A twelve target course must have three targets of each of the four different sizes with shooting pegs set out in accordance with the following table. It is useful to remember the details of this table when shooting an unmarked course as an aid to estimating the distance to be shot. Recurve and compound shoot from the red peg; longbow and bare bow shoot from the blue peg; juniors and beginners shoot from the white peg.
NOTES ON FIELD ARCHERY
1. Safety & clothing
Most field archery courses are situated in the countryside away from services and there is a danger of injury through slipping in mud, uneven ground or over steep edges.
Usual advice about wearing suitable clothing applies – wear several layers of clothing finishing with a waterproof layer. Wear boots (with crampons if you have them). You will need a small backpack to carry discarded layers of clothing and food/water. You might wish to carry some first aid and tools for repairing your bow.
2. Setting up your bow for field archery:
You will not need to adjust your basic shooting technique when shooting on the level as the distances will be what you have already become used to. The distances range between 5 and 60 metres. However you will sometimes be shooting marked distances and sometimes unmarked (ie you are not told what the distance is). You will need to have eleven sight marks for those using sights.
3. Shooting up and down hills
When shooting up and down hills you will need to bend at your waist. Don’t raise or lower your bow arm. Your arrow will appear to slow down going uphill and appear to speed up going down – so you will need to take this into account when estimating your aiming point.
When shooting across the side of a slope there is a tendency to let your bow drift down the hill on release; you therefore need to aim very slightly towards the uphill side of the centre of the target.
4. Estimating distances:
This is a key skill that you will need to develop to become a successful field archer.
One way of estimating relies on your experience of shooting short indoor distances and the shorter outdoor distances. The maximum field archery distance is 6o metres.
The starting point is to know the range of distances that relate to each size of target [see table below]. For example, for a recurve archer shooting from the red peg on an unmarked course at a 60cm target face the distance will be between 20 and 35 metres. Ask yourself – is this distance about the same when shooting Portsmouth round indoors? if so, set your sights at your 20 metre sight mark. If it appears further, is it as far as the 30 metres shot for a Frostbite round – set your sight accordingly.
Remember:
- a 60cm face @ 20m may look the same size as an 80cm face @ 55metres. Which is it?
- shooting in woodland with patches of bright light and shadows often leads the field archer to over-estimate the distance and the arrow shoots over the top of the target;
- you may need to adjust your sight when shooting up or downhill to compensate for “gravity” [see section 3 above];
- you may find it difficult to estimate when shooting over “dead ground”eg a pond or dip in the ground.
5. Rounds shot in field archery:
Most rounds consist of 12, 24 or 36 targets which will consist of an equal number of the four different face sizes. The faces are usually put on targets appropriate to the size of the face.
APPEARANCE & SCORE ZONES
The targets are a black roundel with a yellow centre. Scoring is 6 for an inner gold and then 5 for outer gold,4,3,2,1 points.
TARGET SIZES
The four sizes are:
i. 80cm – a single face on the boss
ii. 60cm – a single face on the boss (sometimes 2 placed side by side in competitions)
iii. 40cm – usually presented as 4 roundels, 2 above the other 2
iv. 20cm -presented as 4 columns in 3 rows – called “bunnies”.
6. Warming up zone
During warm-up, the area being used is under the control of a judge or competent archer. It is recommended that shooting periods of five minutes be allowed and then a sound signal is given for the archers to approach and clear the targets.
Please be extra careful during the warm up session and never assume that everyone has stopped shooting as soon as the whistle has gone.
7. Shooting a round and scoring:
Archers form groups of between 3 and 6 archers. They move from one target to another as a group. Different bowforms shoot together. Each group starts from a different target.
You shoot from a coloured peg set in the ground. Red for Recurve and Compound. Blue for Barebow and Longbow. White for juniors (with some exceptions).
When shooting you must have your front foot behind the peg.
When there is more than one face on the boss you will be allocated to a particular roundel or column of 3 bunnies. These alternate during the shoot. Ask the target captain of your group if you are not sure. If you shoot the wrong roundel you lose that score.
Some rounds are at marked distances, so you can set your sight to that distance. Other rounds are unmarked so you don’t know what distance the boss has been set at. However, there are rules about how far the distances may be for each size of target.
Every archer has two score cards, and two members of the shooting group are entrusted with keeping one score card for each member of the group. They should check the score recorded each time before the arrows are drawn from the target.
When looking for lost arrows behind the target always make sure that one member of your group remains in front of the target. Never rely on just leaving a bow in front of the target as used to be common practice.
8. Layout of the course
The course designer will ensure that:
– the shooting pegs are a safe distance from the previous target;
– that you will not have to walk behind another target to get to your next target;
– you have a clear shot from the pegs, with no overhanging branches or bushes in your direct sight of the target.
The designer will try to deceive you as to the distance by making you shoot over dead ground eg a hollow or a pond. However, the distances must comply with rule 507, Rules of Shooting.
The course will include some uphill shots, some downhill and some on the flat. One of the most difficult shots is a target across sloping ground. The targets will be set at right angles to the line of sight.
RULES OF SHOOTING [extracts]
PART 5
FIELD ARCHERY
500. General
(a) Classes. There may be separate classes for Ladies, Gentlemen, Junior Ladies and Junior Gentlemen.
(b) Juniors
(i) Junior archers are those under 18 years of age. They are placed in the following categories or age groups according to their age on the (last) day of the tournament:
a. Juniors under 18
b. Juniors under 15
c. Juniors under 12
(ii) There is nothing to prevent a junior choosing to shoot in a higher age group than his age
would warrant provided that he complies with the rules appertaining to that group.
(c) Prizes and Awards. The allocation of any separate prize, medal, trophy or other award shall be a matter for each individual Tournament Organiser. Classification, or other distinction shall remain
the sole prerogative of Archery GB.
501. Course layout
(a) Courses should be laid out in such a way as to provide safety, maximum interest and variety. Targets shall be arranged along a course with such difficulties in aiming and shooting as the terrain presents and the spirit and traditions of the discipline require. Direction indicators should be placed as necessary to ensure safety.
(b) Suitable barriers shall be placed around the course, wherever necessary, to keep spectators at a safe distance. Only those persons having obtained permission shall be allowed on the course inside the barriers.
(c) All targets shall be numbered in succession and the number board, which can be used as a stop peg, placed within the approach to the shooting post for that target.
(d) At targets for all Stamp rounds there shall be sufficient area for two competitors to stand side by side and able to shoot at the same time.
(e) Crossbow targets shall be fixed below skyline.
(f) The butts shall provide for a margin of at least 5cm outside the lowest scoring zone(s) of the face(s) placed upon them. At no point may any target face be less than 15cm from the ground. In all instances, regardless of the terrain, the butt should be placed reasonably perpendicular to the competitors’ line of sight from the shooting post in order to present to the competitor the target face(s) full size as much as is practically possible.
(g) Faces shall not be placed over any larger face, nor shall there be any marks on the buttress or foreground that could be used as points ofaim.
502. Bowstyles The description of bowstyles is given in Part 2. Bowstyles recognised for Field Archery and additional detail are as follows:
(a) Recurve (Freestyle) – Equipment as defined in Rule 202
(b) Recurve Barebow – Equipment as defined in Rule 204 with the following limitation:
(i) The unbraced bow complete with accessories must be capable of passing through a hole or ring of 12.2cm inside diameter ± 0.5mm. (c) Recurve Traditional – Equipment as defined in Rule 205.
(d) Longbow – Equipment generally as defined in Rule 206 with the following limitations:
(i)The bow must be bare therefore marks on bow limbs and rubber bands are not allowed, neither is a “kisser” allowed on the string.
(ii) Artificial ground markers are notallowed.
(iii) Archers must adhere to one anchor point and to one finger- position on the string throughout a tournament.
(e) Compound Unlimited – Equipment as defined Rule 207 with the following limitation: (i) Multi-pinsightsareallowedonmarkedcoursesonly
(f) Compound Limited – Equipment as defined in Rule 208
(g) Compound Barebow – Equipment as defined in Rule 209
(h) Crossbow – Equipment as defined in Rule210.
(j) American Flatbow – Equipment as defined Rule 206A with the following limitation:
(i) The bow must be shot using the “Mediterranean” loose (one finger above the arrow nock) or fingers directly below the arrow nock (index finger no more than 2 mm below nock), with one fixed anchor point. The archer must choose either Mediterranean or fingers under nock, but may not use both.
(k) Items Not Permitted. In all the above styles (a) to (j) inclusive, the following are not permitted:
(i) Any electronic communication or storage device or headsets on the field course.
(ii) Field glasses and other visual aids with scales on the lenses or which incorporate any other means for evaluating distances.
(iii) Rangefinders or any other means of estimating distances or angles that are not covered by the current rules regarding competitors’ equipment.
(iv) Modification to a competitor’s equipment to aid the estimation of distance, or the explicit use of any regular piece of equipment for that purpose.
(v) Any written memoranda apart from notes concerning the competitors’ normal sight marks, the recording of the present personal scores or the Rules.
(l) Clarification For the avoidance of doubt, the use of binoculars and other visual aids is permitted in all Archery GB field rounds, providing they give no aid to measuring distance.
503. Judging
(a) (i) At all times, whenever shooting takes place, it must be under the control of a Field Captain.
(ii) At larger meetings, the Field Captain shall be a Judge recognised by the Archery GB judging organisation. The grade of judge required for each level of tournament is given at Appendix B.
(iii) For the purposes of these Rules, the term Judge shall embrace both Judge and Field Captain unless the context indicates otherwise.
(iv) Where more than one judge is appointed, one shall be the Chairman in charge of the event.
(b) The duties of the Chairman and other Judges shall be:
(i) To ensure that adequate safety precautions have been observed in the layout of the course and warm-up area.
(ii) Before shooting commences, to satisfy by inspection that all the archers’ equipment conforms to Archery GB rules and the archers’ given style. If applicable a judge, being satisfied that the archers’ equipment conforms to the style written on the score cards, will sign to that effect on the front of the score cards.
(iii) To address the assembled competitors before the shoot commences about safety precautions and any other appropriate matter, including the method of starting the event, the starting points of each group, etc.
(iv) To ensure that all competitors are conversant with the rules of the competition and the method of scoring.
(v) To resolve disputes or queries that may arise in interpretation of the rules or other matters.
504. Shooting
(a) During warm-up, the area being used shall be under the control of a judge or competent archer. It is recommended that shooting periods of five minutes be allowed and a then sound signal given for the archers to approach and clear thetargets.
(b) In competition, each shooting group shall consist of not more than 6 and no fewer than 3 archers, Number 1 of each shooting group on the target list will be Target Captain.
(c) The Target Captain shall be responsible for the orderly conduct of shooting within the group, and have the general responsibility for scoring the arrows. In the case of a dispute, a Judge shall make the final decision.
(d) Groups shall be assigned to start simultaneously from various targets and will complete the round at the target previous to the one at which they started. Additional groups assigned to a target shall wait until the primary group on that target has shot and scored their arrows before proceeding.
(e) Competitors in a group may allow other groups to shoot through, provided the Organizers and/or the Judges are notified about the change at the first opportunity.
(f) Archers waiting their turn to shoot shall stand well back behind the archers who are shooting, preferably at the number board.
(g) Shooting Position.
(i) All Stamp Rounds. Each competitors shall position himself, whether standing or kneeling,as close to as practically possible behind the shooting line (this being an imaginary line drawn through the shooting post parallel to the target), taking into consideration the condition of the terrain and without compromising safety.
(ii) All Other Rounds. The archer’s more forward foot must be in contact with and behind the shooting post while shooting.
(h) If an arrow is observed to rebound from, or is believed to have passed through the target face, a Judge shall check it, and if it appears that the arrow has rebounded or passed through then another arrow may be shot at that face from the same position from which the bouncing or passing through arrow wasshot.
(j) An arrow shall be deemed not to have been shot if:
(i) The arrow has not rebounded and the archer can touch it with his bow without moving his feet from their position in relation to the shooting line. In this event another arrow may be shot.
(ii) The target face or buttress falls over (in spite of having been fixed to the satisfaction of the Judges). The Judges will take whatever measure they deem necessary and compensate adequate time for shooting the relevant number of arrows. If the buttress only slides down it will be left to the Judges to decide what action to take, if any.
(k) Timing.
(i) When a competitor or a group is causing undue delay the Judge will warn the competitor or group after which they may be timed. (ii) For all rounds, whether marked or unmarked distances the timing begins when the archer takes his shooting position, which he shall do as soon as it becomes available. The archer is allowed 11⁄2 minutes per arrow.
(iii) A Judge, having observed an archer exceed the time limit, shall caution him by a signed note on the score card, indicating the time of the warning. At the second and subsequent warnings, during that tournament, the archer’s highest scoring arrow at the target where the warning is given, shall be annulled.
(l) In case of equipment failure the order of shooting may be changed temporarily. In any event no more than 30 minutes shall be allowed to repair any equipment failure. The other competitors in that group shall shoot and score their arrows before allowing any following groups to shoot through. If the repair is completed within the time limit the competitor in question may make up any arrows remaining to be shot on that target. If the repair is completed later the competitor may rejoin his group but will lose the arrows his group has shot in the meantime.
(m) No person shall relate to competing archers the target distances on unmarked courses during the tournament.
(n) Although there are no specific dress regulations in field archery, all competitors, field party and officials should wear bright visible colours. Footwear that fully encloses the toes and front of the foot must be worn at all times when shooting.
(o) Shooting Safety. Whilst scoring and looking for missing arrows, one member of the shooting group must stay in front of the butt to warn other archers that the area is occupied.
505. Scoring
(a) Two of each shooting group shall be scorers. Each shall be supplied with a separate set of score
cards for the group. The duties of the scorers shall be as follows:
(i) To write down the scores of each competitor in the group.
(ii) To compare the two score cards before the arrows are drawn. (iii) To complete the score card at the end ofshooting.
(iv) To ensure that the score cards are returned without delay to the Organisers.
(b) A mistake on a score card may be corrected before the arrows are drawn, provided all archers in the group agree to the correction. The correction shall be witnessed and initialled by all archers and shown to a judge at the first opportunity. The judge shall initial the archers’ action.
(c) At the end of the shoot the score cards shall be signed by the scorer and by the archer as an acceptance of the final score.
(d) Should the two cards not agree, then the lower score shall be taken as the result.
(e) Neither the arrows nor the target face shall be touched until all arrows on that target have been recorded and scores checked.
(f) (i) An arrow shall be scored according to the position of the shaft on the face. Should the shaft of an arrow touch two zones or a dividing line between scoring zones, that arrow shall score the higher value of the zones affected.
(ii) A miss is to be recorded as a letter M.
(g) If more than the prescribed number of arrows belonging to the same competitor should be found in the target or on the ground of the shooting lanes, only the appropriate number of arrows of lowest value shall be scored. Should a competitor be found to repeat this he may be disqualified.
(h) Should a fragment of a target face be missing, including a dividing line or where two colors meet, or if the dividing line is displaced by an arrow, then an imaginary line shall be used for judging the value of any arrow that may hit such apart.
(j) Arrows embedded in the buttress and not showing on the face can only be scored by a Judge.
(k) An arrow hitting:
(i) Another arrow in the nock and remaining embedded therein shall score according to the value of the arrow struck.
(ii) Another arrow, and then hitting the target face after deflection, shall score as it lies in the target.
(iii) Another arrow, and then rebounding shall score the value of the arrow struck, provided the damaged arrow can be identified.
(iv) A target face other than the competitor’s own target face shall be considered as part of that end and shall score as a miss.
(l) In the event of a tie in score, the result will be determined in the following order:
- Greatest number of scoring hits.
- Greatest number of highest scoring zone hits.
- After this the archers still tying shall be declared equal.