I draw an easy 36" due to my genetic condition, but it makes most things impossible to locate. I'm thinking at 32" I'll finally be able to just buy stuff instead of make nearly 100% of what I use.
How do I go about doing this properly, and is there anything I should know about doing so? I tried shorter, but it actually hurts my right arm when doing so. Any ideas why that is, or should I chalk it up to the severe arthritis in the joint?
There are two ways I know of that you can shorten your draw, and still draw to an anchor on your face. You can either bend your bow arm elbow more, or stand more open (facing) to the target. Having no experience with this other that shooting my grandchildren's short bows from time to time, I can only recommend that you try both, and see which one you like the best. I seem to be able to shoot more accurately by bending my bow arm more, but Fred Asbell recommends standing more open to the target. Neither one is ideal, but people have learned to shoot accurately with worse accommodations.
I remember seeing a bow once(though might have been one of those wheeled types), that had the handle of the riser about six inches in front of the riser itself. It was connected to the riser by two shafts. You might be able to rig up something generic that would hook onto most risers. At that point, everything else would be standard.
Don
Overdraws have been around for a while. You can try to rig up an overdraw of some sort. Makes it tough to shoot broadheads though unless you have ample clearance and shoot off a raised rest. If you are shooting only field tips the problem is not so existent.
If you are not using a very heavy (for you) bow, bending the bow arm can decrease the draw substantially. This is not the normal thing, but yours is not a normal issue. I used to do this all the time when shooting with the kids using their bows (and shorter arrows).
ChuckC