Shooting a cost-effective traditional recurve or long bow barebow (no sights) in your back yard or at a 3D shoot.

It’s just great fun and trains your mind! It’s quiet too, so it won’t bother the neighbors. I like it because it is great for arm, chest and back muscles and coordination. And it sharpens your conscious mind in terms of self-awareness of breathing and muscles just like shooting a rifle. 

I have two inexpensive, but accurate, takedown bows (Samick Sage) of 45 pounds and a 50 pound OEELINE Bow below. Only $115 to $130 dollars each for bow and string. Can’t beat the cost-effective nature of traditional archery!

 

Getting Started?

Purchase a half dozen starter arrows can be purchased for $30 to $60 dollars or so. Very inexpensive setup as compared to a compound bow. You will need an arm guard and a shooting glove or finger tab. 

If you are just starting out, I would join a sporting club and find an experienced traditional archer willing to help. 

I have been shooting recurves and long bows for more years than I care to count. I’m picking up my recurve to see if I can meet my hunt expectations and have some 3D Archery fun.

 Arrow spine and length charts on-line can help you find a good shooting arrow of aluminum or carbon or even Port Orford cedar. Buy a bow square and knock points and a crimp tool. 

Brace height is the distance from the string to the inside bow grip some call the throat. Many Europeans call it Fistmele – the breadth of a fist with thumb stuck out to give the correct height of a string from a braced bow, approximately 7 inches. Brace height can be adjusted by twisting the bow string several turns to tighten the string and increase the brace height, if needed.

See the chart below for a guide. Best to use your manufacturer recommendation. 

 

Shooting at unknown distances is key to calibrating your eye and mind. One of the best, and fun, techniques I use is to purchase a Judo point head below, screw it onto your arrow and shoot it in grass at balloons. The spring barbs catch the grass and your arrow will flip and not get lost. It is fun to hear the balloons pop! Gotcha! 

The wind increases the challenge as the balloon bumps along the grass like a rabbit. I trained three youngsters to shoot compounds this way along with traditional bullseye targets and 3D Animals.

 

Hunting Stances

A good archery shooting stance is where your feet are a shoulder width apart and if you are right handed you will face nearly parallel to the target and your face is looking toward the right. In hunting, you must train and adjust your stance with the existing terrain however. Traditional target archers stand upright and recurve and long bow hunters stand a bit more like the letter C, hunching a bit over the arrow. Recurve target bows rarely get over 30 to 40 pounds. In contrast a hunting bow begins at 40 pounds pull at around 28 inches of draw and often 50 to 60 pounds pull or more at full draw. 

Stances can be adjusted based on the bush and terrain you are in, so experiment. My bow is canted so my eye is next to the arrow nock for better aiming technique. I use an under arrow draw method.

Draw and Anchor

Push the bow with your left bow arm and pull with your right arm. If I can’t feel my back muscles tensioning, then I am not at full draw. 

Full draw means the use of back muscles and is critical for good arrow flight, accuracy and form.  Accordingly,  I don’t try to shoot a bow that is too heavy in draw weight to start.

Your anchor point is often on your right cheek for a right hand shooter but that can change with different techniques. It is all about form, and repeating that form, just like golf and bowling. 

Release

Release is letting go of the string. Keep your arm up like at full draw and release the string in a rearward motion. Plucking the string sideways will send your arrow left or right. 

Follow-thru

After the string is released, maintain the stance for a few seconds allow your drawing arm and hand to finish its rearward motion. This allows you to create a body form which completes the release. And it looks and feels cool to do. 

 Both conscious and sub-conscious self-awareness is a large part of archery. Use of your mind, stance, form, eyes, arm and back muscles and release at the bow means a better flying arrow at the target. 

Good Shooting!

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