Welcome to the very first Archers Review Magazine.
As well as the reviews, which are continuing apace, we here at Archers Review Towers have been busy working on a new monthly "magazine". We will be releasing a new magazine with articles, photos and various other content to keep you coming back to Archers Review. We have plenty of things planned for future issues but we kick off this first one with a look how you can try archery, some information about our new sponsors, an article on the instinctive shooting style. In addition we have our monthly feature "Shot of the Month", this first one is from our very own archives but we want to hear from you and see your shots too. Finally we have a recap of the reviews that have been released in the previous month, so you can catch up with any that you might have missed.
We want your input, so if you have an article idea get in contact and we can either publish your article or we can write about something you are interested in.
So You Want to Try Archery?
It seems fitting that as this is the first of our monthly magazines we should start at the very beginning. It's possible that you have found Archers-Review.com because you are interested in taking up archery but don't know where to start. We talk to a lot of people about archery, many of whom are seasoned archers but we also meet many people either not involved or looking to try archery for the first time. If you are an archer it's easy to forget that for the most part archery is hidden away, there are clearly risks involved and therefore the general public don't get the exposure of other pastimes as they walk around the local park or the latest new shiny sports stadiums. In the main you are hidden away on a school playing field or deep in the woods away from everybody else.
Almost without fail the response from people when you mention that you do archery is one of interest and often people say they would love to try it. But then comes the problem, archery clubs on the whole do not promote actively for new members and places on courses can be very limited in addition to the courses not always being run year round. Before we go too much further about how to get started it would be a good idea to look at the different types of archery which will eventually lead on to details of how to get started.
Broadly speaking there are two main types of sports based archery, target and field. Those people reading already participating in archery will tell you it is much more complicated than that, with various subtle different types such as 3D, flight, roving mark, popinjay and many more, and then a myriad of different bow styles, but as I say a vast majority of archers will be in the main shooting either target of field. Target archery is possibly the form of archery that most people will be familiar with, it's the style used in the Olympic games and involves shooting groups of arrows from a fix position at a boss, the name of the target, from 20-100 yards away. This is where the traditional ringed target face is used and points are given for arrows based on how close they are to the middle, called the gold due to it's yellow colour. Field archery is set on a course of 36-42 targets normally in the woods, which are shot in sequence, the distance will vary from target to target. The target in field archery can range from a target face similar to target archery, pictures of animals or even 3D models of animals to simulate hunting.
So how do you start archery? Most people will normally join a target archery club, globally target archery is controlled by FITA and each country will normally have a national association affiliated to FITA, for example in the UK GNAS, FFTA in France or USA Archery in the USA. Each of these national associations will have details of clubs local to you, clubs run training courses which are in general compulsory if you wish to join the organisation as there are insurance implications. Field Archery tends to be a little more fragmented however the equivalent of FITA in the field archery realm is the IFAA which again is the global body for field archery, and in turn national affiliated bodues. As with FITA, members will take a basic course to learn the basics and how to shoot safely before they can full join and begin to enter competitions or just shoot for enjoyment.
There are however a couple of issues with these courses, they tend to be long typically 6 weeks which is fair commitment and secondly space is often very limited as the club requires coaches to look after the fledgling archer. The commitment aspect is another block, while many would love to try archery committing to joining a club or association may seem a quick step up, unlike say golf the insurance implication of archery mean having a quick try is not possible, you can't take a bow and arrow to the local park and have a go. Some clubs do run the occasional have-a-go event and holiday companies often offer archery at resorts but both of these give a very brief introduction.
One alternative to this dilemma are days out like Robin Hood Events, they offer a full day of archery without any of the commitment or waiting for space on a course, they provide all the equipment, a brief on how to shoot and then a fun team game giving access to many aspects of archery.
Personally my introduction to archery came via the boy scouts and many other youth organisations will also offer access to archery. If you have children who are interested in archery and who belong to such an association it may well be worth talking to their leader to see if there is any access to archery via them.
Which ever route you choose archery is a fun, rewarding sport which is suitable for people of all ages and abilities.
This Months New Sponsors
This month we welcome Flybow as a new sponsor. Flybow offer what we consider to be one of the best ranges of traditional archery equipment in Europe, they have a huge range of stock at great prices, a lot of their items are difficult to source outside of the US so it's a great way to get excellent equipment without the hassle of importing the items yourself.
How to shoot instinctively
I thought we might kick this month off with my take on how to start with instinctive archery, instinctive as a style means many things to different archers, in all the years I have been involved in archery I have met only a handful of truly instinctively " born to shoot arrows" archers. For the rest of us there is pain, frustration yet a huge amount of pleasure to be had from learning to shoot this method, if you never have, here is a quick tutorial which might save you some time.
Instinctive is perhaps the wrong word to describe this method of archery, in the same way a snooker player instinctively pots a ball the archer shoots his arrow. After some practice a snooker player will pot more of his shots, he does not feel he has learned all the angles in the conventional method of learning but the information goes into the brain and in time he is able to replicate a difficult shot seemingly without thought. In fact what is happening is that the brain receives the information gained from the shots that didn't work out and makes adjustments, after the brain has received enough input, i.e. missing shots and shots that did work it is able to guide you in what seems to be an instinctive way but is learnt as you would learn anything.
So what does this mean in terms of archery?, I could tell you that you need to shoot more, which is true, but, endlessly shooting missing shots will in some ways make you very good at performing bad shots if you follow me. As much thought has to go into the practice as in learning anything and as with so much of what we learn it is always best to start right. Key in all this is stance, draw and anchor, I mean by that standing in the correct position, drawing up in a smooth and balanced manner and coming to a hold position with a point of reference or contact on your face, I use the middle finger of my draw hand to the corner of my mouth. This is a common anchor point, there are many others, but what is really important is coming to that same place each time, performing the same draw and stance to gain consistency, this is especially important whilst learning the instinctive method. Get it right at the beginning and it will pay you back in spades.
Check out the picture on the right, this is what your anchor point should look like
Then we come on to how to aim, this is tricky and a bit long winded but in essence simple. We have all been training to be instinctive archers since we could move our arms, one of the first things we do as children is point, even before we can talk we point to things which we want. At first it's just an arm wave in the vague direction of the thing, as we grow and get used to pointing at things we use our finger and our arm straight to point quite definitely at an object. In fact do it now, point at something across the room, notice how you just point from the shoulder, you don't use your arm like a gun, you are not looking down the length of your arm, you are looking at the object and just pointing, you trust your instincts that your finger is pointing in the right place. But lets just check if you are right, leave your arm where it is and bend your head down to it so that you can look down its length, were you pointing dead on the object?, if you were then that's just great, if you were not then move your arm and finger now so that you are.
Now we are sure you are pointing at it, put your head back into it's normal position without moving your arm and look again at the object, you will note that if you look at your finger, well across your finger really, that it appears to be below the object, it may even be slightly to the right (for a right handed pointer), you know you are pointing at it but it looks below, you have trusted your instinct that you are pointing at it correctly- in fact you even checked. This is a key part of the method
So we have established a useful thing, when we point we don't expect to see our finger on the object (like a gun sight), we expect to see our finger below it
. It's quite impossible to focus on your finger and the object, so we focus on the object and learn to use our peripheral vision to ensure we are pointing right, this is something we do unconsciously usually but we are going to start to do it consciously now to give our brain a head start in gathering the information we want it to assimilate. So lets point at the object again and whilst focusing hard on the object see how much of the sight picture we can notice and memorise, it's amazing how much we can actually see in our peripheral vision, I bet you could even take in detail from all around the room. If you can be bothered and you have read this far so I guess you might be, get a small torch and use it as your finger, with it switched off point at an object, when you think you are bang on turn it on, if you are right the beam will light up the object, if you are wrong try again.
Before you get too carried away though, check out the pictures, get your stance looking something like the fool in the photos, notice how my head is tilted slightly, this is to minimise the effect of the arrow coming from the corner of my mouth and my line of sight which obviously comes from my eye, it's quite a calculation for the brain to make for the offset, but happily our brains were designed for just this kind of task, as a predator both our eyes are positioned on the front of our faces to give depth of field. The perfect release would leave your draw hand in the same place it was after the shot as it was before- see the perfect release on the left ;-)
What I am in fact doing is looking at the object and shooting right down my line of sight, you will find that in very short time you will hit what you look at, but like I said the stance and anchor has to be consistent so that you can learn to shoot instinctively.
There are many anchor points but this is where to start. The Instinctive method is just one style in a good archers armoury of methods, it is effective up to 35 yards depending on the weight of bow used and relies to some extent on a flat trajectory, however with practice it is possible to shoot over much greater distance once the trajectory path has been learnt, again by practice, although I prefer to switch to a point of aim method over 40 yards. Now that you can draw and anchor how long should you hold?, don't shoot till you are good and ready, for some this may be longer than for others, I used to hold for longer but now I tend to hold for just a second or two to make sure I am where I want to be. One thing is certain, you need a second or two to get all the information into the brain and ensure a good shot, after all there is no rush. Now you are ready to take to the field with renewed confidence that you can hit what you look at.
The picture on the right shows the angle of cant on the bow, for a near shot, more cant, for a longer shot less. Practice is the only thing that will help you get the angle which works for you, as a side note generally as you cant or tilt the bow to the right ( right handed archer) so the arrows will fall right, cant back to the left and the arrows fall left. Over time you will develop your own style which works for you, there is no real right or wrong, whatever gets the arrow into the target is the right thing. This is nothing more than an introduction to instinctive, there is plently more to learn reagrding it and in the April edition we will take a closer look at refining this technique.
Shot of the Month
This months shot of the month comes from last years South West Challenge, let me set the scene. Take three instinctive archers in a group with a compound, a tiny paper face about 35+ yards away and an incredibly skinny fox.
Result, one inner kill for the compound and one jaw on the floor from the same compound archer when we get up to the target for him to suddenly realise his day wasn't going to look so full of glory against the three of us.
Think you can do better, send us your archery shots and see if they are good enough to be included in "Shot of the Month".
10 Minutes With...
This month it's 10 minutes with Chad Holm of Holm-Made bows, he kindly took the time to talk to us about himself and his bows.
How long have you been involved in Archery and how did you get started?
I grew up rifle hunting with my brother Shane in Grand Rapids, Mn. We followed my father and grandfather around the big woods. We always felt we were fortunate if we saw a deer a day. The focus was never trophy hunting as we didn't see many bucks. Any buck with a main beam and brow tines was considered a "nice" one. I think I shot one buck during my teen age years and that was about the only buck I saw while hunting in those years.Lessons learned in those early hunting years are lessons that have helped me to appreciate just seeing deer today. The process of hunting and carrying on the old ways are still the reasons why I love to hunt.
My dad was never much of a bowhunter. He did start bowhunting with a friend as a way to try and get a deer in the freezer before rifle season opened and Shane and I wanted to bowhunt too. When we were about 14, dad scrounged up a couple old, hand me down, bows for us from guys he worked with. I got a 45# Ben Pearson recurve with a sight. I remember sitting on a field edge and missing a deer at about 12-15 yards. The arrow hit the ground at the deer's feet. I think Shane got a fork horn that year or the year after with his bow. I guess you could say I have "traditional roots" in bowhunting, but not by choice.
I was 25 before I got my first deer with a compound bow, I shot 3 that year. I was living in Pine City, MN and heard there was a guy in town that hunted with a recurve so I called him, out of the blue, and he got me started building cedar arrows to go with my new 58# Martin Hunter. Two summers ago, I was travelling home from a shoot in Horicon, WI where I was a vendor, and I stopped by his house to visit him. I hadn't talked to him in almost 10 years. I gave him a 51# River Runner prototype as a gift for helping me get started in traditional bowhunting.
The next Fall there wasn't many deer around due the tough winters of '95-'96 and '96-97. In early October, 1997, I finally got a shot at a spike and killed him with the Hunter and cedar arrow tipped with a Magnus broadhead. I still have the picture of me and that buck.
When did you make your first bow and what was the result?
I built my first selfbow 11 years ago. It was a Hickory self bow that was homely to look at and followed the string unmercifully. I built about 10 selfbows I guess. I never got proficient enough to feel comfortable hunting with them. I started building fiberglass bows about 7 years ago for myself and friends. I started my official business 3 years ago. I enjoy building the bows and have close to 20 hours into each one. The fiberglass, epoxy and exotic wood dust can be dangerous if precautions are not taken but the finished product is a one of a kind piece of work that will last for years to be handed down from generation to generation.
What's the one tool in your workshop which you couldn't do without?
My bandsaw gets used daily as well as several sanders. My duplicating belt
sander I recently acquired is my prized machine.
What do you think the next big innovation in bow building will be ?
I'm not sure what the next big "innovation in bow building" will be. I know some bowyers are experimenting with different materials to replace fiberglass. It is my hope that traditional archery industry does not take the same path as the muzzleloader industry has where there is a push to improve efficiency to the point where we have recreated something we are trying to get away from in the first place.
What materials do you enjoy using the most ?
I enjoy working with the wood and bamboo the most. The epoxy and fiberglass is a necessary evil, I guess. Some of the exotic woods I work with are absolutely stunning. I also enjoy working with domestic hardwoods from the Midwest. I love curly cherry, figured hickory, walnut, sassaphras and maple.
What is it about your bows or the way you make bows that sets you apart from other bowyers ?
My forms and jigs are machined for perfection. I only use the best materials available and I don't rush the process. My goal has always been to produce the best bows my abilities will allow. It has never been to "crank out" bows in a short amount of time. People have told me there is a market for kids bows and starter bows in the 250.00 price range. That has never interested me. I want to build bows that I am proud to put my name on.
Do you still have time to shoot ?
I put a hundred or so arrows through each bow I build as I fine tune the tiller. Building bows does not allow me to shoot my own personal bows as much as I would like to for pleasure.
What's the best shot you ever made ?
This year when we were making our annual late season deer pushes in the snow, I made a running shot on a small doe. She was moving at about three quarter speed. passing by at 9 yards. My broadhead severed the arteries off the top of the heart. The temperature was an honest -30 degrees that day.
How many bows do you make a year ?
I build about 40-50 bows per year.
What arrows do you shoot and if it's wood which one ?
I shoot wood and carbon arrows. My wood arrows are tapered cedar with a 160 grain point. These arrows typically weight between 520-540 grains.
New Reviews
The month has seen a number of new articles appear on the site. The snow unfortunately meant that we were unable to do as many as we would have liked but it didn't stop us getting out there completely.
Dick Boss TD 60" 45#@28"
We had the extreme pleasure earlier in the month of trying a Dick Boss, we had been on the look out for one for some time and it was great to finally get out hands on one. We love longbows and this one was no exception.
Click Here to Read the Review...
JVD Metal Body Taper Tool
Here at Archers Review we don't just test a product and more on, we keep reviewing it. Sometimes it takes a while to find all the problems or even grow to love something and our constant review system gives you all the information you need. This month we have updated our review of the JVD Metal Body Taper Tool, already a great product, but it's seen a lot of use over the winter so it's time for another look.
Click Here to Read the Review...
Great Northern Gritter Getter 56" 58#@28"
It's not often we get our hands on a genuine one piece American bow, and this isn't one. But it's about as close as you can get as it's a folding two piece bow and feels just like the real thing with the practicality of a takedown.
Short, small and deadly. I had the pleasure of spending the day shooting it and boy did I enjoy it.
Click Here to Read the Review...
Herbertz Belt Knife
Is this the ultimate archery knife? A good knife is an essential item of archery kit, unfortunately small pocket knives are often not man enough for the job, here we review one which may well be the answer.
Click Here to Read the Review...
Easy Taper Tool - Basic
Easy is exactly the right word for this excellent tool. If you take your archery seriously and you build your own arrows tapering the shaft could be that magic formula you have been searching for.
Click Here to Read the Review...
Archers Review is dedicated to carrying on the great tradition of sharing archery knowledge, in many ways we are still re-discovering the skills of our forefathers, unlike just about any other competitive sport, in archery the learning never stops, as we grow as archers the enjoyment increases, so we invite you to share with us all the skills, tips and hints that will help us all to be the best archer we can be.
If you have something to add feel free to mail in your articles, it can be on any aspect of archery from training to bow set up, a quick hunting tip or a specific archery question you would like to know the answer to, someone somewhere will have an answer for you.
MAGAZINE
February 2010
In this months Magazine
So You Want To Try Archery
New Sponsors
How To Shoot Instinctively
Shot of the Month
10 Minutes With...
New Reviews
Click the links to jump to any part of the magazine
