No kisser button: how to build a truly stable anchor point in barebow – and what separates string walking from face walking.
Reader question: "Without a kisser button — how is my anchor point supposed to sit the same every single time?" The honest answer: through three fixed contact points instead of one gadget. Your anchor is the second pillar next to aiming itself in barebow — and because World Archery bans both the clicker and the kisser button, you have to build that precision entirely with your own body.
The community standard is the "high" anchor: index finger tucked into the corner of the mouth, the top of the hand running under the cheekbone. Three contact points at once — hand at the chin, finger at the mouth, string at the nose — give you the redundancy a kisser button used to provide.
But not every anchor point works the same way. There are two fundamentally different philosophies for using that fixed reference to aim across distances: string walking and face walking. Both are explicitly permitted in World Archery field and 3D competition — but they solve the distance problem in opposite ways. Which method ends up suiting you best depends heavily on whether you'd rather work with a fixed face or a fixed hand — both have their own logic, and this guide walks you through both.
Set your index finger firmly into the corner of your mouth, the top of your hand against your cheekbone. The string touches the tip of your nose at the same time. These three points — finger, hand, string — are your replacement for the banned kisser button.
With string walking, your anchor point on the face always stays the same. What moves is your finger position on the string: for close targets you grip nearer the nock, for far distances further down. The arrow tip points at gold almost the whole time — you control distance through string position, not through the anchor.
Face walking flips it: your finger position on the string stays fixed, but your anchor point on the face shifts with distance — closer to the eye for short distances. The advantage: your bow tune never changes because your fingers always sit at the same spot on the string. The downside: because your face isn't a straight line, small left-right deviations creep in easily.
For beginners, the community recommendation is nearly unanimous: string walking with a fixed anchor at the cheekbone, just below the eye. It's the most common method in field archery and gives you a reference point you never have to search for again.
The anchor only becomes automatic after hundreds of repetitions. Shoot slowly with deliberate control of every contact point rather than fast and sloppy. A deviation of just a few millimetres at the anchor shifts your hit on the target noticeably — barely visible at ten meters, but well outside the ten-ring at sixty.
An unstable anchor often tempts archers to creep closer to the string chasing "more control" — which raises the risk of string slap on the forearm. Keep your anchor position deliberate and wear an armguard whenever you practice. Also watch that your index finger doesn't press too hard against your teeth or lip — an overly forceful anchor tires the jaw muscles needlessly and drifts inaccurate over a long training session.
Set a fixed sequence for your anchor check: finger into the corner of the mouth first, then hand to the cheekbone, then feel the string at your nose — in exactly that order, every time. This routine replaces the kisser button with pure muscle memory.
With string walking, the anchor point on the face stays fixed while the finger position on the string moves with distance. Face walking is the opposite: fingers stay at the same string spot, the anchor point on the face moves. Both methods are legal in field and 3D competition.
World Archery explicitly bans the kisser button because it counts as an extra aiming aid. Barebow archers have to find their anchor entirely through hand, finger and string contact on the face — with no technical assistance.
The community almost universally recommends string walking with a fixed anchor at the cheekbone below the eye. It's the most widespread method and gives you a reliable, unchanging reference point on your face from day one.
It varies, but most archers need several hundred deliberate repetitions. Consistency matters more than speed: check the same three contact points on every shot until they sit without thinking.
Bow Arm & Cant: Why Barebow Archers Tilt the Bow