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Archery can be classified as a sport or a hobby and it has its own category at the Olympic Games. Archers either hunt wild game animals or shoot at targets or both. If you shoot at targets in a competition, it is the aggregate score of all your arrows that determines your position in that competition. The nearer the centre of the target that the arrow hits, the higher the score.

Target archery can also be sub-divided into two categories: field archery and target archery. In target archery, the archer stands in a fixed spot. If there are a number of archers, they can stand in a row and all shoot together on command from the person in charge of enforcing the rules and safety. Any type of bow can normally be used in target archery, although only compound bows may be used in the Olympic Games.

In field archery, the targets are of diverse sizes and are placed at various distances. The archer moves around the course, so there is no one fixed shooting spot. The targets may be the familiar round targets with concentric rings or they may be life-size models of wild animals like bears, deer and rabbits.

The bows used in field archery are more often than not traditional type bows: longbows, flat bows and recurves, although archers may use any bow that they want. When stalking live animals, compound bows are normally used because they are smaller, so more manoeuvrable, yet they are still extremely powerful.

Archery targets are conventionally made from straw bundled and tied together to make ropes. These ropes of straw are then wrapped around themselves like a Catherine Wheel and sewn together. The cloth or paper target is pinned to the front of it.

The other word for these targets is ‘butts’ and many old towns and villages in Britain still have a recreational area known as ‘The Butts’. Nowadays they play football or cricket on it, but Henry VIII decreed that all males had to practice his archery skills every Sunday at the butts using a longbow, so that there would be a plentiful source of archers for his army.

In competition archery, every archer shoots at his or her own target, but every archer is expected to have uniquely coloured flights, so that if there is a problem an archer and the arrow can be identified. This is useful for retrieving arrows that have missed the target altogether.

There are normally six arrows shot by each competitor in a round and if they are to be shot from a variety of distances, it is normal to shoot from the furthest distance first. Men generally shoot from 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres, while ladies customarily shoot from 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres.

Archery as a sport appears to be growing in popularity, especially as there is a tendency in some countries, like the UK, to make it more difficult to obtain a gun license. They say that fashion goes around and comes back again, well British men are back at the butts working on their archery skills again in greater numbers than there have been since possibly the sixteenth century.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several subjects, but is currently concerned with archery bows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery has been practiced for a long time. Bows have been found from at least 2,500 years before Christ, so 4,500 years ago. It is also likely that archery goes back several thousand years before that, but because most bows were made solely of wood, they have not lasted.

In the early days, bows were utilized for hunting and keeping invaders away. These days, there are still some cultures that rely on hunting with bows and arrows to put meat on the table and there are also people who decide to do it that way for sport.

The equipment concerned with archery is basically a bow and an arrow, but it goes deeper than that. If you really want to get involved in archery, you might want to consider making your own bow, your own arrows and your own practice butts.

There are excellent kits for making your own bows, but there are too many varieties of bows for us to go into all of them in this article. However, be assured that if you do want to construct your own bow, you will find a description of the materials and the techniques on the Internet.

You can also make your own arrows and that is an easier subject to deal with. If you begin with the shaft, it can be made of wood, aluminium alloy or carbon fibre, all of which can be bought easily. Then, at the sharp end, you can choose your tip or point.

The arrow head should match the job that the arrow is meant for. If it is meant to kill, then a broadhead, if it is meant to make a hole in a piece of paper, then a simple brass tip.

The flights can be bought separately as well. You can feathers or plastic and with a little experience, you can use feathers that you have found yourself. Goose feathers were historically the ones most well-liked.

Finally there is the nock, which is the part of the arrow that connects with the string. The nock can be as simple as a ‘v’ or a ‘u’ cut in the arrow, or it can be a plastic or metal casting that is fitted over the end of the arrow.

The bow string is too hard to make oneself, unless you really want to go into that technology. The bow string is better bought.

Archery targets, the round ones, you associate with target archery are a different kettle of fish, because you definitely can make them yourself. You first have to get hold of a load of straw and then grab handfuls of it. Bind these handfuls of straw into ‘ropes’ and make a circle like a Catherine Wheel out of them.

Sew these together until they make the size target you require. Place this on an easel or affix it to a tree and then fasten the conventional archery target to the front of it.

You can draw the conventional concentric circles on cloth, canvas or paper. It does not have to cost a lot to enjoy archery. Remember that 5,000 or 500 years ago, people did not have much, yet they still enjoyed their sport or hobby of archery.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on various topics, but is presently involved with archery bows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery fishing is also known as bow fishing and it is as ancient as the bow and arrow themselves. We in the West are inclined to think that only poorer tribesmen in Third World countries go bow fishing, but that is not quite true.

These days the hunting of mammals is strictly controlled and so some people who like to hunt with a bow will switch to bow fishing if the animals that they like to pursue, say deer, are out of season. Some other people, who would not hunt a deer or bear are quite happy to hunt fish in this fashion.

Bow fishing is a skillful sport, but the equipment need not necessarily be hi-tech. The fact is that you can use whatever bow you have or you can just manufacture one. It does not have to be powerful, because the quarry is seldom more than ten feet away. You categorically do not need a 100 lbf longbow to kill a trout.

Having said that, any bow used for fishing will have to be modified a little – you will need to affix a reel to it, but it does not have to be anything fancy. There are three principal varieties of reel for use in bow fishing: hand-wrap, spincast and retriever and the line is normally braided nylon of approximately eighty pounds although you might need six hundred pound breaking strain line for alligators or sharks.

It is worth checking out the regulations with regard to bow fishing in your country or state, because sometimes bow fishermen have to be licensed and sometimes getting that license involves having been on a safety course.

Some regions will even have regulations concerning the kind of gear you can use in bow fishing and of course, some fish have seasonal limitations.

Bow fishing is a hybrid of fishing and hunting, so you could have to acquire some new skills like tying knots for instance. You will have to be able to tie the line to the reel and the arrow and those knots will have to be able to put up with the tremendous acceleration that an arrow leaving a bow goes through without failing.

The bow may not differ much from a standard bow, but the arrows certainly do. Arrows for bow fishing are usually a lot more substantial that air-flight arrows. They also have barbed points to prevent the fish escaping or just slipping off when you reel it in. The arrows do not have flights either because flights tend to avert the true course of the arrow in water – the opposite of in the air.

There are three main techniques used in bow fishing: 1] you can put down ground bait and lie in wait. – an over hanging branch or high rock is good for this; 2] you can float down stream in a boat while sitting or standing in the bow; 3] you can wander into the river like a salmon fisherman.

Compensating for the refraction of the water is the most difficult ability to learn and that means knowing the water well as well.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on various subjects, but is presently involved with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

If you are American and you are keen on archery, you will almost certainly have heard of Three Rivers Archery products. In Europe and the remainder of the world, you probably have not heard of them. Three Rivers Archery products are some of the finest in the world. In their own words, they specialize in longbows and recurve bows.

Three Rivers Archery also offers arrows and other archery equipment such as the resources to construct or refurbish your own arrows. These resources include carbon fibre, wooden and aluminium arrow shafts, arrow heads, feathers and nocks. They also supply quivers, arrow rests, bow strings and everything else to do with archery.

The price tag of these outstanding quality items is competitive and professional archers, hunters, hobbyists and sports people all use Three Rivers Archery goods. There are types of archery paraphernalia to suit every purpose and every wallet.

The equipment sold by Three Rivers Archery is of Olympic standard. That is to say that their recurve bows meet the requirements set by the Olympic committee. Their traditional selfbows are authentic replicas of original longbows.

The arrows are constructed of modern materials as well as timber. The modern composite arrows are usually better because modern carbon fibre and aluminium alloys are more durable for making arrow shafts than wood. That is difficult to confess for a traditionalist, but modern carbon fibre and aluminium alloy arrows do not splinter like a wooden arrow can if shot from a heavy-duty longbow.

The steel arrow points that Three Rivers Archery sells are far better than the old brass arrow tips as well. The old brass arrow points would often buckle or dent, whereas these new steel points are practically indestructible. They sell whistling steel tips as well, although I am not sure why anyone would want a whistling arrow point. What is the point?

If you are not certain where you can get hold of Three Rivers Archery goods, go online. They have an excellent web site which is massive although still simple to navigate. If you are interested in archery, then I am in no doubt that you could easily spend an hour or more just browsing the web site.

Their web site is very carefully set out with distinct sections for every facet of archery including ready-made items such as bows, arrows, paraphernalia and clothing; there are additional web pages on targets, quivers, accessories, books, DVD’s and adolescent archery. There are further web pages on medieval archery, hunting and bow making. There are even special offers only available to their web site visitors.

If that is not enough, then there is a forum, an email service and an off-line catalogue. Three Rivers Archery will of course send your purchase to your home. You can order by post, by telephone or over the Internet.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on several topics, but is presently concerned with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery is about striking a target with an arrow shot from a bow. The bow can either be an upright bow or a crossbow, although most people think of upright bows when they hear the word ‘archery’. Within the sport or hobby of target archery, there are two kinds: target archery and field archery. The champion is the archer with the highest combined score of his arrows that struck the target.

Target archery necessitates shooting arrows, normally six, from different distances usually 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres. The archers stand in a line before their targets starting at 90 metres and shoot an arrow on the command of whoever is in charge.

Then they all move forward to the 70 metre mark and shoot again on the order and so on. After the six arrows have been shot, the archers proceed to their targets and add up their scores.

Field archery necessitates walking around a course where targets are set at different distances. The targets can be the traditional round ones or they may be replicas of wild animals like rabbits, deer or mountain lions.

Traditional targets are made from straw. Handfuls of straw are tied with string and made into a kind of rope. This rope is then wound around and around itself until a target of the right size has been made. The rope is held in place either by pinning it or tying it. A canvas or paper target is then pinned to the front of it.

Target archery can be practiced outdoors or indoors and the target sizes are different to match the various distances. An outdoor archery target can be either 122 centimetres or 80 centimetres in diameter. The centre of this target is 24.4 centimetres in diameter and there are four concentric circles around this. The indoor target is 80 centimetres in diameter. The centre of this size target is 16 centimetres and also has four concentric rings around it.

Each ring is about eight centimetres wide on the smaller target. The targets are coloured gold in the centre, then red, blue, black and white. At the middle of the gold is what many archers call the ‘pinhole’.

It is a small cross of about two millimetres in width. The target should then be placed on an easel or stand with a tilt of about 15 degrees. The pinhole ought to be 130 centimetres off the ground (plus or minus five centimetres).

If there is more than one bowman, the pinholes should all be at the same height off the ground and the targets should be clearly numbered. The shooting line should be clearly marked and an archer’s shooting spot should be clear too. Five yards behind the archer, there should be another line, behind which non-competitors may watch.

The danger zone between the archers and the targets should be roped off to prevent spectators wandering into the line of fire. Knowing that the spectators are kept well back helps the archers to focus on their accuracy.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on various topics, but is currently concerned with longbows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Bow hunting or bowhunting is one of those sports that you either love or you hate – a lot like fox hunting in the United Kingdom. Town people hate it and anybody involved with it and country people see it necessary to cull wild animals that could otherwise become a pest.

Despite its macho image, which was encouraged by the film the Deer Hunter, there are increasing quantities of women who go bowhunting. The big distinction between hunting with a rifle and hunting with a bow is distance. A hunting rifle with telescopic sights can provide enough punch at 600 yards to take down a deer with a single shot virtually anywhere it is hit in the chest.

On the other hand, a hunter using a bow with a fifty pound draw weight will have to be within about forty yards to be able to deliver the same sort of lethal punch, if the shot is accurate to the heart.

This means that if you severely wound an animal from 600 yards, it will most likely be dead by the time you get there, climbing over fallen trees and rocks, but if you severely wound a deer from forty yards you see its anguish.

This has a salutacious effect on most bow hunters. The vast majority of bow hunters do not want to see this and they do not want the creature to suffer either, so they wait for the right shot. If it is not there, they do not shoot.

A hunting bow has to have a draw weight of at least fifty pounds to hunt large game and that used to mean quite a hefty recurve or longbow, but the compound bow was developed in 1966.

A compound bow makes use of pulleys to help with the draw, which permits less beefy people to accomplish a draw weight of fifty pounds, which has opened up bowhunting to women and adolescents.

Large wild animals are dangerous and some will attack without warning if they feel threatened. This leads to a danger zone around wild animals. Every sort of animal has a danger zone, for a lion, that could be pretty large and for a deer less so. This danger zone is an locale outside of which you are fairly safe.

If you are hunting with a gun, you can stay outside that danger zone easily, but with a bow and arrow, well, you often have to go within it. This increased risk provides a superior rush for bow hunters – a bigger thrill. Especially if they are hunting bears or mountain lions.

In contrast to the Deer Hunter, most bow hunters go on organized trips these days. The hunting trip is organized with the aid of a specialized firm which will present guided excursions into areas known to have large numbers of the animals you want to hunt.

These expert guides know how to bait zones to lure your prey; they can give advice on safety aspects and they take a big gun in case a hunter is too stupid to take their advice. Regrettably, the gun is for use on the animal, not the idiot.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on various topics, but is currently concerned with compound hunting bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery is as old as the hills. The oldest bows to have been found date back to about 2000 BC and bows are almost certainly older than that. Archery is so old that no-one knows where or when the bow and arrow was invented. It has always been used in hunting and warfare. Buddhist monks in the Far East have utilized archery in their martial arts regimes for centuries as well.

Archery is even now being used by some tribes around the world for hunting purposes and many millions of ordinary people practice archery for recreation. Buddhist monks still utilize it in their meditation routines. There are essentially three types of archery recognized: primitive, traditional and modern archery.

Traditional archery includes such bows as the longbow and the recurve bow. Bows of both types have been found dating back to 2000 BC. It appears that the longbow was more common in northern Europe and the recurve bow was more widespread in southern Europe and east from there all the way to Japan.

The modern compound bow can attain a heavy draw weight by expending relatively little physical energy compared with traditional bows by the use of a set of pulleys or cams, however still many people prefer to use traditional bows. People seem to want to get back to the root of archery.

Longbows are very simple implements, traditionally made from one piece of yew or ash. Recurve bows could also be made from one length of wood, but more often, the tips would be made from wood and horn or bone. Remember that the tips of a recurve bow point to the front when the bow is unstrung.

Because of the recurved tips, a recurve bow is more powerful than a longbow weight for weight or inch for inch, but recurve bows are normally quite short, so the standard longbow is much more formidable than the average recurve bow.

However, both models of bow require quite an amount of physical strength to draw them to full power and hold that draw to take aim.

This cycle of drawing and holding without quivering or trembling requires a lot of strength and concentration, which usually has to be acquired. It can take years of practice to master traditional archery. The British longbow men of the 14 th and 15 th centuries trained all their lives.

In fact, Henry VIII made it law that all English and Welsh men had to practice with a longbow at the butts every Sunday shooting at targets at a minimum of 220 yards away. Nowadays, 90 metres (100 yards) is about the furthest archers shoot. It would often take ten years to become this skillful, but some archers could shoot an arrow 400 yards and more.

In order to cast an arrow that far, traditional longbows used in warfare had a draw weight of between 160 and 180 lbs, which would send a three ounce, armour-piercing arrow about 300 yards. Not many men could pull a bow like that these days These days, a typical draw weight for a longbow would be 100 lbs and for a recurve something over 60 lbs.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several subjects, but is presently concerned with archery bows for sale. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archery is now a very widespread sport and hobby all over the world, but once, long ago, it was even more popular. Every army had archers and men hunted with bows for food. Every country or every region invented its own peculiar design of bow and therefore, even nowadays, there are many different types of archery bows. Modern technology has meant that new types of archery bows are still being developed.

Some bows were invented by people who rode horses a lot. These bows were shorter, other bows were intended for long range shooting and these bows were longer. I will list some of the main types of archery bows below with a short explanation of each

The traditional Welsh or English longbow was made from a single length of yew (or other wood) at least the size of the bowman, but up to about six feet six inches (two metres). It was ‘D’ shaped in profile with the flat, bark side, facing away from the string. The curved inner side followed the natural growth rings of the branch. The timber itself was seasoned for two years.

The draw weight of a longbow was between 160-180 pounds, which is hard to accomplish by modern man. In the days of the longbow, in the Middle Ages, men and boys were obliged by law to do target practice with longbows at the village butts every Sunday. The target range for a man was to be no less than 220 yards by order of king Henry VIII.

The longbow was used to devastating effect as long range (400 yards) artillery by the British army at Crecy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415, raining lethal three ounce, three foot long arrows down on the enemy. As the armies drew nearer the longbow could be used accurately to aim at particular targets. Shortly after these great victories, which can be ascribed to the archers and their longbows, bows were superseded as military weapons by firearms.

Flat bows, like the longbow, can be over six feet long, are not recurved and can be crafted out of a single length of wood. However, they are rectangular in profile, not ‘D’ shaped.

Short bows are similar to longbows or flat bows in every detail except size and because they are shorter, they do not have the potential or the distance of the other bows. Sort bows are easy to carry and easier to use in confined situations like woods or a forest, so they were used mostly for hunting small animals.

Recurve bows are more effective that any other bow inch for inch of length. The tips of a recurve point frontward when the bow is unstrung and look odd to the uninitiated. The recurve was very common from the Mediterranean to the Far East from about 2000 BC until 1700 AD. Nowadays, the recurve is the only type of bow permitted to be used in the Olympic Games.

Compound bows use very stiff materials in their assembly so have pulleys or cams to help bend or draw the bow. This mechanical assistance to drawing the bow to the best length means less physical force on behalf of the archer, which means that the archer con focus on the target more.

Crossbows have the limbs mounted crossways on a piece of timber and the draw string is held by mechanical means until it is let loose with a trigger. The arrow, or bolt, is a great deal shorter. They are practically half-way houses to guns.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several subjects, but is presently involved with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

People have been practicing archery for a minimum of four thousand years, but almost certainly for a lot longer than that. Parts of composite recurve bows have been found dating back to the second millennium BC, but the parts that were found were the non-wooden, composite parts, typically of horn.

The wooden parts usually rotted away thousands of years previously, but a wooden longbow from the same era was discovered in Somerset. Presumably, people had been using all wooden, single section bows long before they started constructing complex composite recurve bows.

The skill of archery has always fascinated mankind and, in spite of the fact that guns have made archery obsolete, it still fascinates people today, although nowadays archery is almost reserved used for sporting purposes. It is a thriving sport and hobby and is the national sport of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

If you are interested in taking up archery, you will first have to decide which kind of bow you prefer. Among other varieties, there are the longbow, recurve bow, reflex and decurve bows, deflex bow, pyramid bow and crossbow.

To a certain degree, the arrows are not intercompatible either. For example, a longbow can shoot a three foot, heavy-gauge arrow, whereas a crossbow shoots a six inch bolt. The bows also had distinctive uses although there was a certain amount of overlap.

For example, longbows were the heavy, rapid-firing armaments of their day, being able to fling a heavy, armour-piercing arrow hundreds of yards; whereas a short recurve bow was ideal for assault from horseback. Crossbows took less ability to use but were slower than a bow.

There are different types of arrow as well. Historically, arrows were made of wood with a sharp metal tip, but these days arrows can be made of aluminium or carbon fibre. The arrowheads are distinctive for different applications as well. A simple brass tip is adequate for everyday shooting whereas a vicious, slashing broadhead is used for killing.

The majority of people who take archery seriously use carbon fibre arrows these days which is the standard arrow shaft used at the Olympic games. The flights are usually of bird feathers and are used to steady the arrow in flight to minimize wobble. Plastic flights are also to be had as they are less prone to damage.

The Welsh (and English) longbow was probably the most heavy-duty hand bow widely used. These longbows were typically six feet or more in length and made of one piece of seasoned yew (or other woods). The draw weight of a Welsh longbow at the time of Henry VIII was between 160 -180 lbf and that would cast a heavy three ounce arrow up to about 280 yards.

An explanation of the damage that one of these arrows could inflict was given by Gerald of Wales in the 12th century:

“… in the war against the Welsh, one of the men of arms was struck by an arrow shot at him by a Welshman. It went right through his thigh, high up, where it was protected inside and outside the leg by his iron cuirasses, and then through the skirt of his leather tunic; next it penetrated that part of the saddle which is called the alva or seat; and finally it lodged in his horse, driving so deep that it killed the animal”.

It took years of practice to draw and shoot one of these longbows bows accurately.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on various topics, but is presently concerned with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Archers have played a key role in combat and hunting for thousands of years. Early bows were made of a single piece of wood, but composite recurve bows were being made from Greece to China as far back as the second millennium BC.

Recurve bows, those with the ends facing the ‘wrong way’ when unstrung, are more powerful inch for inch in length than one piece wooden bows, which made them more suitable to confined conditions such as on horseback, in a chariot or in wooded areas.

Bits of composite recurve bows, usually made from horn, have been discovered in many parts of the world. Early arrows were made from naturally straight twigs or pine needles with napped flint tips affixed. Wooden bows did not preserve so well and exemplars are rare.

It seems that archery was being developed in the early Mesolithic or late Paleolithic Age. Archery was especially well developed in some Islamic countries and in Asia, where Zen Buddhist monks utilized archery as an element of their meditation techniques.

In the early days of archery, there were mixed sentiments about archers. In those days, people fought hand to hand with swords and spears and some of the traditionalists thought that archers were cowards because they attacked from a distance out of direct danger. This point is made very obvious in ‘The Iliad’, Homer’s account to the siege of Troy.

There are or were many types of bows made to suit different fighting or hunting requirements. Some varieties of bow are the; long bow, short bow, recurve bow, composite recurve bow, reflex bow, decurve bow, deflex bow and crossbow among others.

The longbow was extremely hard to learn to use and the archer needed massive upper-body strength. The bow was often six feet long with a weighty three foot long arrow. The draw weight for maximum power was around a hundred pounds and the function of the bow on a battlefield was as long-range artillery.

The heavy arrows and fierce armour-piercing arrow head would rain down on the enemy from a hundred yards or more and penetrate shields and armour as if were not being worn. Shot horizontally, the three-foot arrow could pass through several people.

In fact, the longbow was so essential to the triumph of Great Britain that a law was passed making it compulsory for men over a certain age to practice with their longbows every Sunday on the village green in order to develop the necessary skills and upper-body strength in case war came.

The arrows are made to go with the different kinds of bows and the different bows and their specific arrows are suited to different kinds of hunting – whether you are hunting men or animals.

There are essentially two styles of shooting: instinctive shooting, which is very demanding as the archer does not take his eyes off the target, but does not sight down the arrow; and sight shooting where the archer makes use of sights to align the arrow with its target. The majority of people find sight shooting simpler.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several subjects, but is presently concerned with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.