Will string walking put excessive strain on the bottom limb a bow?
Brent,
I'm not a "walker", but based on the number of folks who use this method, I would say the answer must be 'no". And not to drag this post "off in the bushes", but I have a related question. How does it not add noise and vibration? It essentially appears to be purposely taking the limbs out of sychronization and progressively putting more load on the lower. Given that the nock point is fixed and you are moving a 3-under tabbed release further down the string to equate cast with distance and not changing anchor, how does it accomplish this? It looks to me like the limbs not returning to brace height simultaneously would slam the nock end of the arrow off the shelf every time. Hopefully someone will enlighten us both.
I've shot next to Ty Pelfrey as he warmed up prior to a local tournament, and can't remember hearing a lot of excessive noise when he string walked. I wasn't paying any particular attention to how much noise his bow made, but I probably would have noticed if it had been a lot. I assume that whatever extra noise and vibration there may be, it is not enough to offset the additional accuracy gained, or people wouldn't use it and many trad tournaments wouldn't find the need to ban it as being an unfair advantage.
I think you would have to have particularly good basic form to use string walking, as the bow must be held vertical at all times and the adjustments you need to make would probably make it more difficult to maintain your concentration. Maybe some of the reputation string walking has as being so accurate is because string walkers are just better shots to begin with?