by Darmon Richter

Created on: May 26, 2009

Although archery was originally developed as a weapon for hunting and warfare, today it is more commonly practiced for sport. Long after the invention of firearms rendered archery obsolete in warfare, it survives still, and manages to maintain a large degree of popularity.

Archery involves a large amount of skill, and even the smallest differences in technique can have a marked result on the accuracy of an arrow. For this reason it has thrived as a sport, posing a true test of the competitor's skill and precision.

Whereas traditional archery equipment was made by specialised craftsmen, since the early 20th Century mechanics and engineers have started taking an interest in the sport, leading to some drastic new developments in bow design; only helping to raise the sporting appeal of archery.

Modern sporting archery takes two main forms, 'target' or 'field'. Each has its own set of targets, rules and scoring systems.

Target archery is the more standard practice, and is the form of archery that features at the Olympics. The sport has its own governing body, the International Archery Federation, or FITA (Fdration Internationale de Tir l'Arc).

In target archery, archers take it in turns to shoot three or six arrows within a set time limit, after which they walk to the target to score, and collect their arrows. Targets are marked with a series of ten concentric rings, which are worth more points the closer they are to the centre. In indoors competitions targets are usually placed in the region of 20m from the archer. Outdoors competitions generally use larger targets, and these can be anywhere up to 90m away.

The other form that modern archery can take is known as field archery. This style more closely emulates hunting situations, with targets placed at varying distances from the archer in a realistic outdoor setting. It can be hard work at times, requiring archers to spend far more time walking across rough terrain than they would in target archery.

Field archery is governed by the International Field Archery Association (IFAA), and a competition is divided into rounds consisting of two sets of fourteen targets each. Field archery is more varied than target archery, with competitions often taking place across rough terrain. Rounds take different forms, such as the 'hunter', 'animal' or 'field' style, each with their own specific set of rules.

In Hunter the targets vary in distances up to 60m from the archer, using a simple black design with a white bullseye.

Animal rounds

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