What is shooting `off the knuckle?
A. On a bow with neither a sight window nor an arrow shelf, the arrow rests on the knuckle of the archer’s index finger. As the arrow is released, the feathers of the bottom fletching compress as they pass over the knuckle. With good quality arrows, shooting off the knuckle is merely uncomfortable, rather than catastrophic. The feathers abrade the skin of the finger and, eventually, leave an inflamed weal that (if you’re lucky) callouses over. However, if the feathers tend to come adrift from the arrow shaft, then eventually one will get embedded in your finger, and no callous will prevent that being a memorable experience. The effect of splinters in the arrow shaft hardly bear thinking about. Most traditional archers, particularly the ladies, wear gloves.
