Re-curve bow and my terrible technique

Sometimes this is a matter of technique in the way you hold the left arm, but because you're already fairly skilled I don't want to mess with that. What seems more likely is the brace height of your bow. Brace height is the distance between the handle and the string when the bow is not drawn. It's pretty much set in stone with compound bows and tends to be longer than recurves. With your recurve, it could be your forearm now has less room due to the shorter brace height. The fact that it's hitting your palm sometimes makes me thing think this is the case. Usually it's the forearm only. You can adjust it with most recurve bows by twisting the string tighter before stringing it.

glistam said:

Brace height

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Make a fist, with thump up. Place on bow. String should be above thumb.

Hence the term for it, fistmele. You could learn to shoot it Kyudo-style, when the bow twirls around the arm....google 'yugaeri'.

Twist or shorter string.

OK, couple questions first off what model bow. second how are you holding your bow? if you induce twist during the shot the string will often smack you.
I'd highly suggest reading up on set up tuning and some shooting guides for "traditional" bows.
couple quick tips
modern recurves have a brace height usually between 7-8.25" never lower than 6(AFAIK). if your bows making a lot of noise/vibrations and smacking your hand your likely braced low. your bow will have a recommended brace height (fistmele) and the fist thumb trick may work, but maybe well off the mark. that usually is used for traditional flat or English longbows, tho non aggressive recurves can sometimes be done the same way.

I've shot traditional for a few years now and really like it. I don't have the time to practice enough to hunt with one in my normal areas, but I still shoot them for fun and when I hunt at very close range.

oh, as to form def read up on it, but personally I shoot a very closed stance with my shoulders fairly close to inline with the target. my nock point is tip of index to corner of mouth for traditional, and knuckle of index under ear with compound and release which puts the string in a very similar position with both bow types.

With recurves and longbows, I hold the wrist out to the left (RH) as far as I can, to reduce wrist slap. The higher the poundage, the harder that is to do, but then I don't sit and hold at full draw for long periods either; it's draw, aim, shoot, You have to admire longbowmen in midieval times-pulling a bow that averaged 120 pounds, and holding it at draw until the command to release.

With a compound I tend to bring the wrist inward a little bacause I can. The 'brace height' on my Parker Sidekick is @9" Have yet to get the "red bulbous badge of poor shooting form" on my arm from that bow.
Yeah I know, I shoot a kid's bow. I bought my 18 yr. old a 'big boy' bow, a Mission Hype, and I got his Parker. Worked out good, I like the light weight, short axle to axle. Had to learn a new anchor point, max. is 29", but I found out from a friend who is a shop pro that I was drawing too long anyway, a holdover from my start with longbows.

It's best to keep a recurve or longbow unstrung when not shooting it. I looked up your bow on Cabela's. Nice bow, good deal.

As previously mentioned, your brace height is too low if you are hitting your wrist or hand with the string.

You can look up the recommended B/H for the bow, but you will need to play with it a bit to find the 'best' spot. Ideally you want the lowest brace height that provides the least amount of noise (read vibration), gives the best accuracy and clears your arm.

You shouldn't need an arm-guard unless you are trying to keep clothing out of the way.

Depending upon what you intend to use your recurve for (hunting, target shooting) your 'stance' might be different than it was with your compound.

'Opening' your stance some and leaving a 'slight' bit of bend in the elbow (do not lock your elbow) will help prevent string slap. IF your primary purpose is to hunt with your bow, then you might consider 'canting' the bow a bit... which moves the meaty part of your forearm more out of the way and also gets you 'over the arrow' IF you are not shooting sights.

You can twist the string (to a point) to increase brace height. Presumably you have an endless loop string and hopefully it is the correct length for your bow. I make and use only flemish twist for my Longbows and Recurves, but either string type is fine.

Are you shooting a sight, gap shooting or shooting 'instinctive'? HOW you shoot dictates how to best hold the bow and 'can' determine how likely you are to 'string yourself'.

"...my chest is more centered towards the target..." Might be the string being the wrong length, but if you move your hind leg to change the angle the string moves in relation to your arm, you should also move your left arm over enough that the string doesn't hit your hand. Easier to do than it is to type.
I'm assuming you're not trying to shoot a 50 pound bow like a target bow. As in raise, hold, draw and aim. Vs pushing the bow away while pulling the string and releasing almost as soon as the bow is at eye level. Recurves and compounds ain't shot the same way.
"...string is below my thumb..." String's too long. There is a formula.
http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/TailorMaidMeasuring.shtml

The Vista/Samick Sage is a very nice bow for the cost, i started with one and still have the riser that ive converted to ilf fittings. I forgot to mention the cant of the bow and not locking your forearm, glad the other guys got it. Theres alot of good info ive download over the last few years in set up and shooting guides (im the only one of my little group that shoots trad, so im still kinda figuring out stuff), when i get home tomorrow ill try dig it up and repost the links i got them from.

I took a decent 8pt two weeks ago with my recurve.
Take a step back with your front foot. I certainly had some nasty forearm raspberries until I got my form down.
I love my recurve so much that I gave my compound to my youngest son.
Good luck.

Ranger Roberts, when i srarted shootihg a bow compounds were not invented yet.You can only do this whth pressure on you arm. Make a fist put it against a wall or a door jam, put perssure ( lean) against the wall now you can rotate your arm.you elbow should be out of the way of the string for the most part. Now draw you bow and rotate you arm. with a little practice you should be fine.

There are many "right" ways to hold a bow. Most compound shooters shoot with sights, a vertical bow and a 90 degree to target stance. So do some recurve and longbow shooters. Barebow is much more prevalent amongst stickbow shooters and it opens up a lot of different stance possibilities. You already stated that your stance is more open......are you holding the bow vertical? If you are shooting without sights try this with your more open stance. cant the bow about 30degrees and bend forward at the waist. This will shorten your drawlength some...and you should suddenly discover a huge amount of space between the string and your forearm/wrist. As mentioned, do check the brace height. With the stance I'm describing I can shoot as low as 5"3/4 brace height and no armguard without wrist slap! I only wear an armguard to keep my sleeve out of the way.

I know that hurts............ Try rounding your fist out some. It`s a very collectable problem.

I don't wear an armguard (except when wearing long sleeves).
Open stance, no leaning fwd. Bow upright to moderate cant..................doesn't matter.
Sure as heck don't do the gyrations, butt pooch out and leaning fwd stuff so many readers of a certain book tend to do.
Open stance will shorter draw a bit, no reason to shorten it any more than that!
Do shoot mostly off thumb pad. Deep grip will get ya bit.
On my Tradtech Pinnacle 2 I got bit by the string.............in rebound.
Crazy. The machining of the wood riser had the grip's fat area angled the wrong way. So I shaved it, thinned and lifted the throat and made it more like my Blackwidow...............no more string contact.
Only bow I ever had bite me (minor but annoying) in rebound.
I can get bit once in a great while if I get super tired and flat out forget what I'm supposed to do.
Buy I can shoot 100 arrows out of my current recurve....without incident.

Some folks say to rotate the elbow out, I can't do that.
Am not a big guy, so the lack of a Popeye forearm helps.
However, they do beef up a bit from recurve shooting.

If you're a guy with big forearms you might just have to wear an amrguard no matter what.

BTW,I draw hold and aim my recurve.
Lots of people do.
Plenty of videos on YT.
Check out Tradworlds, Jimmy Blackmon, Ricky Welch.

Also..............."The Push". it's 2 hrs long and very good. Grab a couple of beers and watch it.
Can be of help, even if not, it's done well and entertaining.