Archery Equipment

Archery target shooting has been a popular hobby for many people. Some of the more competitive archery enthusiasts test their skill in archery competitions that are popular the world over and have been popular for hundreds of years-at least as long as archery as been a viable means of hunting.

Archery target shooting can be seen in local competitions as well as national ones. In addition to being a highly disciplined activity to compete in, audiences find it a fun spectator sport. The popularity of the sport is enough that numerous archery target tourneys have aired on ESPN and Sportchannel America among other major cable channels as well. However, the biggest archery competition is, or course, the archery target events held at the Olympic Games.

Under the rules of Olympic archery target shooting, the competitor stays about 80 yards away from the target and competes in four different shooting events. The target that the archers shoot at is the traditional circular bulls eye target where each separate ring is a assigned a point value with the bulls eye being worth ten points.

Olympic archery shooting has the dubious distinction of having once been 'barred' from TV. In the 2000 Olympics, 'combat' sports were pushed off of network TV. Boxing was relegated to MSNBC. Judo was dropped altogether as was target shooting. The feeling was that no one at the network wanted to have an injury on live TV.

Okay: Can someone explain why the Winter Olympics have no problems airing skiing and snowboarding? To injure someone in target archery is pretty tough. The person would have to stand in between the archer and the target, all while not being noticed by anyone, and on live TV. And somehow I doubt many archers in the Olympics ever shot themselves in the foot. This is a weird world we live in. Despite the Olympic goofiness, archery target shooting manages to thrive on.

At one time, an archer had to rely exclusively on his or her own vision and judgment when taking part in archery hunting or target shooting. And, on a baseline level, that remains true to this day. However, one item has made that vision and judgment considerably more accurate: the archery scope.

An archery scope is one of the most important pieces of equipment that can be added to a bow and arrow. If you're going to shoot a arrow, then there should be reasonable expectation that the arrow will hit the mark. If not, what is the point of even shooting the arrow?

Well, you can always say that just the joy of participating in bow hunting or target shooting is its own reward; and that some days you hit the mark and some days you don't. And this, too, is true. But, if you are going to spend a few bucks on an archery scope, then you would hope that the scope will improve its ability to hit the harder.

One good place to find archery products - and scopes more specifically - is "Classic Archery Products," which sells the most popular and most used models of a range of different pieces of archery equipment. Each of their products is considered a "classic" because it was made spectacularly well in comparison to similar products from other brands of the time.

Another good place to look for an archery scope is at "Impact Archery," which sells a number of higher-end, precise archery products. Their archery scope is constructed out of aluminum, can be mounted to compound and recurved bows, and allow the archer (depending on his level of skill) to make precise shoots of up to and over several hundred feet, which is crucial if you plan to enter a target shooting competition.

Throughout the timeless ages of mankind, one question has puzzled sportsmen around the globe: is it, or is it not, cheating to use an archery stabilizer when bow hunting?

All right, perhaps the question isn't as pervasive or divisive as all that, but it has sparked many a heated debate in our local archery club. Archery stabilizer, which help keep the bow steady and reduce noise, can be a sportsman's best friend, but there are still some who consider it unsporting to use them.

I wouldn't consider myself one of the latter group. I can certainly see the benefit in them, and in fact often end up using them in competitions and tournaments where the rules permit them. They lend a steadiness and an accuracy to my aim that I can't hope to match on my own. But the fact is, the archery stabilizer won't do it all for you. True, it does help, and it does improve your aim and accuracy. But you still have to learn to aim and actually hit the target.

Most archery organizations will allow some form of stabilizer on recurve bows in competitions, although not on longbows, and the question is really one that the archer must decide for himself or herself. It may be that the archery stabilizer is your best friend, and you wouldn't dream of trying to shoot an arrow without it. If so, well and good! But remember that others may prefer to shoot without it. If you belong to the latter category, remember that everyone has different aims--pardon the pun--in archery, and that just because you wouldn't be caught dead using a stabilizer doesn't mean that other people can't use them and benefit from them.

It's worth bearing in mind, however, that it does take a better archer to be able to hit their target consistently without a stabilizer. Don't think for a moment that your skill is higher just because you hit the target better with the archery stabilizer.

Out of all the different kinds of bows for archery available on the market, the most popular by far--and for good reason--is the archery recurve bow. It gets its name from the ends of the bow which, when the bow is unstrung, point back towards the target. Strung, these ends point straight up. The design is a useful one; it gives an added stability to the bow, even without stabilizers added. Besides that, a less practical if equally noteworthy effect: the graceful curves of the archery recurve bow lend it an elegance which other bows can't hope to match.

Other popular bows include the compound bow and the longbow, but neither of them even come close to the archery recurve bow. The compound bow, as the name suggests, is far more complicated than the recurve bow, and therefore harder to use, and while the longbow, on the other hand, is simplicity itself, the high noise and recoil rates mean that only rarely do you actually hit anything with it. And right in the middle you have the archery recurve bow, with some of the stability of a compound bow and most of the simplicity of a longbow, combined. Little wonder that the recurve bow is the most popular of the three by far!

The archery recurve bow is the most common in archery tournaments, probably due to its popularity as well as the other factors already mentioned; ease, simplicity, etc. Quite often, in fact, it's the only bow recognized by archery tourneys and associations. If you are a beginner, just getting into archery, you will probably at least want to start with a recurve bow--and I don't doubt you'll stay with it even once you become an expert. Of all the bows available, it truly does blend the best of all worlds for a satisfying and delightful archery experience unlike any other.

Alpine Archery is a well established business whose goal in life is to take the old, in the form of bows, arrows, quivers, and the other apparatus of archery, and give it a modern, updated look and feel. Their focus is on compound bows; their materials are modern to the core. Their equipment is often showy, with bright colors and polished metals.

No one who had ever used a bow from Alpine Archery could say that they were purely show; they perform as well as their website claims, and certainly stand out at archery competitions and tourneys. But for all that, they lose something; the sleek, modern look of the bows produced by Alpine Archery has a hollow, mechanical feel to it. True, this could be in part because they manufacture compound bows; unlike the unreliable longbow or the graceful recurve bow, the compound bow is an efficient and modern piece of machinery. And, in my opinion, it loses something because of that.

True, you can shoot better with the bows from Alpine Archery than with many an other bow, but you never forget when you're holding it that it is a modern bow, and you live in a modern world. It doesn't offer you a window to another world, a world of the past, as other bows do. And the bright metals and colors can be more than a little gaudy.

For all that, however, there is no denying that bows from Alpine Archery are precision-engineered pieces of equipment. And, on the target range or in an archery tournament, that precision is the most important aspect of the bow. Additionally, their range of children's bows especially are well-designed and attractive to their intended age group.

Somehow, though, I can't help preferring the feel of a good recurve bow, the polished wood, the stylish curves, to all the shiny modern compounds in the world. They're good bows, no doubt about it. But they'll never be the perfect bow for me.