What is That Thing That Moves On The Bow? (The Clicker) | Archery

It's the clicker, for those who have been watching the Olympics and have no idea what to search for.
Bows:
Recurve: Chaser Python
Traditional: Harvey Crowned Eagle
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[@gimmeluck]

This.... is a clicker. It clicks... Thank you for watching This is what I love from you, sensei. Haha.

[@michaelraven3899]

It's quite straightforward explanation but pretty necessary as on archery videos we don't really hear the clicking sound (as NUSensei also mentioned) 🙂

[@gimmeluck]

@@michaelraven3899 as a matter of fact, you're right. There's no microphone near the bow, hence no click sounds heard through the video.

[@michaelraven3899]

@@gimmeluck for a long time I was trying to figure it out what this contraption is? What triggers it to move? How the archer is so sensitive and precise that every time the clicker goes off the arrow is released in quater of a second (or so)?... and without the sound it was even more mysterious for me. Only after i saw the previous NUSensei video about clicker i could understand it 🙂

[@gimmeluck]

@@michaelraven3899 aaaah, i see... If you look at it that way, that'd make sense. As for myself, I shoot barebow, but some of my friends have these accesories on their bow. That's why I know what a clicker is already. I personally only use magnetic arrow rest on my recurve.

[@michaelraven3899]

@@gimmeluck i only have a simple Sammick training recurve bow (additional accessory that i have is just a sight) but i hadn't have enough practice (with a trainer) to learn about the clicker in practice, but looking at the olympic archers got me wondering about this accessory again. 😀

[@jday4217]

Who’s here after seeing the archery in the Olympics?

[@alargecookie]

Here we go! the 4 (5) year cycle of people taking an interest in Freestyle Recurve! (I myself got into archery this way). My first NUSensei video was the how to avoid stringslap - on my first Come And Try day I string-slapped the buggery out of my arm.

[@TheAegisClaw]

A lot less in the UK. Archery is not being shown on the BBC for the first time ever. Discovery have it but that's a subscription that most people don't have. Small clubs really on the surge in membership in Olympic years, it's going to be a huge issue for some of them.

[@7777giordano]

Hi NuSensei I hope the City Council has reconsidered the project that left you without a shooting range ... and you can continue to share knowledge about archery the way you have been doing it

[@ThroneOfBhaal]

Your not wrong, that movement is so minute at the top level I couldn't spot them actually draw it that last millimetre in ANY of the matches I watched over the last few days. I tried to! :D

[@mortenjacobsen5673]

Then how can it be a draw lenght controll when the only movement is to get the fingers of the string?

[@ThroneOfBhaal]

@@mortenjacobsen5673 They stop drawing a fraction of a inch before the tip of the arrow passes the clicker and aim, when they're ready they draw that tiny bit further, the tip passes through the clicker and they release. It's really bloody hard to spot when they're good at it. But it will keep each draw a consistent length, as the arrow tip passes through the clicker at the same draw length each time.

[@mortenjacobsen5673]

@@ThroneOfBhaal the muscle has a set range of motion and contraction takes a set time, the clicker react to the arrow, and by the time the archer react to the clicker your at the end of motion so the clicker is more a audio confirmation of the biological timing. So the clicker needs to be set according to reaction time 500 to 300 milisecond, but according to Winchester archery the release takes 200 milisecond so you have 100 milisecond diffrence and if you could achive that biological imposible feat the string vibraton would over rule it. Futher there is the transfer speed of neurons time to send the relax finger signal, it should be consistant but if its delayed by reaction time after the click your realise point will be random, when you could rely on good old fashion muscle sensory prefrable correctly memory chunked, all though lactid acid could impeed contraction speed, but fatique of mental state also slow down reaction time.

[@tuttuti123]

​@@mortenjacobsen5673 hence why immense amount of consistent training is needed to make sure that you are consistent. Beginners with clickers will definitely push forward a bit after clearing the clicker, which means that it might just be as inconsistent as without a clicker. That's why you use tools like video camera or these days your phones and just slow mo the shot process to see if you are doing it right. Rhythm gamers can achieve the dozens of milisecond perfection, why not sports like archery as well? fpv drone pilots will always suffer from about 10-20 miliseconds of delay from drone to video speed, not adding reaction time for them to push the sticks and having the drone register the stick movement in 5 ms and yet they can still zoom across the race track at amazing speed. Practice can turn you into something great, sad to see that sometimes people just can't get to it.

[@tuttuti123]

@@mortenjacobsen5673 as for vibrations, well... that's the engineers job not archers lol. Their job to find what kind of string material blend vibrates less, so does with risers and pretty much every components on a bow.

[@boweatsbeef1056]

when I click the video I thought I already seen the whole video because suddenly.. "Thank you for watching"

[@cloudrouju526]

A clicker clicks, does that mean an archer arches? Hmm…

[@tuttuti123]

well i've seen some of my juniors back in highschool days arches quite badly when they come in for a try for the school's elite team or just trying in general. In fact I arches a bit to the side and I never noticed it until our team's supervisor brought in his nephew who does archery and had formal training to check on us. So yeah, some of us kinda do lol

[@WildlifeKit]

It’s a coincidence that I’m going through resetting my clicker at the moment

[@mortenjacobsen5673]

Try shooting without, then resett

[@paulbaker9277]

Thank you for a Frank and clear discription of a clicker.

[@michaelraven3899]

I am impressed to see how top archers use the clicker so to keep the tip of the arrow at last 1 or 2 milimiters before the clicker goes off. It is so precise that I cannot see the last movement of the arrow that triggers the clicker. At first I thought that the archer presses some button and the clicker releases the arrow (which is of course totally false) but now I see how precise the archer must become to keep the arrow at the very tip before clicker triggers and also not to even think about the existence of clicker. That's just amazing 😮😮😮 Thanks for that thorough explanation NUSensei 😊

[@TheAegisClaw]

They don't, at least if they're doing it right they don't, it's a constant slow expansion. To stop and start the draw process near the end of the clicker is a mistake if you've seen it.

[@michaelraven3899]

@@TheAegisClaw i haven't seen it so far but since i am a newby in archery i believe my sight is far from being able to see such subtleties 😮

[@ronanvialon7695]

@@TheAegisClaw I would invite you to watch this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6GTZ3WelqhnldE&ab_channel=JakeKaminski even though the draw should be as smooth as possible there is always a little bit of a stop before the clicker, to make sure that your sight is nicely sitting in the middle, keeping the sight perfectly centered and still during the draw is almost impossible.

[@123456789abcdefg52]

Thanks for posting. I am watching Olympics now and your video was the first search, which was exactly what I was looking for

[@Cherb123456]

lol love the Intro Thank you for this!

[@WildlifeKit]

Long time no see David

[@gtptvanbuuren3795]

Thanks Mate. Helpful Info much appreciated.

[@FPChris]

Are those limb/string clickers like "Clickety Klick bow clicker" allowed in recurve?

[@NUSensei]

I believe they would be, but there's little reason to use one. They're mostly used for traditional bows that can't use a clicker.

[@FPChris]

@@NUSensei I was curious because I struggle with a riser clicker. I never seems “right”. Probably me.

[@hesspet]

Normally I shoot trad. bow. But from time to time I add a bow with a clicker to my trainingsessions. It helps to train a more consitent style. Everytime I use the clicker and go back to my "main" bow, the measured arrow speed variations are smaller. Yes this thing works also as a training guide. And it helps to train you muscle memory. I added the clicker to an older "left over" take down bow with some added threads.

[@karathrace4855]

I was looking all over the internet to figure what that was.. didn’t know what it was called.. as always thank you for sharing your knowledge

[@robinfielding9506]

I learned so much from your videos thank you Like a clicker I use my finger as soon as a feel the tip I fire

[@guilhermemoleiro2871]

Nu can you do a video about all the kinds of arrow rests and which ones are better for each purpose.

[@yukiousuzumi2595]

Why not use a laser sensor instead? One doesn't need to worry about overdraw.

[@NUSensei]

Apart from electronic aids not being allowed, a laser sensor is a high tech solution to a low tech problem. An archer needs tactile feedback. A strip of metal does what a laser sensor does not.

[@yukiousuzumi2595]

@@NUSensei Thanks! I was thinking more of a sensor with support of some form of feedback, buzzing sound for example. But yeah I didn't know that electronic aids were not allowed.

[@dragonwisard]

I love the content of your videos, but I've noticed in many of your videos the way your camera is setup focuses on the background leaving you and the equipment you're showing slightly out of focus. I find it distracting and it makes it harder for me to pay attention to the useful and informative information you are sharing. One way to address this would be to preset the focus distance if your camera allows for manual or locked focus distance. Another way would be to enable face-detect auto-focus so that the camera will try to focus on you rather than the dead center of the frame, which is often the background. Depending on the camera, face-detect auto focus can sometimes cause the camera to hunt for focus when it can't find your face, which is also distracting. Therefore, given that you generally stay at approximately the same distance relative to the camera, I think pre-focusing is the better strategy. It doesn't need to be perfectly set, but at least having the background be equally out--of-focus as the subject (you) would make it less apparent and distracting.

[@NUSensei]

I used to use manual focus and set the distance. I kept on screwing up the distance as I tend to move around between takes, so I use auto-focus. Unfortunately, it tends to pick up the bush behind me. I will try to remember to use more manual focus on the things that need it.

[@gizmonomono]

How do you measure draw length on an Olympic bow? From the back of the bow, or the deepest part of the grip?

[@mortenjacobsen5673]

Idealy from the pressure point to your anchor point, if you ignore the front node of the arrow beeing on the plunger or not, draw lenght is used to calculate static arrow spine,

[@vrs76r]

Did you consciously remove the plastic/metal piece at the bottom of the clicker or shoot through the clicker? I've been there done that with shooting through the clicker but nothing a little glue couldn't fix as its much harder to hear the click when others are around you without the metal piece hitting the clicker plate

[@NUSensei]

I must have dropped it long ago. I like it better that way regardless.

[@Australian_Made]

✌👍👅

[@PeterB_California]

Well done sir!

[@rickardbrinck2886]

OMG 1ST

[@greyareaRK1]

I hate to keep playing devil's advocate, but isn't it part of the skill of archery to properly judge draw length?

[@michaelraven3899]

Well, i believe we could say the same thing about the sight or counterweights. Perhaps everyone in archery olympics competition agreed that this can be allowed.

[@NUSensei]

Knowing and executing are different things. There's no physical way to tell if you are at the right draw length, and "feel" isn't specific enough. Even if you know the length, you still have to execute it cleanly. The clicker alone is one of the reasons why RC shooters have an edge over BB shooters - it's just too difficult to for a BB shooter to be as consistent without a way to tell. The clicker isn't without precedent though. Traditional Asiatic archer makes use of the bow hand anchor - drawing the arrow to the arrow point, or a marker on the arrow so that the archer can feel their length. Even Western archery has it written down that archers draw to the pile (point of the arrow). Historically, they very much used the arrow as a guide for how long they should draw. Modern archery better understands dynamic spine and prioritises fine-tuning the arrow over using it as a guide, so the clicker replaces that function.

[@popcorngenerator1925]

A lot of people don’t realise that you actually need to be able to draw to the same length pretty consistently without a clicker to make the most out of using one. If your draw is all over the place, pulling through the clicker can become frustrating and more damaging to your shot process then if you weren’t using it. It not a quick fix by any means.

[@hesspet]

During training it's also a very good helper to learn consitent drawing (increasing you skills). I use a clicker from time to time during training for traditional bows. Only a small selfmade wooden clamp is needed to add a clicker temporary. Or I use an older bow with added thread. Trust me, this is one of the best trainings you can have. After shooting some rounds with a clicker, go back to you trad. bow (or remove the clamp). And you see the difference in your results. To optimize the drawing skills a good device. BTW: was not my idea. This was common on the shooting range by the local trad. shooters long before I startet archery. :-) The ceapest clicker you can get will work.

[@mortenjacobsen5673]

The draw lenght is just the end of a transision to angular motion where continued movement serve to release the arrow by moving the fingers of the string, where the string travel foward so any change in lenght at that point does not contribute. The biomecaniks like the lenght of you bow arm, frame, posture and anchor point dont change with consistant teqnuiqe so your draw lenght and anchor dont change your draw lenght either, like pytagoras you can change the angel while the lenght is the same

[@maikp5505]

I think he ran out of video ideas.

[@TheAegisClaw]

The clicker killed the joy of archery for me. That's one of the reasons I moved over to compound.

[@michaelraven3899]

When did the clicker appear in official usage in recurve archery?

[@TheAegisClaw]

@@michaelraven3899 I don't know, a very long time. It's not a recent invention.

[@NUSensei]

According to this article: archery.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Who-invented-the-clicker.pdf The inventor of the clicker was Fred Leder at the NFAA National Field Tournament in 1955. Recognising some of the target panic symptoms, Fred - a machinist - designed his own clicker to address the struggles that archers were having. He was later approached by Earl Hoyt to sell the clicker commercially, and the clicker quickly became widespread and a standard piece of equipment. As much as purists might want to mull over how archery should have stayed stick and string, competitive target archers were very quick to pick up advances in technology and equipment.

[@michaelraven3899]

@@NUSensei Thanks for the article NUSensei 😊

[@godlessbastard4162]

Great explanation!!