I spent the afternoon flinging arrows at targets. It was fun. What more is there to say?
Well, if you start poking around the internet at all, the answer is “plenty.” Frankly, I had no idea archery as a hobby was so popular. That doesn’t include all the hunters and sportsmen and women out there flinging arrows. Really, participating in archery is hardly a unique thing at all.
My setup isn’t complete yet. I’m still waiting for my limbs to come in. But the setup I have now is more than enough to start developing some impressions and technique. A not unimportant part of the experience are the arrows, which need to be the right length in order to start developing any technical prowess. I’d been shooting arrows that were a bit short for me because we didn’t have the right nocks to fit the shafts we got. Now that the new nocks are in, I can use arrows of the appropriate length for me.
My impressions so far are, I’ve got a ton to learn. In addition to the vocab, and archery has a very extensive vocabulary, I’ve got to develop a feel for drawing (not the pen and paper kind), target picture and consistent anchoring.
In fact, consistency clearly is the key to archery. That point is repeated often enough in any reading on the subject, but it’s quite another to experience it. Because of the distances involved, minor changes in angles lead to major differences in where the arrow strikes- assuming it strikes the target and not the surrounding land behind the target. Every draw can feel a little different: the bow shoulder might be a little too stressed, the bow hand might not be in the same position, muscle fatigue, trying to draw with the arm instead of the body and shoulder, fingers not quite aligned properly. Plenty of things can happen to make things feel a bit different from arrow to arrow. It’s a bit surprising considering the act of pulling a string seems such a simple thing.
I think it’s the simplicity that keeps people coming back. Really, what can be harder than putting a stick on a string, pulling it back and letting go? It seems so simple that I don’t think the mind can accept that so much can go wrong on every shot. So one shot follows another shot follows another shot and before too long, there’s an afternoon spent practicing archery.