Archery

Anyone have some good resources for information on starting archery?

I'm looking to purchase a decent recurve bow to start target training on, with the intent to potentially purchase a top line recurve bow in the future for hunting purposes. I also want to do this activity (target practice, not hunting) with the girlfriend. Currently I'm in the information seeking stage. For the most part we're looking at very simple, traditional recurve bows and shooting, not so much the olympic cyborg looking recurve bows that are used with all kinds of sights and crazy stuff attached.

So far I've narrowed down my draw length (I think). With arms extended to either side I measure 75" from middle finger tip to middle finger tip, and divided that by 2.5 ending with a draw length of 30". Most of the recommended beginner recurve bows seem to sit at 62" long, but I am seeing a lot of information saying I should be looking at around a 68" long bow with my draw length. Using the same method of draw length measuring, the girlfriend has a 26" draw length and the recommended bow length is 56" for her. If 62" is fine for me to learn on, is it fine for her to learn on?

Right now I have my eye on the Samick Sage Takedown bow, potentially the Samick Journey Takedown for myself as it come at 64", the prior at 62".

Any help is appreciated! I would rather go to an actual bow shop but the places with bows in the area are heavy on the compound bow side (only recurve are for children, which might as well have arrows with suction cups on the end) with nobody that looks like an expert around (BassPro Shops and sporting goods stores). I have not yet located a shop that specializes in bows that would have personnel that have expertise in the area and aren't going to just tell me, "oh, you'll be fine with this" because they don't know what they're talking about.

 

Have you got any archery classes/clubs nearby?

 

Archery's on my long list of "things I want to do but probably never will".
Not recurve specifically (he's more Olympic style) but I really like NuSensei's vids on Youtube. Lots of wider archery context and tips about alignment, anchor points and ripping Lars Anderson.

 

Where I live (York) has an archery club that dates back to 1833 and they do regular beginners classes throughout the year.
You can't just walk in anytime. The beginners classes cover range safety, regulations, technique, etc. It also probably covers craw distance, weight etc. Only after doing that can you come and do their normal shooting times.
I imagine there might be similar classes around?

I have a vague dream that one day I'll find the time to do the beginners course, a course to make my own longbow (proper English longbow) and learn to properly shoot my own bow.

 

The most important piece of kit for starting archery is a metal detector. It will save you a fortune in arrows!

Like Dead_pool and Smitfire have suggested, an archery club would be your best bet, as it will give you a chance to try out different bow types and draw lengths/weights. That bow you're looking at does seem to be a good one though, but I've never been keen on all the counterweights and fancy sights myself.

 

There is an archery range which I'm sure does club events on the other side of the county here. Good 60 minute drive away and might be worth a visit.

I was going to buy the two bows I mentioned lastnight on Amazon but didn't because the arrows wouldn't arrive until two weeks later. The shops that sell compound bows around here only have arrows with solid plastic fletchings and since I'm not going to be shooting with any added contraptions all advice on arrows says to go with feathered fletchings. No way I'm having two bows sit around without arrows so I can't shoot them >: O.

I did a lot of research on aiming without assisting devices. The Gap Method seems like it will be my go to method as it's the closest to the method used for shooting that I was taught on. Interested to see if I'll focus on the arrow tip or the target. There was one article touching on keeping focus on the entire picture so nothing is blurred with the Gap Method, not sure how effective that would be.

I wish I had this interest when I was younger. The Fred Bear Museum and Archery Store was right in the town I live in, but closed down and BassPro bought all their inventory. ::shakes fist at younger self::

 

I ended up jut buying 12 arrows and getting the Spyder XL Takedown Recurve Bow with a 40lb draw for myself, and the Spyder Takedown Recurve Bow with a 20lb draw for the girlfriend. It's made by the same engineers that made the Samick Sage Takedown Recurve Bow. It's apparently better, and for not much added price.

I have watched A LOT of archery videos the past week. I'm not entirely sure how far I'll get without instruction, but there's a lot of crossover in the fundamentals of shooting between rifles and well . . . anything else you shoots. Aiming a firearm I know, so I think I have a leg up on most trying to teach themselves. The below photo is my group placement at 10 meters after about 30 shots. Every group of 6 I shot I zeroed in more and more so I think I figured the gap aiming for that distance.

Then I moved back to 20 meters an LOLOLOL. I didn't take a photo of it, but given my placement my placement at 20 meters my left/right steadiness is within a 12" range. It's the gap I need to figure out.

I'm thinking of doing the same thing you do with shooting a rifle and logging sight picture at release to log placement of the shot on target with what you saw at point of firing. I think that will help me narrow it down a bit.

Or I might just stay at 10 meters until I know I'm more than consistent just to get the fundamentals of drawing the string. Good lord I didn't know the bicep was going to be as much a part of this as it is. It's such a weird angle for me. If I had what I assume was bad form (when my arrows went where they weren't supposed to) my bicep sure let me know with a hell of a cramp.

 

Was gonna start an archery thread but found this one instead (which I'd totally forgotten even commenting on).
As mentioned above I did actually end up doing the beginner's course at my local archery club last month and went to my first open session last night.
Felt a bit nervous as didn't want to annoy anyone or break some rule I didn't know but all went really well. Everyone very friendly.
It's now the indoor season so it's a 20 metre range with smaller targets but that was fine.
I'm still using club equipment rather than buying my own bow but will look into it in the next few months. It's quite an investment.
I managed to get a 252 badge as part of the beginner's course at 15 metres but 20 metres is a whole other ballgame (and goodness knows how olympic archers shoot 70 metres!)
Thoroughly enjoying it.
It's a calm but very focused activity and pretty much mindfulness meditation which is what I'm after.

 

Oh and as part of the beginner's course we did clout shooting which is brilliant and probably something I'll try and do more of.
Shooting at a target is one thing...shooting at a flag on the ground, where you don't actually have a sight picture per se, is totally different.

 

Obviously I'm a rank beginner but from what I gather if the strain is on your bicep then your technique is off.
It's all about back tension and using your back muscles to expand through the draw. Even more so if pulling a warbow and going up higher draw weights.
Been watching vids of someone called Joe Gibbs pulling 150lb/200lb warbows and I'm just in awe of that. No way the bicep can draw that weight to any degree so technique and skeletal alignment is key.

 

Yeah basic beginner recurve at the moment. Tried it barebow and with a sight and long rod (yes that's what it's called people).
I feel a natural tendency towards simplicity and a historical flavour myself.
Compound bows just seem far to complex and mechanical to me but the groupings people get with them are incredible.
There's a guy at my club, ranked 9th in britain for compound bow, shot a perfect round of 300 in a club competition but still only came third because he has no handicap.

 

Funny enough, I haven't shot my bow in months but this past weekend a buddy and I decided to try out bow fishing. I nailed a florida gar center mass from a dock, but that's the only luck we had. We were trying to shoot armored catfish (the sucker fish in most home aquariums) but we couldn't get enough of an angle for the arrow to go downwards once it hit the water from shore. It would hit the water and immediately plane upwards, going right over the top of the fish. So we are probably doing something really wrong.

I would imagine my form is wrong which is why my bicep was cramping up. I don't have anyone really teaching me beyond videos so if I ever go to an archery club they'll probably reel at all the terrible habits I've formed. I'm happy if I can consistently hit a 10" target out to about 40 meters : P.

Fun thing I learned by accident trying to shoot further distances. I went back about 40 meters and shot at the hay bales I had out. I forgot projectiles don't reach their full velocity until they get going some distance. Well, the arrow went through the hay bales, through my wooden privacy fence, and then about 60 more meters into the pasture by my house xD. I hit the 10" plate though! I'll have to cover that hole up since you can look right into the master bedroom of the house from it. Don't want any Mitch err. . . peeping toms, taking advantage of it if they ever come by.

My buddy is planning on buying a bow to bow fish more regularly. Will have to share experiences as time goes on : P.

 

I use to do a lot of archery, over 20 years ago. But I was using a compound bow. Have not done any for years, just checked my arrows and it has been so long half the fletchings came off. But this thread has gotten me thinking abot it again, but I if I go back, I'm going to use a wooden recurve this time.

Thanks for this thread