Anyone into Archery?

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Dadam

Senior Member
Location
SW Leeds
Yep, I have a few bows. I'm not at it every weekend but a bit of field archery now and then, and dabble in olympic style target, and have done clout in the past. I also made a bow in lockdown. It was a basic flatbow style but would like to make a proper English longbow one day.
 

Nibor

Bewildered
Location
Accrington
For the beginner's course there's a set of bows to use, but once that's done people buy their own.

The club is part of a shop that's in an old mill so they've got an indoor range where they'll spend an hour with you trying stuff out to make sure everything fits, I could probably save £100 by buying a kit online but then without any advice it could end up costing me more in the long run.

Is that in Burnley? Was the course expensive?
 

Dadam

Senior Member
Location
SW Leeds
No but a friends wife used to do it.
Surely if you have joined a club you shouldn't need to start buying stuff? they will have equipment to loan out?

Depends on the club. And the archer. Our club has equipment for beginner courses and for members to use but like with bikes, it's a personal thing. I have unfeasibly long arms so the club bows and particularly most of the arrows don't suit my draw length very well. OK to learn the basic on. I bought my first bow the day after completing the beginner's course.

As in any equipment based sport, if you want to keep doing it of course you're going want your own kit before long
 

Kingfisher101

Über Member
Depends on the club. And the archer. Our club has equipment for beginner courses and for members to use but like with bikes, it's a personal thing. I have unfeasibly long arms so the club bows and particularly most of the arrows don't suit my draw length very well. OK to learn the basic on. I bought my first bow the day after completing the beginner's course.

As in any equipment based sport, if you want to keep doing it of course you're going want your own kit before long

Yeah, Its worth it if you are going to stick with it but you know what kids are like for chopping and changing interests.
 

postman

Legendary Member
Location
,Leeds
I can go one better Blind Archery,it's great you don't know what your'e missing.
 

simongt

Guru
Location
Norwich
On the point of bows, several types have been mentioned so it would be interesting to see how many clubs 'encourage' bow types from different countries; recurve, hunting, Japanese etc., as these will have different methods and disciplines in their use. :smile:
 
I tried it many years ago

It was part of my realisation that there are certain sports that are just no good for me
In particular I never stand still - I tend to sway a bit and wobble - just a bit
I also have very weak and thin wrists

As a result I am pretty good at archery at low draw weight - such as we used on an initial training course using fibreglass bows at 20 yards
but as soon as the weight got up my hand and wrists just couldn;t hold the thing still - and my aiming point was never fixed properly

I do remember that I could just about hit a target at 60m - not the bull but at least I didn;t hod everyone up looking for my arrow in the grass!

little aside - we met on a Rugby pitch - firing line was along teh try line and the target were in a diagonal line in front of us

In spite of putting out a loads of signs - and it being private property - people walked across the field.
Some of them took a short cut staying about 10m being each target

it never occurred to them that if one target was at 100m then walking 10m behind a target set at 40m MIGHT just be a bit dangerous

Clearly we always stopped when they walked in that area - but the stupidity of some was mind blowing
(or it was at the time - since then I became a teacher and realised it was far more common than I thought!)
 

classic33

Leg End Member
I tried it many years ago

It was part of my realisation that there are certain sports that are just no good for me
In particular I never stand still - I tend to sway a bit and wobble - just a bit
I also have very weak and thin wrists

As a result I am pretty good at archery at low draw weight - such as we used on an initial training course using fibreglass bows at 20 yards
but as soon as the weight got up my hand and wrists just couldn;t hold the thing still - and my aiming point was never fixed properly

I do remember that I could just about hit a target at 60m - not the bull but at least I didn;t hod everyone up looking for my arrow in the grass!

little aside - we met on a Rugby pitch - firing line was along teh try line and the target were in a diagonal line in front of us

In spite of putting out a loads of signs - and it being private property - people walked across the field.
Some of them took a short cut staying about 10m being each target

it never occurred to them that if one target was at 100m then walking 10m behind a target set at 40m MIGHT just be a bit dangerous

Clearly we always stopped when they walked in that area - but the stupidity of some was mind blowing
(or it was at the time - since then I became a teacher and realised it was far more common than I thought!)
I hit the fuel tank on a motorbike, when the rider did something similar. The arrow was in flight when he appeared.
How I missed him I don't know.
 

Punkawallah

Über Member
On the point of bows, several types have been mentioned so it would be interesting to see how many clubs 'encourage' bow types from different countries; recurve, hunting, Japanese etc., as these will have different methods and disciplines in their use. :smile:

My local club is a ‘longbow’ club, but were happy to have take-downs, recurves, anything really. My horse bow was a novelty for them, but it doesn’t really shoot that much differently. The arrow still has to be drawn to the anchor point, regardless of the bow limbs.
 
Used to live up the hill from Samlesbury which had a long established longbow club. I kept meaning to join them but moved away. There's no local club where I live.

I did archery in my first term at university. The shooting range was used by the archers and shooting club. I kind of got too busy in my first term so stopped going.

In the last term of my first year a third year student on my course locked the rest of the shooting club in the secure gun cabinet and left with a bag full of guns and rounds around the campus including our department. It made national news as loads of armed police were filmed for TV news in various parts of the campus that he'd been seen in. Shut down most of uni for the morning until the police moved on to his rented house and raided it. Nobody home. Turns out they raided his uni accommodation in the afternoon but he'd already taken the train home and was later arrested watching TV at home with no memory of his gun rampage.

Sorry, off topic memory from my student days when I liked to shoot targets.

I was quite good at getting a nice grouping, just never in the bull. We used those fibreglass training bows, taking turns with the bows. When you collected your arrows you handed them to the next person to use. And you next got to use a bow to never guaranteed to get the same bow and even if you did the drawing pin sight will likely have been moved to adjust the target spot for the last user. I just stopped changing the sight as its run out of arrows just as I got my sight right. Preferred to concentrate on getting a good grouping anywhere on target. Figured that's more important. I knew how to adjust the sight needed to get more consistent even if the sight isn't right for hitting the bull.

It is for this reason I'd recommend buying yourself a bow. It won't be right for you as with experience you'll gain knowledge about what bow you really need/ want.
 

bruce1530

Guru
Location
Ayrshire
My youngest daughter always had a notion to take up archery, and had had a couple of trial sessions when at school.
She joined a local club.

When she got her first job, she bought a bow and all the kit with her second pay. (Her first pay was spent on an electric guitar...)

She's now a qualified instructor - although hasn't shot much since Covid.
 
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