Just back from Rick Welch Class

[DaveT1963]

All I have to say is that I was a skeptic before I went.  I mean I have been shooting trad for several decades and thought I had heard it all and seen it all.  I did not think my shooting would actually improve all that much.  All I can say is that I was wrong and I am now a believer..... what I go the moist from his class is that I now know exactly how to tune up my bow/arrows and when I make a bad shot I know why and how to correct it.  I highly recommend his class.  My email is DaveT1963@ymail for anyone that has questions or wants more info.  Go to his class if you are frustrated with tuning and/or desire to be a better shot.

[Gen273]

I glad you had a good time and that you came away with some added know how. We must never stop trying to be come better bowhunters. I would like to try his class at some point.

[Keb]

How did you change your anchor?

[Brianlocal3]

Dave ,
For someone of your shooting quality to saw this, I'll take that as good as gold.  I would like to make it sometime. Did you shoot your vixen?

[DaveT1963]

Yes I shot my Vixen but had to use a lighter weight stock bow at the end of the day (you shoot a lot).  Not sure my shooting quality is all that but I managed to slip a few through the vitals along the way :-)

[rbcorbitt]

Dave,

I'm a relative newby to trad archery (since Jan. 2011), but took 2-day class from Rick last Summer in Arkansas and learned more in the first 15 minutes than I had in the previous 9 months of asking questions, reading threads, etc.

Good training early (or late) is always good!

Bob C

[Brazos]

How much does he charge if you go to his school?  I just looked at his website but it only said a $250 deposit.

[BDann]

When I went in 2011 I think the class was $500, and well worth it.

[Friend]

A shooting bud of mine attended Mr.Welch's class last summer.

>>>>>>>>>>What a difference<<<<<<<<<<

[Don Batten]

Glad to here you thought it was worth it. Hope Rick's doing good these days.
db

[DaveT1963]

the class was 600 (200 deposit). Rick is the real deal and his shooting speaks for itself.  I tried all kinds of aiming/shooting styles and all have weak points.... what I like about Ricks style is that it is repeatable and teachable.  While I may never get to the level Rick is, I know that with proper practice what he has taught me is making me a better shot.

[snakebit40]

Does her make you change to a static release if your a dynamic release? I'm willing to change a lot but I think I'd have a really hard time change to a static release.

[Brazos]

I guess $500-$600 is not too bad, it about max of what I can pay though..  I may look into doing it by this time next year.  I can shoot pretty good.  My problem is I am a solo shooter.  I do not know anyone else that shoots trad.  Being self taught I am sure I could learn a lot.  When you shoot by yourself the learning curve is real slow.  One weekend in class could theoretically speed my learning curve up by years.

[McDave]

I don't think Rick cares if you have a dynamic release or a static release. What he cares about is that you don't collapse and that you learn to hold for 2 seconds before release.

[snakebit40]

Awesome! Thanks for the info McDave!

[Keb]

Can some describe his anchor,

[McDave]

Rick uses a double anchor, which is his thumb knuckle brushing his earlobe and the back of the cock feather touching his nose.  The thumb knuckle is cocked like you were cocking a revolver.  The feathers on the arrow are mounted such that the back of the cock feather will touch your nose at full draw, which provides a draw-check, of sorts.  For example, on my arrows, the feathers are mounted such that the distance between the quill and the valley of the nock is 2".  You will have to experiment to get the right distance.  Don't be too quick to fletch a lot of arrows, because it is likely that after you shoot for a while, you will decide that you need to move the feather a little forward or backward from the position you first chose.  The feathers that seem to work best with this are left wing with shield cut.  This double anchor doesn't work for everyone, because people's faces are different, so if you want to use it, mount the feathers to touch your nose and experiment around with the second part of the double anchor until you find something that works.

After using this for a while, I took a class from Rod Jenkins that increased my expansion a little, and I found out that my orignial feather position was cramping me.  By then I had fletched a lot of arrows, and didn't want to change the feather position, so I just moved my anchor under my nose rather than on it, which works just as well and gives me slightly more draw length.  Byron Ferguson uses this under the nose anchor, which you can see in the illustrations in his book.

[Keb]

If is not to much to ask, could you posts pic, what the thumb cocked looks like. I am picking up his method from his videos, but the anchor is giving me problems.

[McDave]

It's difficult to get the right angle to show this in a photo, so I made a sketch.  As I said, people's earlobes and noses are not all in the same relative positions, so if you have to contort your face or put your head in an unnatural position to get this, it would be better to just use the nose anchor and find a different anchor on your face or jawbone for your thumb knuckle.

 

[fmscan]

McDave, Thank you for the excellent description and the sketch....I'm frustrated with my shooting and when I get done marrying off 3 daughters I'm heading to Ark. for Rick's school.