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, usually six, from a variety of 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 order of whoever is in charge.
Then they all move forward to the 70 metre mark and shoot again on the command 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 a variety of distances. The targets can be the traditional round ones or they may be replicas of wild animals like rabbits, elk or bears.
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 situ 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 different 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 bands around this. The indoor target is 80 centimetres in diameter. The centre of this size target is 16 centimetres and also has four concentric circles 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 centre 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 gradient of about 15 degrees. The pinhole ought to be 130 centimetres off the ground (give or take five centimetres).
If there is more than one archer, the pinholes should all be at the same height off the ground and the targets should be clearly numbered. The shooting line should be plainly marked and an archer’s shooting spot should be marked too. Five yards behind the archer, there should be another line, behind which non-competitors may stand.
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 concentrate on their accuracy.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on several 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.