Archery for beginners?

Questions about Beginners Archery?

• So far I have next to none experience with the bow except shooting it a couple times in camp when I was a kid. I'm 18 years old, I don't know if that helps. Anyways, I'm ...show more

• Answer:

  First of all, is your interest hunting- or target? Are you more interested in high-tech archery, with adjustable sights, carbon fiber shafts, and compound bows, or would you prefer a more purist approach, shooting instinctively with a longbow and cedar arrows? My experience is more with longbows and cedar arrows, so I'll base my advice on that. Get yourself an inexpensive solid fiberglass recurve bow of a modest draw weight- say, around 30 pounds. Bear Archery sells a number of solid fiberglass bows that can be had for around $30. You'll also need a tab, a target backstop, and a good book- I recommend the Beginner's Guide to Traditional Archery by Brian Sorrels. Practice the exercises in that book. At some point you'll get to the point where you can regularly put all your arrows in a reasonably small group at 20 yards. At that point you'll know whether you want to continue on in traditional archery, or go off in a different direction.