of aiming used for centuries and in recent times for all levels of competition up until
the late 1940s and early 1950s before the introduction of modern bow sights.

Point of Aim or Gap Shooting

Point of Aim or Gap shooting is a method of aiming without the addition of a bow sight and is
the method used by all successful archers shooting in the Barebow division (recurve and
compound) and longbow.
Aiming is achieved by placing the point of the arrow on a pre-determined position for a given
distance; below the target, on the centre of the target or above the target face, the position
will vary for different distances. The same principles apply to Barebow to using a bow sight;
the longer the distance the higher the arrow must be aimed.
A lot of practice is required to determine where the point of the arrow needs to be placed for a
given distance.
For example at 20 meters the point location may be below the target face while at 40m the
location may be on the centre of the target face and at 50 meters and 60m the point location
will be above the target face.
It is very important that a consistent draw length is achieved from shot to shot. Any variation
in draw length will change the bow weight at full draw and greatly affect the efficiency of the
bow. In freestyle shooting you can use a clicker which gives you a consistent draw length, but
clickers are not permitted in barebow archery.
The same as shooting with a sight, the point of aim or gap you use will vary if you change
bows and arrows, so you need to establish different points of aim or gaps for each bow/arrow
combination. All bows are different even the same model, brands and draw weight and will
store energy in different amounts and will then shoot differently.
Also, if you change arrow size, weight, brand or length you will change the weight of the
arrows which will have an effect on your point of aim. Always use the same bow and arrows, if
you make any changes then your point of aim will change.
Just like shooting with a sight you need to spend a lot of time on the practice range

Coaching Tip 08/7

Copyright Archery Australia

Page 1

determining your sight marks or points of aim/gaps for each distance. If you want to be
successful at barebow you need to spend the hours on the practice range determining your
sighting gaps as well as practicing your technique.

Determining your point of aim or gaps.

In Australia barebow is shot in all types of competition, target, field, indoor and clout, although
internationally barebow is only shot competitively in field archery.
You need to spend many hours practicing and determining your points of aim or gaps. For
target, field and indoor this is usually done using the point of the arrow but for clout as you will
need to aim high into the air usually a point on the bow is used.
To start to determine your point of aim or gaps, start at a short distance say 10m using the
point of the arrow to aim. At short distance you will find to hit the target the point will be
positioned under the target face giving you a gap between the centre of the target and the
point.
When you are happy with 10m now go to 20m, again you will find there is gap but the gap will
be less then at 10m. Now continue through a range of distances recording the required gap
that allows you to consistently hit the target at each distance.

Of course when shooting field archery you then need to take

into account the terrain in particular up and down hill shots.
Just like shooting with a sight the angle needs to be taken
into account when aiming, you will need to aim off to
compensate for the angle and the effects of gravity.

Shooting Technique
The shooting technique used for barebow shooting is the
same as all archery styles. For details refer to the section on
Advanced Shooting Technique. There is only one variation
to the standard technique and this is the anchor.
Freestyle (sighted) archers anchor under the jaw to give
them a greater gap between their eye and the arrow, this
allows them to use a sight over long distances. Barebow
archers on the other hand ideally should have the smallest
possible gap between their eye and the arrow.
Ideally the archer should anchor so they are looking straight
along the arrow shaft but this can be dangerous as it brings
the arrow close to the eye at full draw and is not a
Coaching Tip 08/7
Copyright Archery Australia

Page 2

recommended practice.
Barebow archers develop an anchor where the top finger touches the corner of the mouth.
This provides a repeatable and consistent anchor position and also brings the arrow closer to
the eye.
String Walking
To greatly improve accuracy barebow recurve
and compound archers can String Walk,
longbow archers are not permitted to walk the
string they must only use the Mediterranean grip.
String walking means you still draw the bow back
to the normal anchor position but for a particular
distance you place you fingers on a different
position on the string.

Fig 1

For example the standard finger position on the

string is Split Fingers one finger above the
arrow and two fingers below the arrow (Fig 1),
this is known as the Mediterranean grip.
You can change how the bow shoots by
changing your finger positions on the string.

Fig 2

For example, when shooting at 50 meters you

may shoot with split fingers (Fig 1), but for 40
meters you may have the three fingers under the
arrow (Fig 2) and at 20 meters you may move
your fingers down the string (Fig 3) while
maintaining the same or a similar point of aim.
What you are doing is in fact changing the
dynamic balance of the bow when at full draw by
changing the limb balance (tiller) on a recurve
bow or changing the tiller and cam timing on a
compound bow.

You can achieve great results with string walking

but forget about good arrow flight and tuning.
Bows are not designed to be shot this way, you
may be getting good results by string walking but
you are shooting with an unbalancing bow and
this is a compromise that you must accept. For
Fig 3
this reason if you are going to walk the string its
critical how you set up your bows tiller and nocking point (recurve) and tiller, nocking point
and cam timing on a compound bow
Ideally you should set up the bow tiller and nocking point (recurve) and tiller, nocking point
and cam timing on a compound bow with your fingers placed on the string in mid string
walking position. You will find the bow will shoot balanced in this position but will shoot
unbalanced as you move your fingers up and down on the string.
By setting up the bow with the fingers on the string in the mid string walking position this will
result in the bow only being out of balance a small amount as you use the maximum high and
low string walking positions, but if you set the bow up at the split finger position the bow will
be dramatically out of balance when you go to the low string walking position. The low string
walking position is usually used for the short distances where achieving a good score is more
critical. This is particularly critical when shooting barebow compound, compound bows are
designed to be shot with release devices and not fingers and in particular they have never
been designed to be shot walking the string.

Coaching Tip 08/7

Copyright Archery Australia

Page 3

Face Walking
Face walking is another system used with Point of Aim or
Gap shooting but instead of walking the string, the fingers
are kept on the same place on the string, but the bow is
drawn back to a different anchor point depending upon the
distance being shot. Sometimes a combination of both
face walking and string walking are used.
For example, if you shoot a short distance say 15meters
you would anchor high on your face and look along the
arrow, while at long distances you would anchor low on
your face say below your jaw. You would still use the point
of the arrow to aim but the variation in gaps would be
much less.
With practice you can develop anchor points that give you
point on (that is, the tip of the arrow is always on the
target) at different distances.
In Archery Australia and FITA face walking is not permitted

Example of Barebow Compound with

stabiliser (max length 305mm)

Rules
For detailed rules refer to Archery Australia and FITA rule book.
Written and Images by Jim Larven

Coaching Tip 08/7

Copyright Archery Australia

Page 4