Loading ...If you’re considering taking up archery, congratulations! It’s an incredibly fun, rewarding sport that can be started and enjoyed at any age. This article is part of our series of compound bow tips. Although it may seem a bit daunting, especially if you don’t know the jargon, no worries, it’s easy to pick up and you’ll likely find helpful pros in your area who are more than willing to help you out. Here are just a few helpful hints to help you get started on your way to being a top-notch archer.
- Know the archery terms. It’s important with any sport that you understand the language and terminology. For example, you’ll want to know what the nocking point is and where to find it before you even take your first shot.
- Choose the right bow for you. There are three basic types of archery you might want to try: traditional, recurve and compound. Traditional archery is archery at its simplest and original form, with mostly wooden components. Although it is basic, shooting takes a lot of skill on the archer’s behalf to hit the target. Recurve uses modern engineering, sights, stabilizers and carbon arrows. This makes the modern recurve a far superior bow than its traditional predecessors, but there still limits on the types of equipment allowed. The compound bow is the newest bow of all three and is designed for maximum accuracy. The eccentric cams on the end of the limbs assist the archer by reducing the holding weight when they reach full draw position.
- Buy a used bow. When first starting out, you might want to stick with a bow that is on the lower end of the price range as you’ll likely outgrow it as your skills and strength increase. Choose a bow that is an appropriate length and weight, and then select arrows that fit accordingly. Heavier, stiffer arrows go with bigger bows and vice versa. You’ll also want to purchase the appropriate accessories, like a bracer, finger tab and bow stringer.
- Handle your bow with care. Be sure to take really good care of your bow so that you minimize the potential risk of injury while shooting. Make sure your bow is unstrung when not in use (unless it’s a compound bow), that it’s never left in the hot sun and it’s not strung too tightly.
- Practice your shooting stance. It’s important to have a good stance to get the most out of each shot. To achieve this, make sure firstly that your legs are relaxed with your feet parallel to the target and slightly apart. Be sure to take notice and practice your grip (also relaxed), positioning of the fingers on the string, drawing, anchoring and aiming. After a bit of practice, all of these things should come naturally to you.
When starting out, remember to practice good safety techniques so you can get the most out of your experience. Most importantly though, remember to have fun! Like anything else, it won’t be worth doing if you’re not really enjoying yourself. And when you are ready shop used compound bows don't forget to check back here on our site!