Archery - whats the craic?

[mudcow007]

Did a bit of field archery in Center Parcs the other week an really enjoyed it

Shot some (foam) animals in the face

I was using a 27lb bow if means anything? not the sort with pulleys or anything just a normal looking bow?

Anyone else on here fire arras?

quite fancy getting a bow

[ScaredyCat]

You're supposed to practice every Sunday, by law.

I tried it once, forearm was red raw :'(
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[UnknownStuntm...]

Look up your local club, go and speak with them, they'll be very pleased in your interest.

It's pretty cheap as hobbies go, and when you get your ass handed to you by a 75yo grannie you know it's skill not strength that's impressive.

[M.C]

Useful skill when the zombie apocalypse comes

[grr666]

Used to do archery as a kid. My dad was into it and I used to go with him. The kit is like golf gear in that it's very
very expensive to get set up with decent gear. I was a member of the Oakfield Archers but sold all my gear many many moons ago.
Good community spirit among archers. It was great fun for me as a young un.
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[stinkwheel]

Archery clubs vary. So check them out.

I've seen clubs who in their entirety had a bug up their arse and hassled you constantly about buying fancy gear. I left my last archery club over an argument which consisted of them insisting I bought and wore an arm bracer and finger tab (something I hadn't done for my previous 4 or 5 years of shooting) or I wouldn't be allowed on the range and me telling them to go fuck themselves.

Field clubs will be less that way.

You absolutely do not need fancy gear. Like golf, it makes much less of a difference than the people who own the fancy, expensive gear think. What counts is practice. Lots of it. Especially in field archery. You need a bow which is sufficiently long for your draw length and some approriate length arrows. A fibreglass bow will do fine to start. The stronger the draw weight you can handle, the better in field archery. You really don't need anything else to go with it. In fact, from what I remember of formal field archery, other than a finger tab and bracer, you might be allowed to add an arrow rest but that's about it.

I got hugely disenchanted with target archery, mainly because of the kit snobbery and moved from the world of bobbers, bracers, kissers, carbon fibre and bowsights to a really meaty wood laminate flatbow (65lb) used bare with cheap heavy arrows.

No field clubs nearby me though. I used to go out for walks with a mate doing the oldest form of field archery. Take it in turns to nominate a target. Closest arrow gets the point. Cheap arrows because they were constantly getting lost/broken/stuck (a 65lb bow at 30 yards is a real nail-knocker if you are shooting at a tree stump).

Haven't picked up a bow in years now though. I doubt I could fire more than 6 arrows from my flatbow without doing an injury. I'd need to build up to it again.
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[Rogerborg]

[stinkwheel]

[defblade]

[T1Cybernetic]

Tried it a couple of times at local park events over the years and love it but never get time to look into doing it properly

Where would be the best place to find a club or list of clubs?
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[Rogerborg]

I have fired arrows and had arrows fired at me in an hilarious H&S fail.

You want a cone on the front so they don't just blow straight out, then pack behind that with a mess of steel wool soaked with a mix of petrol and derv, but it's still a sod to keep them lit in flight.

How they did it in the Olden Days is a mystery, but hundreds of film and TV productions couldn't have lied to us, surely?
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[mudcow007]

Cheers all found a "club" near to me last night so will speak to them.

Im guessing i cant just rock up to a deserted bit of land an fire/ unleash/ release / bombard some sort of target - or are they classed as firearms so risk literally getting shot at by pew pews?

ta

[Rogerborg]

[lihp]

I am a target archer.

If you want to get into target archery find a local club on the ArcheryGB site (ArcheryGB are the trading name of GNAS).

You will need to book yourself onto a 6 week beginners course, at that point you will get an ArcheryGB membership card. Not only will this let you shoot with any target club whenever you please, but also free access to many indoor ranges at retail stores. I regularly use the one at Archery World in Preston.

Your draw length will change quickly, so will your ability to draw more weight as technique improves, so I wouldn't suggest buying anything until you have shot with the club equipment for a couple of months.

Since you're in Liverpool, once you want to buy, get up to Archery World who will kit you out with everything you need to get started, and will measure you for arrow length, and make sure the spine is correctly matched to the bow.

If you want to do field, clout, or flight archery, then I have no clue what you need to do
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[M.C]

[ScaredyCat]

I suppose it's a good time to start learning, I mean you wont get that much time when the shit hits the fan and we all start eating each other...
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[Rogerborg]

[M.C]

[MCN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7zewtuUM_0
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[stinkwheel]

I found this account of a running archery battle in Kenya in 2008 fascinating. Bows and arrows are nothing fancy.

Loose, running, open formations resemble contemporary reports from Agincourt.

Spare arrows held ready in hand, even for those equipped with quivers.

https://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1722198_1548100,00.html
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[andym]

I resisted the urge to post here because I'd probably get a spam rating for it.... but when I was living in Chepstow an old friend invited me to go to archery with him one day. Having never even laid eyes on a bow before then I thought why not.

Having no equipment I turned up and it cost me £30 to hire everything I needed for the day. This included a 24lb bow, some arrows and some safety gear. I was shown the correct stance and how to use lower power bows to hit targets beyond the normal range, then I was allowed to shoot some targets for a while.... then I was taken round the forest where around 40 foam animals had been set up in a natural environment, after that we went on to a roving field for a couple of hours (which for people that don't know, lots of different types of target are set up, someone picks a target and whoever is closest picks the next target.... at this place anyway).
All in all I spent about 6 hours there and was hooked..... the place was called Wye Valley Archery (hence expecting spam ratings).
There was an archery supply shop about a mile away from the range and I went in one day and said I wanted to buy a beginners bow, they had a small space set up with a target in the back of the shop where they would let you try different strength bows until they found something you were comfortable with* then told you everything else you would need, all in all I spent about £150 that day and that got me a 36lb* bow, 8 aluminium arrows, a bow stringer, 4 wooden arrows, arm protector, finger tab, bag, string wax etc etc.

Since I've moved back to Glasgow, the only time I've used the bow is messing around in the house with a homemade target at around 10 yards, and haven't really taken a chance using it out doors. I got a friend in to it soon after I got hooked and he looked in to places in Glasgow and it was all only target shooting he found.



* the friend that introduced me was using a 40lb bow, but there were people that would go there with 20-150lb bows, the instructor used a 90lb bow. I was given the opportunity to draw the 90lb bow and managed about 1/4 draw and ran out of strength. When I was at the shop testing out some bow strengths they said that even though I thought the 36lb was a little easy I had to think if I was using it for a couple of hours.... which I'm glad they warned me about..... I'd heard about something called disco arm from the friend that introduced me and thought that was a load of rubbish..... but even my puny little 36lb bow couldn't hit a 10 foot target 5 foot in front of me after 5-6 hours (OK that's an exaggeration, but you get the idea).

[Rogerborg]

[MCN]

I have bow tie for the kilt.
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[stinkwheel]

[Rogerborg]

Maybe it was a ...




... I'm so sorry ...




... a cross bow tie.

https://i.imgur.com/hMe1jCT.png
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