[Hank D Thoreau]

So after another day of practice, and breaking another one of my light wood arrows, I have finally concluded....(and why did it take me this long?):

NFAA longbow is like trying to hammer nails with a crescent wrench.

Shooting a D bow with wood arrows from 8 to 80 yards, with a fixed hook and anchor, is using a tool that is totally unsuited for the job at hand. Now, some folks are really good hammering nails with just about anything. I saw a guy hammer nails with his head. That is exactly what it feels like to me, only in my case, my head is the longbow.

Today, I broke another one of my light arrows. I have not been able to get more since I use a non standard weight, diameter and length combination. I am back to my heavy arrows. That may not be a bad thing. It will shorten my point on, but at least I will give away less points on the short shots, and there are quite a few during the animal round.

So, one more tournament with the longbow and then back to the FITA barebow. In the end, the experiment with the longbow was worth it. I will definitely continue to shoot traditional tournaments with it. I am not sure about NFAA field. I have to remember that I originally went with the longbow because I had gotten too weak to carry my recurve. My health is back (some may argue that point since my blood sugar crashed at the tournament last week and I missed shooting over half of it), and with it, so has my ability to choose a more sensible path.

Two more weekends to try to get as many distances down as possible, followed by two days of flinging arrows all over the Fresno Archers field course. Folks in Clovis better be ready to duck.

 

[John in NZ]

Good luck at Fresno an good luck with the move back to recurve.

Longbows,me and arrow loss always went hand in hand.
Still love em' though.

John.

 

[Hank D Thoreau]

Good luck at Fresno an good luck with the move back to recurve.

Longbows,me and arrow loss always went hand in hand.
Still love em' though.

John.

Thanks, and I love New Zealand. I was there for a month back in the 80's, pre Lord of the Rings. The whole country should be declared a National Park.

 

[Todd the archer]

Hank your comments remind me of a thread on another forum about bad bows. While there may or may not be bad bows there are definitely some bows that excel for certain applications and hinder you for other uses.

Would not want to take a full blown FITA rig into a turkey blind. A bow that can be used for everything probably won't be great at anything. Kind of "Jack of all trades, master of none syndrome.

Todd

 

[Tom M]

Hank,
You are not the only one. I surly do like my longbows but shoot much better with a recurve. It seems to take me less time to get in the groove shooting a recurve than longbow.

 

[crunch]

Hank,
I've been following your progress with the LB. I've too have been toying with the idea of going down that path.
Hopefully you're still having fun, .
Good luck in Fresno.

 

[UrbanDeerSlayer]

I feel your pain. Every day is a journey with the stick and wood arrows. It seems that it is the most unforgiving set up and can be frustratingly painful to be consistent from day to day. That being said, I can't seem to give it up, and am trying to master it only for the short game (IBO).

 

[j.conner]

LOL, I know what you mean, Hank. I love my longbow but it absolutely torments me.

 

[Rednef]

I think that part of the "problem" is that expectations of a certain degree of accuracy have been raised. Which is not a bad thing at all. But at the same time we know that Howard Hill was instrumental in creating the Field Round as we know it today. And I think we know what ol' Howard was shooting. And before him people were shooting these yardages, and farther, in competition, basically using ELB's and selfbows.

But anyway, Todd there makes a good point.

 

[rusty craine]

The other part of the problem is the longbow defined by the rules. IMO.

While this long bow is not a framing hammer, it is a light chisel hammer.

The bow adds points to my score and saves some lost arrows.

 

[rusty craine]

Sorry thread.

 

[Hank D Thoreau]

My issue is all about the range of distances that must be covered, and the restrictions to one hook and anchor. I love shooting my longbow, and really enjoyed shooting the IBO Western Trad Shoot. In fact, the IBO was probably the most fun I had ever had at a tournament. Every shot was shootable, 25 yards and in. It was up to me to execute. Covering from 8 to 80 yards with the above mentioned restrictions is very difficult. I think that in time, with a a lot of focus and attention, you can figure out a way to aim most of the shots. If the NFAA is really concerned with growing longbow, they would adopt the use of trad stakes. That would also be more in alignment with their hunting origin. We need a traditional side of NFAA, like there is with IBO?

 

[Rob Ingram]

Thanks for the post Hank. After reading the first part of this, I took my Dryad Orion out back and, at 14m, fired some good groups. It made me happy because this is my hunting bow and I also enjoy it for 3D. The long shots on our course are maybe 40m.
Not that I will ever shoot an NFAA event, but it made me wonder if our own national events in Canada have those restrictions on long bow. I won a berth at the Canadian Nationals (obviously not a lot of serious competition came out to our qualifying meet) but could not make it because of prior commitments. Now I am kind of relieved. How crappy it would have been to arrive all ignorant and have to shoot under rules like that. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Hank D Thoreau]

I was just re-inspired to go out and practice. Take a look at the part that starts at 2:05. If John Ferraro can do it, I can do it. That's like shooting NFAA longbow !!!!!! I have never seen it put so clearly.

 

[UrbanDeerSlayer]

I was just re-inspired to go out and practice. Take a look at the part that starts at 2:05. If John Ferraro can do it, I can do it. That's like shooting NFAA longbow !!!!!! I have never seen it put so clearly.

That dude is insane!

 

[J. Wesbrock]

If the NFAA is really concerned with growing longbow, they would adopt the use of trad stakes. That would also be more in alignment with their hunting origin. We need a traditional side of NFAA, like there is with IBO?

Just as a point of discussion, the NFAA was founded in the 1930s by bowhunters for bowhunter. The field round as it is shot today, sans the 5-4-3 scoring, was standardized in 1942. This was before fiberglass-laminated limbs, working recurves and synthetic arrow shafts. If it was good enough for bowhunters with simple backed longbows and wood arrows 72 years ago, there's no reason today's traditional archers should need to shoot from kid's stakes. A few years ago the NFAA decided to let traditional shooters compete from the youth blocks. It did nothing to increase participation.

 

[Hank D Thoreau]

I came from primarily shooting FITA barebow. I had no delusions that shooting 90 meters with a barebow was a reasonable test of how good a shooter you are. It is a gimmick shot, beyond the normal range of many barebow shooters. I think you find the best shooters when you setup shots that are within the reasonable range of the equipment in use. Then you can make the shots harder. IBO can setup a difficult course without forcing folks to aim in the clouds. You can also do that with a field round. FITA does it. I do not see this as a kids stakes issue. I also do not see it as an issue of dumbing down the courses. Just set up hard shots inside the shootable range of the gear...And I will be going back to FITA target someday. Heck, with my long draw I have an advantage on the long shots and can outscore folks that are better shooters than I am. I need every advantage I can get.

 

[Hank D Thoreau]

A fair question is what would be a reasonable range of distances. I know that with FITA Field, barebow shoots out to 50 meters, instead of 60 for recurve and compound. I am not sure what the longbow distance is. It does not have to be 25 yards and in like IBO. It does not have to be from the kids stakes. 50 or 60 yards max would be a real test. Possibly a better test since more targets are in play. For field, that would be more interesting than really short courses since it would be hard to modify courses to make them hard enough.

 

[Grantmac]

Thanks for the post Hank. After reading the first part of this, I took my Dryad Orion out back and, at 14m, fired some good groups. It made me happy because this is my hunting bow and I also enjoy it for 3D. The long shots on our course are maybe 40m.
Not that I will ever shoot an NFAA event, but it made me wonder if our own national events in Canada have those restrictions on long bow. I won a berth at the Canadian Nationals (obviously not a lot of serious competition came out to our qualifying meet) but could not make it because of prior commitments. Now I am kind of relieved. How crappy it would have been to arrive all ignorant and have to shoot under rules like that. Thanks for the heads up.

Only 1 piece bows allowed in LB in Canada.

-Grant

 

[Greysides]

A fair question is what would be a reasonable range of distances. I know that with FITA Field, barebow shoots out to 50 meters, instead of 60 for recurve and compound. I am not sure what the longbow distance is.

Locally, longbow (ELB) would shoot from yellow pegs with a marked max. of 40m. At a shoot up north this weekend there were no yellow pegs so they shot from the blue barebow pegs (50m max).