Online Encyclopedia
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.
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Archery technique
In general, the bow is held in the hand opposite the dominant eye . Right eye dominant people 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. This article assumes that the archer is right-eye dominant, thus the description would be reversed for a left-eye dominant archer.
Generally one wears a bracer to protect the inside of the left arm, and a tab to protect the fingers of the right hand. Some modern archers also wear protection on their chests (see photo). Some modern archers use a releasing device with a trigger, instead of a tab.
To shoot an arrow with a conventional (long) bow, first adjust your stance. If holding the bow in the left hand, stand so the left shoulder is towards the target.
Hold the bow parallel to the ground (flat) and rest the shaft of the arrow on the body of the bow. Place the arrow so that the bowstring is in the notch at the back of the arrow (nock). This is called nocking the arrow. If the arrow has an odd number of vanes, the arrow should be oriented so that a single vane is pointing away from the bow.
Draw back the arrow with three fingers. Either one finger above the arrow shaft and two fingers below or three fingers below the arrow shaft. The arrow should be pointed towards the ground whilst drawing the bow.
Then raise the bow up and take aim at the target. The hand holding the bowstring should rest lightly against the side of the face. The bow arm should not be 'locked out' and the wrist of the hand holding the bow should not be bent outward but the elbow should be rotated outward so that the bowstring doesn't scrape the inside of the wrist or catch on a bracer (wrist-guard) when released. The bow may tilt slightly from vertical, as convenient.
Now release the arrow by relaxing the fingers of the drawing hand. The bow hand should move toward the target and the drawing hand should move backward in a straight line away from the target.
Modern competitive archery
Competitive archery involves shooting arrows at a target for accuracy from a set distance or distances. This is the most popular form of archery and is called 'Target Archery'.
While people have no doubt been competing with bows for millennia, the first recorded archery competitions began around 1583 in England. Archery has been an Olympic sport since 1900, with some interruptions. Recently the Koreans have dominated the event, especially the women's divisions. At the Sydney 2000 games, the Korean women won bronze, silver and gold in the individual competition and won gold in the team event. The Korean men have not faired so well in Olympic competition but still produce good results. As of October 2004, every record in the men's and women's open divisions are held by Korea. It should be noted that the Koreans stick primarily to Outdoor(olympic) archery - as noted below there is an indoor variant of modern competitive archery generally dominated by the Europeans and the Americans.
Modern competitive archery is governed by the International Archery Association http://www.archery.org/ , abbreviated FITA (Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc). Olympic rules are derived from FITA rules.
Rules
Archery competitions may be held indoors or outdoors. Indoor distances are 18 m and 25 m. Outdoor distances range from 30 m to 90 m, with 70 m being used in the Olympic Games. Most outdoor competitions consist of several distances.
Competition is divided into ends. An archer shoots between 3 and 6 arrows per end, depending on the type of round. After each end, the competitors walk to the target to score and retrieve their arrows. There are 10 ends of 3 arrows in a round of indoor competition. Outdoor competition varies, but outdoor rounds generally involve more arrows being shot.
Archers have a set time limit in which to shoot their arrows. For indoor competition, this is 2 minutes. Signaling devices such as lights, flags, and whistles inform the archers when time is up. Since archery involves the use of potentially lethal weapons, much attention is paid to order and safety.
Scoring
Targets are marked with 10 evenly spaced concentric rings, which have score values from 1 through 10 assigned to them. In addition, there is an inner 10 ring, called the X ring because of the small cross printed at the centre. This sometimes becomes the 10 ring in compound competitions. Usually it serves as a tiebreaker with the archer scoring the most number of X's winning. In FITA archery, targets are colored as follows:
- 1 ring & 2 ring - white
- 3 ring & 4 ring - black
- 5 ring & 6 ring - blue
- 7 ring & 8 ring - red
- 9 ring & 10 ring - gold
Archers score each end by summing the scores for their arrows. Line cutters are awarded the higher score. Values scored by each arrow are recorded on a score sheet and must be written in descending order. E.g. if an archer scores 5, 7, 6, 10, 9, 8, this must be recorded as 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5.
During competition, there are usually at least two archers per target. This is to allow for "double scoring", a system where two archers will record and sum all scores on individual sheets. This is done to weed out any errors. To score, each archer will call out his or her own score to be recorded (they must also be called out in descending order). During scoring no one is allowed to touch the arrows. After scoring, each hole is marked before arrows are retrieved. This is done incase a "pass through" (the arrow passes straight through the target) or "bouncer" (arrow hits the target and bounces out) occurs.
Different rounds and distances use different size target faces. Common sizes (and example rounds they are used in) are:
- 40 cm (18m FITA Indoor)
- 60 cm (25m FITA Indoor)
- 80 cm (30m and 50m FITA)
- 122 cm (70m and 90m FITA)
122 cm faces are used in Olympic competition. There are also versions of the 40cm and 60cm targets known as the "3 Spot". The targets contain 3 instances of the inner 5 rings of the 40cm and 60cm faces arranged in a line or an equilateral triangle.
Other competition
Field archery involves shooting at targets of varying and unmarked distance, often in rough terrain. 3D archery focuses on shooting at life-size models of game, and is popular with hunters.
Clout Archery (G.N.A.S. rules in the United Kingdom) Similar to target archery, except that the archer attempts to drop arrows at long range (180 yards for the men and 140 yards for women) into a series of circular scoring zones on the ground surrounding a marker flag. The flag is 12 inches square and is fixed to a stick. The flag should be as near to the ground as is practicable. Archers shoot 'ends' of six arrows then, when given the signal to do so, archers proceed to the target area.
Scoring. A 'rope' with a loop on the end is placed over the flag stick. This rope is divided into the scoring zones of the target i.e. Gold (5 points), Red (4 points), Blue (3 points, Black (2 points) and White (1 point). The rope is 'walked' around the target area and arrows falling within a particular scoring zone are withdrawn and,on completion of the full circle, are laid out on the rope on the corresponding colours. The designated scorer would then call out the archers' names and the archers would (in turn) call out their scores as they pick up their arrows.
A Clout round usually consists of 36 arrows. Clout tournaments are usually a 'Double Clout' round (36 arrows shot twice). They can be shot in one direction (one way) or both directions (two way).
All bow types may compete (longbows, recurve (or olympic) and compound).
There are shorter distances for juniors depending on age.
The atmosphere at most clout shoots seems to be quite relaxed and friendly - a form of the sport which is very much recommended.
Flight Archery. A form of archery that can only take place where space permits since archers compete by shooting for sheer distance.
When everyone has shot you all set off looking for your furthest arrow and then you mark it with an identifiable marker. When all arrows have been shot for the day you stand (or sit) by your furthest arrow until the judges get around to measuring it.
There are many different classes that you could shoot in, dependent on the type of bow you shoot and your draw weight.
Popinjay (or Papingo). A form of archery originally derived from shooting birds on church steeples.
A not very common form of archery (very popular in Belgium) where archers stand within 12 feet of the bottom of a 90 ft. mast and shoot almost vertically upwards with 'blunts'. Blunts are arrows with rubber caps on the front instead of a pile.
The object being to dislodge any one of a number of wooden 'birds'.
Hunting
A bow is less effective than most firearms in hunting and requires substantially more training to use successfully and humanely. This has a two-fold effect.
First, many hunters prefer using a bow because of the added challenge. Some localities in North America stipulate that certain types of game, often deer, may only be taken with a bow. In other localities, special bowhunting seasons are set aside to prevent interference from rifle hunters. Besides deer, many bow hunters shoot feral pig s, small game, or birds. People also occasionally fish with a bow.
It a an urban myth that has been told that animals take longer to die than rifles. In actuality a well placed shot can kill an animal in second. It may even survive being shot and carry an arrow for a long time. Which can be said of rifle wounds also. Because of the pervasiness of Animal rights Groups in many countries in Europe. bowhunting is considered unnecessarily cruel to animals, and is therefore illegal.
Compound bows are usually used for hunting, although recurve bows are not uncommon and usually legal. Hunting points are traditionally broadheads; they are wide and knifelike in design in order to cut into game.
History
Beginnings
Archeologists suspect that archery may have begun up to 15,000 years ago, but the earliest concrete evidence is between 8,000 and 9,000 years old. The bow probably originated for use in hunting, and was then adopted as a tool of warfare. Bows eventually replaced the atlatl as the predominant means for launching projectiles. Archery was practiced in antiquity on every continent (except for Australia), demonstrating that it is both basic and versatile.
Classical archery
Classical civilizations, notably the Greeks, Romans, and Chinese, fielded large numbers of archers in their armies. Arrows proved exceptionally destructive against massed formations, and the use of archers often proved decisive. Archers sometimes rode on horseback, combining range with speed. Apollo, Odysseus, and other mythological characters are often depicted with a bow.
Medieval archery
In medieval Europe, the value of archery on the battlefield steadily increased. The Mongols perfected archery on horseback, and used it to dominate the Asian steppes, and eastern Europe. Horse archers would fire while approaching their target, then turn around in the saddle and fire again after they passed.
By the Hundred Years' War, the English had perfected archery on foot, using a longbow. Archers were drawn from the peasantry, and trained rigorously from childhood. In combat, they would often fire two arrows, one on a high trajectory, and one on a low trajectory. These two arrows would hit the enemy simultaneously from two different angles, making defense difficult. The advent of the bodkin point allowed arrows to pierce most armor.
The crossbow, while dating from classical times, became quite popular during the Middle Ages. While it took decades to train a longbowman, someone could become proficient with a crossbow with little training. The crossbow had about the same power and range as a longbow. Its major drawback was that it took a long time to reload.
The advent of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare. Although bows had a longer range and could fire much more frequently than the earliest guns, guns could penetrate most armor and required minimal training. Later development gradually gave firearms advantages over bows in range, accuracy and (eventually) reload time.
Equipment
As a minimum most archers wore a padded jacket and a helmet for protection, others having mail coats or pieces of armor scavenged off the battlefield. They also wore wrist protection: bracers to protect them from the passing bowstring as they released an arrow. A leather tab or gauntlet was often worn on the right hand so the archer's fingers would not be cut by the bowstring.
An archer would of course have his longbow, preferably some arrows of his own and a few spare strings. When battle was joined sheaves of arrows would be passed to the archers, from huge wagons that followed English armies.
Bowstrings were linen, hemp, or gut, and had a distressing tendency to shrink when wet, so they were usually coated with beeswax.
For close quarters combat - which was avoided at all costs - the archers carried personal weapons; the most popular weapon being roundel dagger , a long thin knife that could be pushed through a knight’s visor when looting on the battlefield. Others carried swords (and bucklers), falchions (a heavy cutting sword instead of piercing) or even axes.
Occidental archery
Occidental, or Mediterranean archery developed in Europe. It is the accepted technique for modern competition and is used worldwide.
The arrow is placed on the left side of the bow. The bowstring is held with the index finger above the arrow and the second and third finger below the arrow. The string is usually placed in either the first or second joint of the fingers. A finger tab is used to protect the fingers from the string. The bow arm is extended towards the target and the string is drawn back to a point on the face.
The archer places the index finger on the same point of his face every shot to ensure consistency. This anchor point is usually in the center or on the side of the mouth. In antiquity it was often at the ear or the back of the chin.
The string hand is relaxed to fire an arrow. An archer should pay attention to the recoil, or follow through of his or her body, as it may indicate problems with his or her form.
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.
An archer usually wears an arm guard on the left arm to protect it from the string, and to prevent loose clothing from interfering with the shot. A chest protector is also often worn. Arrows are usually kept in a quiver attached to the archer's right side, they may also be stuck in the ground, and are occasionally worn on the back.
Oriental archery
Oriental archery developed in Asia. In modern times it has been marginalized by occidental archery even in Asian countries. Oriental archery increases the archer's rate of fire, and is also more practical on horseback.
The arrows are less stiff than western arrows with smaller fletchings. Bows vary widely.
The bow is held clasped to the chest, arrow point slightly up. Both arms are extended, the left arm up and toward the target, the right arm back and away from the target. The bow and arrow are drawn down into a line with both arms locked on opposite sides of the body, but the elbow of the right arm is permitted to flex. The bowstring and fletchings are held behind one's head. The arrow is held at the first joint of the thumb, and the string rests on a thumbring (Mongol) or a slot at the base of a gauntlet's thumb (Japanese tsuri), so it does not hurt the thumb. A headband may be worn to keep the bowstring from hurting one's ear or head. Thick, loose clothing, usually a gi, protects the arms and chest from the bowstring at release. The soft fletching and flexible shaft cause less damage if they hit. Professional soldiers wore leather gauntlets, chest armor and helmets with flared ridges to protect against the bowstring.
See also: Goongdo , Korean archery Kyudo, Japanese archery.
Compound Bow Technique
A compound bow is designed to reduce the weight that an archer must hold, and increase the overall energy stored by the bow. The archer usually uses a release aid to hold the string steady. This attaches to the bowstring at a point and permits the archer to release the string with a pull of a trigger. With less force required to hold a compound bow at draw, the muscles take longer to fatigue, thus giving a compound archer more time to aim. In general, good recurve technique usually makes good compound technique. 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.
External links
- International Archery Association (FITA) http://www.archery.org/
- United States National Archery Association http://www.usarchery.org/
- Korean Traditional Archery http://www.koreanarchery.org/