About Archery

Information on these pages is taken from a variety of public domain sources such as Wikipedia. It is meant as an introduction to archery and the type of equipment commonly in use in modern archery. If you are new to archery or considering taking up archery as a sport, our best advice is to visit the club and try out the various types of bow before buying your own equipment. Friskney Bowmen have modern recurve, compound and longbows that beginners can try.

General Information on Archery

Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows. Archery has historically been used in hunting and combat and has become a precision sport. A person practicing archery is called an archer, and one who is fond of or an expert at archery is sometimes called a toxophilite.

History

The earliest concrete evidence of archery dates back 5,000 years.[citation needed] The bow probably originated for use in hunting and was then adopted as a tool of warfare. It was one of the earliest forms of artillery. Bows eventually replaced the atlatl as the predominant means for launching projectiles.

Classical civilizations, notably the Persians, Macedonians, Nubians, Greeks, Parthians, Indians, Japanese,Chinese, and Koreans, fielded large numbers of archers in their armies. Arrows proved exceptionally destructive against massed formations, and the use of archers often proved decisive.

During the Middle Ages, archery in warfare was not as prevalent and dominant in Western Europe as popular myth dictates. Archers were quite often the lowest-paid soldiers in an army or were conscripted from the peasantry. This was due to the cheap nature of the bow and arrow, as compared to the expense needed to equip a professional man-at-arms with good armour and a sword. Professional archers required a lifetime of training and expensive bows to be effective, and were thus rare in Europe (see English longbow).

Archery was highly developed in Asia and in the Islamic world. The horse archers were the main military force of most of the Equestrian Nomads. In modern times, horse archery continues to be practised in some Asian countries but is not used in international competition. Central Asian tribesmen were extremely adept at archery on horseback. Archery is the national sport of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

The advent of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare. Early firearms were vastly inferior in range, rate-of-fire, and armor penetration to high-quality bows, but required significantly less training to use properly. Armies equipped with guns could thus provide superior firepower by sheer weight of numbers, and highly-trained archers became obsolete.

Types of Bow

A longbow is a type of bow that is tall (roughly equal to or greater than the height of a person), is not recurved, and has relatively narrow limbs that are circular or D-shaped in cross section. The traditional English longbow is made so that its thickness is at least ⅝ of its width. If the thickness is less than ⅝ of its width then the bow would be considered a flatbow. Typically a longbow is widest at the handle. Longbows have been used for hunting and warfare, by many cultures around the world, a famous example being the English longbow, during the Middle Ages.

A shortbow is a much smaller version of the longbow, whilst it doesn't go as far it in some cases can be lighter and better as a secondary option.

A compound bow is designed to reduce the force that an archer must hold, yet increase the overall energy stored by the bow. Most compound designs use cams or elliptical wheels on the ends of the limbs to optimise the leverage exerted by the archer and to reduce the holding force of the bow, at full draw, while maintaining the force through the draw.

With less force required to hold a compound bow at draw (often less than half of the bow's peak draw weight), the muscles take longer to fatigue, thus giving a compound archer more time to aim. For these reasons, the compound bow is sometimes derogatorily referred to as a "training-wheel bow". A compound bow must be adjusted so that its draw length is correct for the archer. The draw length is determined largely by the archer's arm length and shoulder width.

A crossbow is a variation on the general bow type. Instead of the limbs being vertical, they are mounted horizontally on a stock much like that of a rifle. The limb design can either be compound or a recurve but the basic concept of firing is the same. The string is pulled back either manually or with a windlass and locked into place with a hook. The energy stored in the short limbs is comparable to the longbow but packed into a smaller design that is also much easier to aim. Crossbows do not fire arrows like other bows. Instead they use shortened versions, called quarrels or bolts.

A recurve bow is the only class of bow that is shot at the Olympic Games. Unlike the compound, its basic shape is still similar to that of a traditional longbow. Its defining feature is that the ends of the limbs curve forwards slightly, which increases the power gained from the bow and smoothens the draw. Recurves are used primarily for target competition; archery on a flat, open field at circular targets.

Modern recurve and compound bows have are now often made from wood/fiberglass laminates or a combination of aluminum alloys and carbon fiber. Some archers today equip their bows with sights, stabilizers and/or shock absorbers.

Types of Arrows and Fletching

Arrows are made of solid wood, fiberglass, aluminum alloy tubing, or carbon fiber shafts. Wooden arrows are prone to warping, and are not easily straightened. Fiberglass arrows are brittle, but are more easily produced to uniform specifications. Aluminum shafts were a very popular high-performance choice in the later half of the 20th century due to their light weight, and subsequently higher speed and flatter trajectories. They were more easily straightened when bent, but are susceptible to being "robin hooded" if one arrow hit the back of another precisely. Carbon arrows are very light, and fly faster and flatter than aluminum arrows. They became popular in the 1990s.

The material and diameter (and, in the case of aluminum, the thickness of the tube wall) of the arrow contribute to its stiffness, or spine. This must be matched to the draw weight of the bow to ensure accuracy.

Most bowhunters prefer aluminum or wood arrows to fiberglass or carbon arrows. Aluminum arrows are easily adjusted to fly straight when a broadhead is attached to them, and wooden arrows are simply cheap and expendable. Carbon arrows are quite hard to adjust so that they fly straight when a broadhead is attached to them.

Fletching is traditionally made from turkey feathers, but solid plastic vanes are also used. Feathers will typically be 3-6" long, while vanes are often only 1-2". They are attached at the nock (rear) end of the arrow with glue, or, traditionally, some type of string such as silk. The fletching is equally spaced around the shaft with one (the cock) placed such that it is perpendicular to the bow when nocked on the string. Three feathers (two hens plus the cock) is the most common configuration, though four or (very rarely) five are used. The fletching is attached at a slight angle, to introduce a stabilizing spin to the arrow while in flight. Oversized fletching can be used to accentuate drag and thus limit the range of the arrow signficantly; these arrows are called flu-flus.

Types of Arrow Head

Target points are bullet-shaped with a sharp point, designed to penetrate target butts easily without causing excessive wear on them. Field tips have a distinct shoulder, so that missed shots out of doors don't become as stuck in obstacles such as tree stumps. A broadhead is used in hunting, not target practice. It has, usually, two to four razor sharp blades that cause massive bleeding leading to a quick, humane kill. Blunts are occasionally used for types of target shooting when the goal is to knock something over, not penetrate it.

Technique and Form

The bow is held in the hand opposite to the archer's dominant eye, though holding the bow in the dominate hand side is advocated by some. This hand is referred to as the bow hand and its arm the bow arm. The opposite hand is called the drawing hand or string hand. Terms such as bow shoulder or string elbow follow the same convention. Right-eye-dominant archers hold the bow with their left hand, have their left side facing the target, sight towards the target with their right eye and handle the arrow and string with their right hand.

Generally one wears a bracer (more commonly known as an arm-guard), to protect the inside of the bow arm and a tab to protect the fingers of the drawing hand. Some archers also wear protection on their chests, called chestguards. Chestguards are to prevent the bowstring from being obstructed by the archer's physique or clothing as it is released. Of course, it also protects the archer.

To shoot an arrow, an archer first assumes the correct stance. The body should be perpendicular to the target and the shooting line, with the feet placed shoulder-width apart. As an archer progresses from beginner to a more advanced level an 'open stance' is used/developed. Each archer will have a particular preference but mostly this term indicates that the leg furthest from the shooting line will be a half to a whole foot-length in front of the other, on the ground.

To load, the bow is pointed toward the ground and the shaft of the arrow is placed on an arrow rest which is attached in the bow window. The back of the arrow is attached to the bowstring with the 'nock' (a small plastic component which is typefied by a 'v' groove for this purpose). This is called nocking the arrow. Typical arrows with three vanes should be oriented such that a single vane is pointing away from the bow. This vane is often coloured differently and has numerous names such as index fletch and cock-feather.

The bowstring and arrow are held with three fingers. When using a sight, the index finger is placed above the arrow and the next two fingers below. The string is usually placed in either the first or second joint of the fingers.

The bow is then raised and drawn. This is often one fluid motion which tends to vary from archer to archer. The string hand is drawn towards the face, where it should rest lightly at an anchor point. This point is consistent from shot to shot and is usually at the corner of the mouth or on the chin. The bow arm is held outwards toward the target. The elbow of this arm should be rotated so that the inner elbow is not hyper-extended as this leads to a tendency for the bowstring to scrape the inside of the wrist or to catch on the arm guard when released. The bow should always remain vertical.

In proper form, the archer stands erect, forming a 'T'. The archer's back muscles are used to pull the arrow to the anchor point. Some bows will be equipped with a mechanical device, called a clicker, which produces a clicking sound when the archer reaches the correct draw length.

The arrow is typically released by relaxing the fingers of the drawing hand. An archer should pay attention to the recoil or follow through of his or her body, as it may indicate problems with form (technique).

Compound Bow Technique

Archers using compounds sometimes use a release aid to hold the string steadily and release it precisely. This attaches to the bowstring at the nocking point and permits the archer to release the string by pulling a trigger. A mechanical release aid permits a single point of contact, so there is less deformity in the string at full draw, as well as providing a more consistent release than can be achieved by human fingers.