Archery, or simply put the use of bows and arrows, is an extremely old and popular sport. It has been going on for millennia. Bows and arrows have multiple uses-they are utilized for hunting, for fighting and war, and as a means of entertainment.
Bows and arrows were first used by humans in the Late Stone Age. They have been improved over millennia. With the introduction and wider usage of guns as a popular weapon for both hunting and fighting from the Middle Ages, the usage of bows and arrows was confined gradually to only a few backward regions and tribes as guns became the more popular weapon.
Today, however, bows and arrows-and specifically target shooting with bows and arrows are still widely used for multiple competitions from prestigious global competitions like the Olympics to small regional competitions.
Target Archery as a Form of Archery: Target archery as a specific form of archery emerged in the late 19th century. Today, it is the most popular form of archery practiced in the world, as the use of archery for hunting and a method of warfare has declined.
Target archery is shooting an arrow from a bow towards a specific distance and object that object being the target. Archers are judged according to their accuracy in shooting at the target.
Sometimes, these targets are set at a specific point in the woods, which is called field archery. This particular form of target archery is extremely popular in America and Europe.
Apart from field archery, there are other archery sports and games, and lesser known forms of field archery.
Some, but not all forms of archery, are governed by the rules established by the World Archery Federation, but the rules of the World Archery Federation are not binding upon all archers or all archery competitions held worldwide.
Competitive Archery in the Modern World: Prestigious world recognized archery competitions, like the archery competitions in the Olympics, are governed by rules set out by the World Archery Federation. The French name of the World Archery Federation is Federation Internationale de Tir a l’Arc. Thus the World Archery federation is often known by its abbreviated names WA or FITA.
Archery Targets might be set up either indoors or outdoors.
However, indoor distances are typically shorter compared to outdoor distances of the archer from his or her target.
Indoor distances typically range from 18m to 25 m, and outdoor distances are typically between 30 m to 90 m.
Typical Composition of Targets: A typical target has multiple concentric rings-typically around 10 which are spaced apart from each other at even distances. These rings are marked with 1 to 10. There is an additional 10 ring inside, known as the X ring.
In case of indoor competitions, this inner ring is known as the 10 ring.
In case of outdoor competitions, this inner ring or X ring is mostly used as the tiebreaker, to determine which archer has managed to score the highest number of Xes and make that archer the winner.
The scores of archers are determined by calculating the total scores shot by their arrows. Higher scores are awarded to the archers who have managed to score linebreakers-ie their arrow has managed to touch a scoring boundary line.
Targets are typically composed of marsh grass or some other form of grass or stalks of grains which are woven into ropes and then used to wrap the target.
Target faces may vary widely according to the competition, the round and the distance. They can be as small as 40cm or 18 meter for a World Archery Federation recognized indoor competition to 122cm or 70m for an Olympic outdoor contest.
3D Target Archery: This is another popular form of target archery. It is focused on archers targeting life sized models of creatures typically targeted by hunters in the wild.
Clout Archery: In this case, the target is typically a series of circle shaped scoring targets on the ground which are surrounded by a marker flag.
Using these archery targets and practicing with them can help any archer to enhance their skills and be more successful in this competitive sport.