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Tis' the season!

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
My bow and Jesse bow are currently being skeeterized. Can't wait to get them back this weekend. He's gonna give me some fetching lessons as well. That should help in the future.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,859
247
I understand that a grip can feel different for a bit, but I am surprised you are having issues with it - big hands or not. You really shouldn't be gripping the thing either way, as you know. Just for fun, try this; put that skinny little handle in the crotch of your thumb and don't touch it with your fingers or any other piece of hand meat other than right where it pushes against the base of your thumb. Shoot the thing a half dozen times with a "dead' bow hand and see if it makes a difference. Heck, maybe that's how you're already doing it, just trying to figure out why a grip would cause you to scatter arrows...
 

Bigslam51

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,778
127
Stark County
My first 3 shots at 30 yards, the arrow in the bullseye has the rage 2 blade 100gr practice tip on it and the other 2 are field tips.
 

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bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,935
274
Appalachia
I understand that a grip can feel different for a bit, but I am surprised you are having issues with it - big hands or not. You really shouldn't be gripping the thing either way, as you know. Just for fun, try this; put that skinny little handle in the crotch of your thumb and don't touch it with your fingers or any other piece of hand meat other than right where it pushes against the base of your thumb. Shoot the thing a half dozen times with a "dead' bow hand and see if it makes a difference. Heck, maybe that's how you're already doing it, just trying to figure out why a grip would cause you to scatter arrows...
Comfort. Its just not comfortable and that leads to consistency issues for me. I've tried doing almost what you described, but not as drastic. When I do that, I roll my wrist inward to the point its uncomfortable. Mainly because I don't feel like I have control of the bow. If I move back towards the meat of my palm, the bow "teeters" on that thin grip and I end up with inconsistencies in my grip from shot to shot.

It really boils down to the fact that I don't like how the bow feels in my hand. I've shot thousands upon thousands of arrows in the last 7 years with that meaty, wooden Mathews grip and I feel awkward without. Before that, I had a similar grip on my Buckmaster BTR that was made by Bear. And a Bear Whitetail II before that with a grip fat enough to fill Bigfoot's hand.

As we all know and as I've said a million times, shoot what is comfortable. Comfort is paramount when it comes to performance in archery IMO and I have failed to find a comfort level with the Strother that let's me perform at a level I can accept.
 
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Milo

Tatonka guide.
8,184
157
Comfort. Its just not comfortable and that leads to consistency issues for me. I've tried doing almost what you described, but not as drastic. When I do that, I roll my wrist inward to the point its uncomfortable. Mainly because I don't feel like I have control of the bow. If I move back towards the meat of my palm, the bow "teeters" on that thin grip and I end up with inconsistencies in my grip from shot to shot.

It really boils down to the fact that I don't like how the bow feels in my hand. I've shot thousands upon thousands of arrows in the last 7 years with that meaty, wooden Mathews grip and I feel awkward without. Before that, I had a similar grip on my Buckmaster BTR that was made by Bear. And a Bear Whitetail II before that with a grip fat enough to fill Bigfoot's hand.

As we all know and as I've said a million times, shoot what is comfortable. Comfort is paramount when it comes to performance in archery IMO and I have failed to find a comfort level with the Strother that let's me perform at a level I can accept.
what do you mean control? Like it's going to come out of your hand? When the bow sets in that pocket Brock described it not supposed to be control pled because if a just a webbing and not muscle control spot . That's how you get a torque free grip
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,085
223
Ohio
Milo and Brock are right... Grip a bow the way they describe and you can shoot ANY bow, no matter what type of grip is on it. That being said, I know exactly what you mean about comfort Jesse. I struggled with it too for a little while. Gripping a bow properly feels incredibly unnatural when it's not what you've grown accustomed too over the years. I hated the way it felt at first... But after some time it became comfortable and now I wouldn't have it any other way. The one thing I did not like about my Elite was that it was extremely sensitive to hand torque. But this basically forced me to learn to get comfortable with a proper grip.

I know its not comfortable for you right now but I don't think you should give up on it just yet. There's still plenty of time man. You don't have to shoot a deer the first day anyway. I think you'll become an even better archer than you already are if you learn to shoot that strother comfortably.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,859
247
Here's another trick; if you like feeling like the bow can't get away from you, grab the bow by it's skinny little neck like your choking a snake, with just the crotch of your thumb and index finger. I've shot those skinny grips like that in pouring rain for a better grip, it works the same, and when only your index finger is choking the bow, you can't apply much torque. You'll want to squeeze it's tiny little neck right in the throat, the most balanced point on the handle. When you turn loose an arrow like that it feels like you're launching a rocket, best to shoot a straight wrist as well. It's trendy for folks to break the wrist down these days, and works well w a Mathews-type grip, not really the case with skinny handles IMO.
If you aren't in love w it by then, bring it to Strouds. I think I can show you better than describe via keyboard. Then again, maybe this is how you are already doing it??? Then again, I went back to my Mathews just because I think they draw easier. I killed a coyote, a deer, and a turkey with a Strother. I didn't think I'd ever get it broke over on any of those three shots!
 

Milo

Tatonka guide.
8,184
157
I normally shoot mine with my thumb and index finger touching each other atv the tip and that deadens the rest if the fingers in the hand and sets the grip in that fleshy pocket. I'm now so used to that skinny grip I struggled with my Hoyt grip and I am just getting on it. Shooting better now but bows it's something else...I really wanted to tune it
To match your draw length in both of your bows because because I know how much you liked your mathews . That strother
May be a touch longer and causing some instability
 
That's the only thing I am concerned with on the new bow, my grip. I grip along the lines of what Milo, Brock and Jager are explaining I don't think I will have much issue with it though. My go-to is open hand on the draw and slowly drop my middle finger to the front of the riser/handle. I tried the index to thumb but with smaller hands :smiley_baby: I always felt like I was gripping the handle too much and torquing. I have always liked the Mathews grip too, nothing like the warmth of good wood in your hands on a frosty morning LOL!! :pickle:
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,899
260
SW Ohio
That's the only thing I am concerned with on the new bow, my grip. I grip along the lines of what Milo, Brock and Jager are explaining I don't think I will have much issue with it though. My go-to is open hand on the draw and slowly drop my middle finger to the front of the riser/handle. I tried the index to thumb but with smaller hands :smiley_baby: I always felt like I was gripping the handle too much and torquing. I have always liked the Mathews grip too, nothing like the warmth of good wood in your hands on a frosty morning LOL!! :pickle:

:smiley_chinrub: Just had to take it there didn't ya Chuck! :smiley_crocodile:
 

Boarhead

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
That's the only thing I am concerned with on the new bow, my grip. I grip along the lines of what Milo, Brock and Jager are explaining I don't think I will have much issue with it though. My go-to is open hand on the draw and slowly drop my middle finger to the front of the riser/handle. I tried the index to thumb but with smaller hands :smiley_baby: I always felt like I was gripping the handle too much and torquing. I have always liked the Mathews grip too, nothing like the warmth of good wood in your hands on a frosty morning LOL!! :pickle:
Damn Chuck. LOL
 

Fluteman

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,094
146
Southeast Ohio
I struggled a bit when I went from the Elite to the Hoyt this year. A combination of a slightly larger grip and shorter brace height had me frustrated for a while. With the Hoyt, if I missed, it was always left, and I found it was my grip. I was use to having my four fingers almost wide open, which would roll my wrist back a bit, but with the fatter grip, I was torquing the bow from left to right, on the shot with this grip. I found that I shot more consistent when I relaxed my hand around the grip, running my fingers lightly down the Grove in the front of the riser, and slight thumb pressure. I'm shooting a lot better now, but I've really gotta focus on what I'm doing, because it's not quite habit yet.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,935
274
Appalachia
Set the 20 and 30 yard pins tonight in 15 arrows. I'm not sure why I ever fool with the idea of not shooting the XT. She's slinging 389 grain Flatlines 290fps and I was shooting beer can groups at 30 on the 3rd group. I love that bow! I'll be more than ready for opening day now! She don't look too bad with the Stokerized stab and Spot Hogg sight either! I was going to put the LD Pro-V on but don't want to fool with tuning, so I left the QAD HD on there. Shot through paper like she just came out of Milo's shop!
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Got my bow back from milo yesterday. (Jesses will still need some attention) a few minor sight adjustments and my groups are all but touching at 30 yards. Just need to decide what I'm doing for broadheads this year and I should be GTG.
 
I struggled a bit when I went from the Elite to the Hoyt this year. A combination of a slightly larger grip and shorter brace height had me frustrated for a while. With the Hoyt, if I missed, it was always left, and I found it was my grip. I was use to having my four fingers almost wide open, which would roll my wrist back a bit, but with the fatter grip, I was torquing the bow from left to right, on the shot with this grip. I found that I shot more consistent when I relaxed my hand around the grip, running my fingers lightly down the Grove in the front of the riser, and slight thumb pressure. I'm shooting a lot better now, but I've really gotta focus on what I'm doing, because it's not quite habit yet.

I had the same problem with the hoyt grips. The best thing to do is take it off.

 

PSE13

Active Member
1,032
91
Shelby
Was shooting my bow tonight and started to hear a scraping noise. It had me puzzled so I stopped shooting. When I did some further investigating I found that one of the adjustment screws had come loose on the cam and was almost all the way out! Thank goodness it didn't!