How to Shoot Better Than you Deserve!

Years ago, we had the opportunity to shoot with a guy who had joined our local club. He’d only been shooting about a year but had become a good shot and started shooting competitively. (He kicked our butts a few times). That was how we met him.

With hunting season just around the corner, he felt he needed to be better prepared. So, he took his bow into the local dealer and had it re-cabled. When hunting season finally arrived, all his practice and preparation paid off and he harvested a nice buck.

We didn’t see him again for a couple of years. Later we found out that after his bow had been re-cabled, he started having shooting problems and he decided it just wasn’t fun anymore. He had lost most of his interest in shooting. Now he was only practicing enough to check out his equipment just before hunting season.

What makes him different was he had noticed that his shooting problems started with the re-cabling of his bow. (The dealer did a good job) He was really struggling to hit where he aimed, and it just wasn’t worth the work. He fondly remembered how easy it had been before the bow had been re-cabled. He knew it was something he was doing not his equipment because sometimes he would group great and other times he would spray arrows everywhere.

We didn’t know it at the time, but that was the first clue on how easy cam timing could affect the shoot ability of a bow. The next clue came from Mr. Frank Pearson.

Pearson created some videos that taught us how to tiller-tune a bow (and how to tie a nocking point). The problem was, none of us could shoot consistent enough or long enough to really accomplish anything. Trying to shoot groups with different tiller settings was beyond us. We had too many bad shots. When we finally thought we had found the most forgiving tiller setting, we would try to repeat the grouping only to get different results.

Not long after learning about tiller-tuning, we read the book “Doctor Your Own Compound Bow” by Emery Loiselle. We came across a part of the book that talked about how you could adjust a four-wheel compound to be forgiving for a varying draw length. He said that by adjusting the cable lengths on a four-wheeler and purposely shooting arrows that were overdrawn and underdrawn that it was possible to adjust your bow so the arrows would impact the same height. Problem was, we were not shooting four-wheel compounds.

So, we went out with our two-cam bows and purposely shot long and short drawn arrows. With the cam timing synchronized, the short drawn arrows always hit higher than the long drawn arrows. We realized just how critical a consistent draw was. We developed a liking for cams with hard walls or draw stops. Pulling against the wall gave us a more consistent draw length. By using the wall, our accuracy improved a lot. That is, if we didn’t pull too hard into the wall.

The question nagged, if adjusting cam timing on four-wheeler bows could make them more accurate to shoot, then what would happen if the cam timing on a two cam bow was different than synchronized? Surprise! Surprise! When we tried it, we got a bow that was more accurate to shoot.

It took us about six months of twisting up cables and trying different cam timings to be sure, but it was evident that the top cam needs to roll over first as the bow comes to full draw. We also found that every time we relaxed the cables on a bow press (to twist or untwist them) we had to shoot dozens of shots to be sure the cables had stabilized. (Not being very good shots didn’t help.)

But, by adjusting cam timing to be forgiving of a varying draw length and by trying to always shoot off the wall, we started shooting very well. So well in fact, that when the solo cam came on to the scene, we liked our double cams better. Adjusting the cam timing on a solo cam would not give us the forgiveness that we had found in a two-cam bow. With a two-cam bow, we were able to get good hits even with broadheads. Although, sometimes we knew we didn’t deserve it because we mucked up the shot.

This was validated some time later with our shooting machine. We found that if the timing of a two-cam bow was just right, that the sight would follow the impact of the arrow up and down even if the draw length was varied. (Left and right is another matter.) But, similar adjustments had little or no affect on a solo-cam. So, while the solo-cams were developing harder and higher walls to help the shooter draw more precise, we were adjusting our cam timing for short and long drawn arrows. We would shoot three long drawn arrows (not over the wall) and three short drawn arrows (allowing ourselves to creep forward), and adjust the cam timing until the two groups of arrows hit the same height (usually done at forty yards).

Actually to tell the truth, we now use the machine to do this, its fast and accurate, but we always do validate it personally by hand. We did find (with the shooting machine’s help) that we could accomplish the same forgiveness with a solo-cam by adjusting the limb tiller.

By adjusting a limb bolt in eighth turn increments, and being careful to not overdraw the bow, it is possible to cause the sight to follow the impact of the arrow for a varying draw length. Because of straighter nock delivery, improved bow designs, and the forgiveness that can be had by adjusting limb tiller, we all shoot solo-cams now.

Some things to keep in mind when working on creep tuning:

1. How far the sight is extended in front of the bow directly affects its ability to follow the impact of the arrow. If sight location is changed you should recheck your creep tuning. (It does matter.)

2. If either solo-cam or two-cam bows are drawn to hard into the stops, even the shooting machine has trouble shooting the bow accurately. We are careful to pull into the wall but not over the wall. It also has a hard time repeating if you are creeping forward into the power stroke. Stay in the valley.

Arrow rest location does not seem to have an effect on this type of forgiveness. But, good arrow flight does have it’s own forgiveness and should not be ignored.

Good Shooting!