Aiming

Aiming is rarely talked about and even more rarely understood. The most common way of aiming is instinctive. We hear constantly "look at the center, concentrate on the center. Don't take your eyes off the center." I mean shouldn't we line something up to the center? How about something like an arrow? Why is looking at the center supposed to be an end in itself? Instinctive includes everything and therefore nothing. The truth is you can stare at the center as intently as you like, but the center will not be afraid of you. Quite frankly I don't stare at the center of the target. My system of aiming is a combination of point of aim and gap shooting. When I'm doing my final aim, I am not focused on one spot. My eyes are slightly out of focus so I can see all the parts of the aim better, rather than focusing on one spot clearly yet not seeing the other parts of the aim clearly enough to line them up well.
There are four parts to aiming with this style:

1) The arrow shaft, which must be behind the arrow tip to be straight to the target. I can't see the nock as it is below my line of sight but I can certainly see enough of the shaft that I can tell if it's lined up or not.

2) The arrow tip which is used like a front sight of a rifle. That means that up close the tip of the arrow is under the target, not on it. Just like a rifle sight is under the target up close. The most important thing I do with the tip of the arrow is to put it exactly on the point of aim.

3) The point of aim which is where you put your front sight (the arrow tip) to aim. Sometimes I call the point of aim the gap or the gap spot. No matter what it's called, it's where you put the tip of the arrow to get the correct elevation. If a wind was blowing from the right it is possible to correct this by placing the point of aim slightly to the right and allowing the wind to push the arrow over onto the target. Just for the record though, unless it is blowing very hard or a long distance, I aim right at the target.

4) The target which is behind and above the point of aim. I'm not focusing on the target but splitting my vision between the target and the point of the arrow which I'm lining up to the target. I simply see the target is equal on each side of the arrow and if it is, I have to hit the center line. I don't worry about elevation because if the point of aim is correct the arc will take the arrow right into the center. Again it's all slightly out of focus in my periphery vision but as long as the tip is on the point of aim and I line up that arrow, this system is deadly accurate. So finally you must see the shaft, the point, the point of aim and the target all at the same time in your vision to get a perfect hit.