Archery for Beginners

Anyone who has ever seen a Robin Hood movie has at one time or another dreamed of being an archer. To go strolling through the forest with bow in hand ready for any highwaymen that might be lurking about or, more accurately, coming across a damsel in distress and saving the day with a few well placed shots.

While gone are the days when such a thing was perhaps common, the sport of archery has lived on. People of all walks of life partake in this sport that has endured the test of time for centuries more than any other sport the human race has come up with. In fact, the first archers could be traced back as far as the stone age when budding homo-sapiens first developed and used the AtLaddle [spell and confirm], a curved, hand held stick with a hook on one end used to throw spears with greater range and accuracy.

The target of this article is not to delve into the history of archery as such a work would take many volumes to properly detail. This article's purpose is to inform and instruct you in the basics of how to get started in archery.

Basic Equipment Knowledge

To get you started, here is a list of the basic necessities you will need. Some will be dependant on what hand preference you are, but these are not necessarily steadfast rules. Many left handed people shoot right handed, and vice versa. More on this will be detailed later. For now, here is what you have to get at the local archery supply store:

1. Bow, 35# draw weight
2. set of arrows
3. arrow quiver
4. shooting glove or finger tab
5. bracer (arm guard)
6. bow stringer

For your first bow, I would suggest getting a recurve bow. They are so named as the limbs of the bow curve back over the handle (called the Riser) when the bow is un-strung. There are many other types of bows, but for the beginning shooter, a recurve is the best way to go. They come in a variety of styles and weights and are often much less than some of the other styles. Its also suggested that you start out with a relatively light weight bow (light weight meaning draw weight). The weight of the bow is always marked on the riser as "35# @ 28", "60# @ 28", and so on. The first number is how much force is required to pull the string back to 28 inches from the strings resting position (hence the "@ 28" part). 28 inches is the standard draw length of a shooter, but will vary, some times greatly, from shooter to shooter. Starting of with a 35# bow ensures that you will not have a difficult time pulling the bow and will avoid extreme arm fatigue or "wobbly arm".

The arrows you choose must match the weight of you bow. Since you are going with a 35# bow, you should get arrows that are rated (known as "spined") to about 5-10 pounds heavier than your bows weight. This ensures that your arrows will not bend or break when you shoot them as arrows that are too light for your bow will either shoot incorrectly, or worse, cause injury to yourself or others around you.

A quiver is simply a long canvas or leather pouch used to hold you arrows. They come in a variety of styles and can be found for very decent prices at any archery shop. Any quiver will do when you are starting out, as long as it will hold you arrows. I suggest getting a hip quiver since they are more common and easier to use for the beginning archer.

Your shooting glove and bracer are your shooting protection. The glove will protect your fingers from string burn and you bracer, which goes on the opposite arm as your glove, will protect your forearm from the string with you release. These are basic protection that everyone from beginner to Robin Hood wear. If you don't with to use a shooting glove, you can try using a finger tab, which is a small piece of cow hide or synthetic material that goes around your middle finger and acts as a flat against your 3 pulling fingers.

Finally, you need a bow stringer. When you are not using your bow, you must keep it unstrung or else warping of the limbs will occur and ruin your bow. The bow stringer makes stringing and unstringing you bow a snap.

Basic Shooting Terminology and Explanations

OK. So we have our equipment and are ready to head out to the range to toss a few arrows into targets. But you still need to know a few things about shooting in general before loosing our first arrow. We'll begin with some general safety tips that are common everywhere one shoots.

1. Everyone shoots from the same line. This ensures no one is standing in front of you (or you are not in front of someone else) and avoids anyone getting accidentally shot.
2. Make sure the range is clear before you step up to the shooting line. Someone may be behind a target (in the case of an outdoor range) and may not be seen once shooting commences.
3. Never point a nocked arrow at someone else. This is both dangerous and rude to the other shooters. Always make sure you are facing down range when nocking an arrow.
4. When someone says "Hold", stop shooting immediately and un-nock your arrow. Typically a range master or similar will say this when a person is in the line of fire or other problems come up.

These general tips are not only for the safety of other but for yours as well. Following them is simple and ensures that everyone has a fun, and safe, time.

Now we can begin on basic shooting principles and terminology. Here are few quick explanations of the various terms and saying you will hear when on the range.

1. Nock, Nocked, and Nocking: This refers to loading your bow by placing an arrow on the string. The arrows is "nocked" and ready to fire.
2. Draw: This refers to pulling back the string and taking aim at your target.
3. Loose or Fire: This refers, of course, to releasing your arrow.
4. Hold: As stated before, this means to stop shooting and un-nock your arrow if it is nocked.
5. Clear and Retrieve: This means that everyone is finished shooting and you can go get your arrows from the target (or from behind the target if you happened to miss a few shots).

This list explains the names for the various parts of you bow and some explanations of their respective functions.

1. Riser: This is the part of the bow that you grasp. You can call it the "grip" if you like, but its proper name is the Riser.
2. Arrow Rest or Shelf: The arrow shelf is where your arrow will sit on the riser. Commonly there is a cutout in the riser, but there are also bows that have a piece of plastic for the arrow to rest on.
3. Limbs: These are the working part of the bow. The limbs extend from the rise and, in the case of the recurve, will curve out from the riser. Your string rests on the very ends of the limbs in a carved out groove on the ends called the string nock.
4. Tips: These are the tips of the limbs. Most bows have the tips as part of the limbs, but some have separate tips make from plastic or animal bone.
5. String: A bow would only be a curved stick without the string. The string is made from Dacron commonly and is extremely strong. As such, if you snap your forearm with the string, it will hurt (which is why we use a bracer).
6. Nock Button: On the string, there is usually a small round metal button called the Nock Button. When you are nocking your arrow, the arrows nock typically sits above this nock. This help maintain the proper geometry so your arrows don't go flying off too high or low.

So now that we know the parts of the bow, lets find out about the various parts of the arrow. An arrow consists of 4 major parts which are, from top to bottom:

1. The Tip
2. The Shaft
3. Fletching
4. Nock

The tips that should be used by beginners are called Field Tips. These are made of steel and come in a variety of weights and styles. The shaft of the arrow can be made from carbon or wood. Carbon arrows are suggested for the beginner as they are more study than their wood counterparts. There is little difference in price between them and is more for preference than anything else.

The fletching of the arrow are the flight feathers and are glued towards the end of the arrow. Most arrows have 3 fletches on them and have a slight twist (called "helical twist") to them when mounted. This ensures a more stable flight of the arrow.

The nock is set on the end of the arrow and is what connects the arrow to the string. These are commonly made of hard plastic and come in a variety of colors and styles. I suggest using snap-nocks as they will snap to the string and not easily fall off if you take you hand off the arrow.

Basic Shooting Techniques

We are now ready to shoot some arrows. Begin by standing in line with the other shooters and stand perpendicular to your target. Make sure you have plenty of space between yourself and you fellow archers.

Take an arrow from your quiver and place it on the arrow shelf, making sure you are pointing it down range. Pull the arrow back to the string and line up the groove in the nock to the string. Remember, place the nock above the nock button on the string. If you are using snap-nocks, you should hear it snap into place.

With your nocked and ready bow, place your hand on the string (your index finger above the arrow, your middle and ring finger below it), and gently pull back until the tip of you arrow is almost to your gripping hand.

Now, sight down the length of the arrow and line it up with your target. Some prefer to use one eye for this, but I suggest keeping both eyes open as you will have better depth perception. Once you are comfortable with the line-up, take a breath and release the arrow.

Did you miss the target? If so, then don't worry. Just take another arrow from your quiver and try again. Keep shooting until you run out of arrows, then when the range is clear go see how you did. Didn't do as well as you liked? Collect your arrows and take another shot at it. The important thing here is the keep shooting. Eventually, you will start missing less and less and start scoring more and more. If you miss, try again, and keep trying until you run out of arrows. Repetition is key to becoming a good shooter and the more you shoot the more consistent your shots will be. Once you have a good consistency, you can tweak your style to improve your accuracy.

Places To Shoot

Here are a few sites that have lists of places to practice. If you don't find one near your town, try looking in the phone book or you cities website for open fields where archery is allowed.

http://dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Recreation_and_Sports/Archery/

http://dmoz.org/Sports/Archery/

Extra Advice

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0125680/basics.htm

http://www.floridafrontiersmen.org/archery%20basics.htm

http://www.yale.edu/archery/about.html

http://www.archeryworldcup.org/

Once final piece of advice is to simply have fun. This is a sport that people are supposed to enjoy so if you get frustrated, remember there is always the next round to try and do better. If you are having fun, you will be a great archer in no time at all.