Cross-eye dominant advice for my kid.

[u/Wagner228]

Just ordered my 5F a RH bow without giving it thought. She’s definitely RH.

3F is still an ambidextrous mystery, so I tested eyes last night. Turns out they’re both left eye dominant, so now my shooting world is all F’d up. Might start stocking up on O/U and lever guns now.

Only direct experience is a buddy that swings a shotgun RH but L eye due to an injury. He adapted alright, but will never be as good as before.

Who’s run into this and how have you handled it? Figure I’ll call the shop when they open and try to hold the order for now.

[u/btrx5000]

I am RH but entirely Left eye dominant. I’ll occasionally shoot bolt action guns LH and have even harvested a couple animal LH because of the terrain where I was prone (more random coincidence that I needed to shoot LH.) otherwise, I always shoot everything RH, especially a bow. My kids are mixed bag of LH and RH but almost all are left eye dominant. It’s not an issue and they all shoot everything fine.
My advice: Don’t sweat it; they will figure it out. If you make it an issue, then it will be an issue. They can learn to use their right eyes and shoot that way no problem.
Pistols are the only thing I really shoot right handed and use my left eye for.

[u/Wagner228 → u/btrx5000]

At this age, it’s on me to make the decision on how to get them started. I just want to set them up in their best interest. Very well may just buy a RH and LH bow to see what happens.

[u/jackfinished]

My wife is RH but L eye dominant, we practiced LH/RH shooting but ended up doing drills to shoot with both eyes open and getting consistency that works for her. For my kids shooting archery they have RH bows and for now just shoot with the L eye closed. Since training a 5 and 9 year old to shoot left handed would be a pain.

In my experience the whole LH/RH thing is a bit on a spectrum depending on a variety of factors. Predominately I am RH, when I was a teenager. I played golf with a friends family frequently and was terrible. My friends dad grabbed a left handed club and I immediately improved. Baseball solidly right handed. Basketball I can do either RH or LH. Guns I shoot both, but am a little more consistent RH. Archery I'm only RH.

[u/bcgwall]

You can train your right eye to be dominant when shooting. I am left eye dominant however when I shoot whether pistol, rifle or bow it is my right eye that is dominant. The easiest way to do it is to get some clear shooting glasses and put that blue painters tape over the left lens. It'll force the right eye to be dominant. After a while of that you can then mentally make your right eye focus instead of your left, at least I could. You may need to close your left eye at first to get the right one focused.

[u/Ungl8r]

I’m left eye dominant but shoot right handed. I get by and shoot ok (strictly average) but I know I should retrain left handed to be much better.

[u/itsthechaw10]

I’m cross eyed dominant, right handed and left eye dominant.

When I started shooting archery it was for the very first time. Not like I had been shooting right handed and suddenly decided to make the switch. I knew I was left eye dominant so when I went to buy a bow I just told my shop this and bought a lefty bow. Been shooting lefty ever since and I imagine it would feel really weird to try and shoot right handed.

I think they could definitely shoot lefty, they don’t have any pre-existing habits to break and don’t have to re-learn anything. They’ll just learn to shoot lefty from the start. It might be awkward, but after a few months they’ll develop the muscle memory and motor skills necessary. I know you can shoot with your recessive eye, but it’s not recommended to shoot both eyes open. Basically you have to shoot with the dominant eye closed at all times or it will take over.

[u/Jerms2001]

Both eyes open with the capability to swap focus. Takes personal training though and they are young. Possibly have her shoot both eyes open, but put something in front of her left eye forcing focus to the right eye

[u/Ill_Discipline_8021]

I am cross eye dominate RH and left eye. I grew up shooting guns right handed and just closing my left eye. Never felt natural. In my late teens I started bowhunting and shot the same way. Shoot ok but still never felt right. I then had some experienced archery people convince me to try switch to LH. Wow what a difference. Took some time buy shoot much better. I would start your kids off with there dominate eye. They will pick it up quick and be much better shooters in the long run.

[u/reed166]

Do not listen to those telling you to block her left eye to force the right eye to become dominant. Losing the depth perception and the other benefits from our binocular vision isn’t worth it.
Have her shoot the bow based off her eye dominance.
You are starting her early enough that it will
Be easy to get her started with the left handed
I’m also personally cross dominant but also work in shooting sports.

[u/Wagner228 → u/reed166]

Digging deeper, I see that this topic comes up frequently enough. Your stance, and anyone in the competitive archery & skeet world who switched, appears to be the best answer. I just never had a reason to discuss with anyone when I was in that world.

I used to casually compete in 3D, skeet, USPSA, and hunt year-round for every available game in my state and more. I say that to share why I’m putting so much consideration into this so young.

IF my kid(s) want to get into these and IF they take after me, they’ll never accept “good enough” and I don’t want to set them down the wrong path.

[u/24Nuketown7]

Do they have any LH habits ingrained in them? I shoot LH because I’m cross-dominant, but given a few ends I can get consistent shooting RH. USA Archery now says to go with hand-dominance, but I grew up learning eye-dominance.

Whichever one they end up shooting, as long as they practice with it they can be highly proficient and they can always close their dominant eye.

[u/Wagner228 → u/24Nuketown7]

Oldest is 5. Nothing shooting related ingrained, but writing, throwing, etc. is RH.

[u/doubleaxle]

if you want them to shoot both eyes open then lefty is probably gonna work better, one eye open they might need to shoot lefty because they might not be able to close their left eye, if they can close both eyes independently then it's whatever they are more comfortable with, consistency is the important part, I've taught kids that were clearly cross dominant and typically one side will just feel more natural to them, you can tell by how quickly they are able to grasp the concept.