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Shooting games articles.

7K views 41 replies 19 participants last post by  Stagmitis 
#1 ·
I want to put together a series of informative articles on shooting games and would like to ask if there are any volunteers to help pen some articles on:

3D
Field archery
Indoor 300 rounds
Archery Golf
* anything else that is pertinent
 
#7 ·
Oh man good idea. ya got to get an article on the fine sport of roving. there is so much fun to be had. playing horse, betting quarters on lagging arrows at a stump 150 yds away, shooting kick targets, etc.

I bet some talent wordsmith could write a humorous, informative arictle on roving archery.

rusty
 
#12 ·
Ever heard of archery washers? We play every evening after a hunt. Place an old trash arrow in a target and each player shoots 3 arrows at the target arrow. The rules are just like playing washers: Closest arrow gets a point with a maximum of 3pts, shaft touching the target arrow=2pts (like a leaner in washers), broken nock on the target arrow=3pts, hooded target arrow=5pts. Each player rotates going first. This is where the real fun starts because the second, third, or fourth players have a chance to bust up the other players arrows:) and while the score is kept, jacking up someonelse's arrow(s) is where the real fun begins. We typically shoot from 15-18yds.
 
#14 ·
well ill start, probably coverd and everyone knows it. but whatever. start this off with the 300 round.

the 300 round is shot at 20 yards using a 40 cm single spot target. The round consists of 12 ends of 5 arrows. The scoring rings are 5(in the white, with X's counted), 4,3,2,1. Best possible score is 300-60X.
 
#15 ·
Clout - The Ancient and Honorable Form of Archery

Clout is an archery game that harkens back to the days of England's glory in the 100 Years War and the significant role played in that conflict by the English longbowmen. Clout in its present form is a distance shooting game. The target consists of a series of five (5) concentric circles on the ground spaced 1.5 meters apart for a total outside diameter of 15 meters. In the center of the innermost circle is a short flag, usually yellow in color which is the clout. Archers stand off at varying distances and shoot for the center of the target. The shooting distances are as follows: compound - 180 meters/198yrds, men's recurve/longbow - 165 meters/181 yards, women's recurve/longbow - 125 meters/138 yards. The total round consists of 36 arrows shot in ends of either 3 or 6. Scoring is 5,4,3,2,1 from innermost to the outer of the five concentric circles. In most cases, rather than actually painting the circles on the ground, a scoring chain or rope is used, one end of which is affixed to the clout. The chain/rope is marked off in 1.5 meter increments and after each end it is walked around the clout in a circle. Each increment of the chain/rope has an archer assigned to it, whose responsibility it is to collect any arrows falling within his/her section. The arrows are scored from where the point enters the ground. All arrows falling outside the diameter subscribed by the chain/rope are scored zero. After all the arrows within the scoring zones are collected they are then laid on the extended rope within their scoring zones and each archer takes his/her turn walking down the rope and calling out the numbers for each of his/her arrows, while a scribe writes down the scores. It is an extremely social form of archery as all archers shoot at the same time and all are present to observe each other's scoring, which leads to lots of kibitzing and joking. Much of the difficulty in clout arises from the fact that at the distances required it is difficult if not impossible to determine from the shooting line whether your arrows are landing in front of or behind the clout. It's not until you actually walk down to score the arrows that you can really tell where they landed. Also, given the distances shot it requires an extremely high trajectory to make the distance. This in turn leads to a lot of wind interference given the time the arrow is in flight and the fact that at several hundred feet in the air the wind currents can be completely different from those at ground level. The only place I know of where Clout is regularly shot in the United States is at the NAA Outdoor Nationals, where it is a required portion of the Traditional National Tournament and optional for U.S. Open Tournament. My experience all comes from the Traditional National Tournament where I have shot it several times, always with a longbow and wood arrows. My advice is to have tiny fletchings on your arrows and be shooting as much weight as you can possibly manage. I shot a hybrid reflex/deflex longbow in the 50# range and was comfortable making the distance. There were others shooting 45#, that depending upon the wind conditions, had difficulty making the distance at times. There were several who also were shooting all wood, English Longbows, and they had trimmed their fletchings to about 1/4" in height to reduce drag and enable them to make the distance. It is truly fascinating to shoot at such distances and watch the flight characteristics of the arrows. You are typically aiming at about 39-45 degrees, which many accomplish by placing an "O" ring around their lower limb and adjusting it upward or downward to sight off. When battling a cross wind or head wind, the question then becomes, do you reduce trajectory or increase trajectory, as either may have the desired affect. The arrows, rather than flying smoothly to their target, rather seem to accelerate to a given point in the air and then suddenly they seem to pause just before noseing over and falling back to the earth. If you ever get an opportunity to shoot Clout by all means do it. There's a certain childish simplicity and joy in just launching an arrow and watching it take flight toward an object impossibly far away. Once having done it you'll be hooked for life. Oh, by the way, the NAA record for Men's Modern longbow is 156, shot by former Olympian Glenn Myers in 2001, and for English Longbow it is 87 shot by Brian Luke in 2001. My best score in Modern longbow is 94.
 
#16 ·
we shoot plastic golf balls, the practice ones that look like a whiffle ball. Tie the golf ball on a bamboo barbecue skewer with copper florist wire. Hang two balls on the target bale about one foot apart. We shoot from eighteen yards.
To score a point, the arrow must STICK in the ball. Sometimes you will make a dead center hit, drive the golf ball back into the hay bale, but the arrow bounces out. You don't get a point. Other times the ball with the arrow stuck in it will fall to the ground, you get a point.
We take turns shooting four arrows at each ball, so eight arrows per end.
First player to go ahead by four hits wins!
The wire, bbq skewers and plastic golf balls all come from Walmart and cost less than five dollars total.

That's the game we have played for YEARS
 
#17 ·
NFAA Field archery has it's roots in the "roving" of the 16th century and what many today call stump shooting. It was developed in California in the post WWII years and the National Field Archery Association started in 1947. It's founders were hunting archers who wanted a more orginized way of practicing and compeating.

A full field round is 28 targets, while the more common layout of 14 targets is referred to as a "unit". Many courses limited by size to 14 targets just repeat the original 14 to make a 28 target round. Targets (except animal targets) are 20cm, 35cm, 50cm and 65cm and are varied according to distance, i.e. small targets at the closest distances and large at the longest. The two round target types are both scored 5, 4 & 3. This is the new scoring system adopted in 1977 and prompted by the growing popularity of the compound bow. Prior to that the scoring was simply 5 & 3, with the small dot in the middle used only as an aiming point. It is now the 5-ring and what was the rest of the 5-ring has become the 4-ring. Animal targets are two dimentional pictures of animals marked with two scoring areas, a kill zone and the rest of the body. Legs, feet, ears, tails and antlers or horns are not scored. More on scoring the animal round later.

There are three different field rounds, all of them shot in state, regional and national championships. What is known as the Field Round is shot on the black, white and black targets. The Hunter Round uses a mostly black target with only the aiming point (the 5-ring) in contrasting white. Target sizes are the same for both Field and Hunter rounds although distances differ. Field and Hunter rounds call for four arrows to be shot at each target. The animal round differs in that three numbered arrows are used and the first "scoring" arrow is all that's needed. If, after three shots, no arrow has earned any points the target is scored as zero.

The Field round is always in 5 yard increments except for the smallest targets (20cm) which are shot at 20, 25, 30 & 35 feet. The longest shot in the Field round is 80 yards and it is part of what's called a "walk-up" target. Walk-ups have four shooting positions, moving progressively closer to the target and one arrow is shot from each. The Field round also has "fan" targets in which the shooting distance is the same but there are four shooting positions located in a fan shape, so each shot is from a different angle.

The Hunter round has targets at odd distances (not always multiples of 5) and has more varied shooting positions that the Field round. There are more walk-ups, including some with only two shooting positions. Two arrows are shot from the first, then two more from the second, closer marker. There are also more fan targets than on the Field round. The longest shot on the Hunter round is 70 yards, again part of a walk-up and the shortest is on the 20cm targets at 11 yards.

On the Animal round, the 3 arrows can be fired from one position or sometimes there will be three shooting positions making it a walk-up. The number one arrow is fired first. If it hits the "kill" zone it is worth 20 points. If it hits the "body" it is worth 18 points. If the first arrow is a miss the number two arrow is fired. A kill with #2 is worth 16 and a body is worth 14. If the number three arrow is needed a kill is worth 12 and a body hit is worth 10. Distances for the Animal round are mostly odd yardages the maximum range is 60 yards.

The possible for a 28 target round is 560 (280 if only 14 targets are shot). Maximum score for any target is 20 points. Recently, because of the extreme accuracy capable with compounds, an extra scoring spot has been added to the Animal round targets so 21 points/target are possible if the "spot" is hit.

In the 1960s and into the 1970s field archery was the most popular form of competitive archery practiced in the US. Nearly every town or community had a field archery range. Turn out for major tournaments was measured in the thousands. It was a family sport with husbands, wives, kids even grandparents all showing up to shoot on a weekend. Field archery was started by "traditional" recurve and longbow shooters, largely shooting without sights in the early days. When sights came along two basic classes were formed, barebow and freestyle. There was a handicap system so that people competed with those shooting similar scores.

In our modern era, what remains of Field archery has eight shooting styles, based on minor equipment variations. Some feel this proliferation of styles, making awards complicated and expensive, is what killed off field archery. Others think 3D is responsible for it's demise. What ever it was, field archery is no longer the popular sport it once was, although it is as great a game as ever.

Dave
 
#20 ·
dave, good job! in this area it died because to have a sanctioned shoot you had to have on hand more trophys than you could expect to have participants. that was about the time they started the "pro" division that included anybody that worked at an archery mfg. company etc.
this started in the late fifties and early sixties, and field archery was completely dead here before anyone had heard of 3d.
some of us diehards were taking the old animal targets and staking them to the ground on canyon walls in the sagebrush and having fun and competition that way.
 
#21 ·
Here's one on 3D I wrote. If anyone else would like to add anything, please do. I'll put together a nice writeup for our tradjournal on this once everything has been contributed and thanks to those of you who have already pitched in!

=========================

3D Archery

3D archery is the most popular shooting competition for bowhunters and is enjoyed widely by target shooters, as well. This sport started as a 2D target shoot with foam silhouettes of animals and scoring rings of 10 for a "kill" and "6" for a hit outside the kill zone. Ranges initially were out to 60 yards or more. This started in the early 80's.

3D, as we know it today started in the late 80's with the first All McKenzie 3D target shoot being held at Triangle Lakes in Middletown, Ohio, the birthplace of the IBO. Since then the sport has been refined and has spread overseas to become an international sport.

Today, there are two organizations that sponsor the major shoots. The ASA (Archery Shooters Association http://www.asaarchery.com/) and the IBO (International Bowhunting Organization http://www.ibo.net)

Most shoots, however, are what we have come to known as local or club shoots. These are usually sponsored by area archery clubs. They're an important source of revenue for the archery clubs and they offer a great resource to area archers who take advantage of them.

In many areas of the country, 3D shoots are held every weekend from March through August and some areas have shoots most weekends year round.

Shoots are set up so that there are many classes usually separated by age, sex and most importantly, equipment classifications. For traditional archers, there are usually 1 or 2 classes for traditional archers. Shoots are usually 30 targets set out around a course with two segments of 15 targets each. The trails are usually scenic and set in woodland settings. Shots may be up or down hills, between trees, across streams or fields and there are often some unique targets and target setups as a sort of signature shot for many clubs.

The targets are set at unmarked distances normally less than 35 yards with 18 to 25 yards being very common distances for traditional archers. There are usually a number of shooting stakes. The "high tech" classes have the stakes farthest from the target (out to 50 yards or so) and, of course, the traditional archers have much closer stakes. The distances are unmarked and the scoring rings may be difficult or impossible to see. You shoot the animal target for where the vitals rings would be from the stake provided. One foot must touch members of the shooting group may not discuss the distance to the target, keeping it fair for all. Judging the distance accurately is critical to shooting 3D well and it is just as critical for shooting live game. This is extremely good practice for bowhunters.

A

Groups in local shoots are usually impromptu gatherings of 3 to 5 individuals who head out together to shoot the course. It's easy to get into a group if you come alone and if it's your first shoot, you'll find the archers very helpful, inviting and accommodating.

All archers in a group take turns shooting at each target from the shooting stake and once all archers have shot, the group approaches the target to score the arrows and then pull them from the target. All Scoring MUST be done before any arrows are pulled. The scoring scheme for most shoots is 10-8-5. There is a very small ring, which may be considered an "x" or scored for 11. The circular ring the centers the heart lung area of a target is the 10 (the x-ring is within that ring). The 8-ring is a large and is designed to outline the full heart/lung/liver area of the vitals. It is usually not round and usually covers the area from the spine to the lower lung area. It covers roughly 2/3 of the target top to bottom and extends normally from about the middle of the front leg and encompasses most of the rib cage area.

When in doubt on deer type targets, shooting at the rear line of the front leg and 1/3 of the way up the target's torso will usually be in the 10-ring.

If you are not worried about a score and feel that a target is too far, too small or too hard for you to get a hit in the animal and you are worried about losing or breaking arrows, you can pass on the target. You aren't required to shoot each one, so don't feel compelled to take shots you feel would result in a lost or damaged arrow that you can't afford.

The cost of a shoot is usually $10.00 and they're usually held from around 7:00 am through 12:00 pm on Sunday mornings. If you are an experienced shooter and want to avoid lines or slow groups of compound shooters which can be rather meticulous and slow about their shooting and scoring, come very early or plan to shoot toward the very end of the shoot after most have finished the course. Either one will usually result in a quick trip around the targets for you.

Most shoots at clubs offer some sort of snacks or meals at the clubhouse for very reasonable prices. Some shoots are known for having very good food. J

These shoots are a great way to get out during the spring and summer to tune yourself and your bow for the coming fall season - or just because you enjoy the walking and shooting. These types of gatherings are a fantastic way to get to learn more about archery from equipment to techniques and is a good way to make new friends. These shoots are also great fun for kids and there are classes for the youngsters with targets set to help the youngsters achieve a happy level of success.
 
#22 ·
Beer can shoot:

We usually do this at the practice bales after a 3D shoot. We each throw a dollar in the pot. Put a can on the bale. We vary the distance each round. Everyone shoots 3 arrows a round. You have to have all 3 arrows in the can to win the pot. It usually takes a couple rounds for someone to win. On a winning round, the person with the worst flyer has to buy the drinks. So you really want to concentrate on not flinging any bad shots. The guy who shot well on the 3D course doesn't always come out on top when a little money and an audience is involved. It may sound stupid but this is actually a lot of fun. Some of the compound guys will come over and try a few rounds with our bows. They say they haven't shot a recurve in years and forgot how much fun (and frustrating) they can be.
 
#23 ·
We play a game using a golf tee. Place a white tee in a black block. Shows up real well. We each are allowed one arrow each. We begin shooting at 15 yds and the closest to the tee wins a point. We play to a score of 10,15, or 20 shooting 1 arrow at 15Yd moving back 1Yd after each round until you reach 30Yds and then if no winner is established, start over at 15Yds. The first shooter for each round establishes the angle and position for that round for all shooters. Like, far right, far left, kneeling one knee, both knees, squatting or any other type of position you can think of. The harder the better.

The scoring as is follows: Only one shooter scores per round. Closest to the tee 1 Pt, hit the tee 2 Pts. If more than one shooter touches the arrow, no point is scored. However, if a competitors arrow is within 1" or closer to the tee, his arrow can then become the target. If you slide your arrow in between his arrow and the tee touching his arrow, you get his 1Pt plus 1pt for touching his arrow. If his arrow is touching the tee, then the only way you can score is to hit his arrow. By hitting his arrow (the nock) you will score 3 pts and eliminate him from the competition providing you destroy his nock or break his arrow.

We use arrow blanks that we get from one of the archery stores that are seconds and build our own, they aren't pretty, but cheap. Otherwise this game could be a bit costly. But either way it improves your concentration in your shooting.

To begin the game you shoot 1 round and the closest to the tee is the first to shoot. No pt is scored for this, it only establishes who shoots first. As the game moves forward, the first shooter is always the one who scored the last Pt.

Pretty simple, but alot of fun and certainly inproves your skill level with a trad bow.
 
#24 ·
There is a game I call "A & B" that I use when I am instructing a group of beginning archers. I take target faces, usually 60cm FITA faces, but any target face can work. I then draw a straight line thru the center of the faces both horizontally and vertically, dividing the targets into quadrants. I then label the upper left and lower right quadrants "A" and the upper right and lower left quadrants "B". I then the split the archers into two groups, "A" and "B". The "A" shooters are then asssigned the task of putting all their arrows in the "A" quadrants, while the "B" shooters put all theirs in the "B" quadrants. For every arrow the shooters put in their assigned quadrants their team gets a point and for each arrow they put in the opponents' quadrant, the opponents get a point. I usually have them shoot 3 or 5 ends of three arrows each, which I score after each end and announce. The kids love it, because it relieves them of the individual pressure, but still retains a competitive element.
 
#25 ·
Here's one I had never heard of. It was posted on Archery Talk (traditional)

That cornstalk head is for a game played originally by the Cherokee people.
They would make a target of cornstalks tied in bundles and laying on the groundbetween pegs of wood. They then would go back to a certain distance and shoot arrows into the target, the one who skewers the most cornstalks wins! Hence the reason for such a long point, this game is still played at some primitive/traditional shoots. I forget the range at which they shot from, but it was long distance shooting.

 
#26 ·
This sport started as a 2D target shoot with foam silhouettes of animals and scoring rings of 10 for a "kill" and "6" for a hit outside the kill zone. Ranges initially were out to 60 yards or more. This started in the early 80's.
It may have started before then. We use to have broadhead tournaments and used the standard NFAA animal targets glued to carboard attached to stakes with a back stop of dirt several feet behind the target. We used the standard Animal Round scoring system. Each archer would shoot, retrieve his arrow from the dirt back stop, call out his score and place a piece of masking tape over the hole. I used bodkins. They were good line cutters.:shooting: ...Van

 
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