Archery in Salisbury since 1859

Field Archery

Field Archery involves shooting at targets set out along a course, normally in the woods.  The targets are predominantly of animals and can be either 'faces' (pictures) or 3-D model animals. Courses will normally have either 20, 36 or 40 targets.  One of the main draws of field archery is that the distances are not set - you have to judge them for yourself! For more detailed information on field archery you can go to the National Field Archery Society (NFAS) website or the English Field Archery Association (EFAA) website. You can also watch a video put together by Toad Hollow Archers on YouTube by clicking on this link: Field Archery Compilation to get a feel for what it is like.

Below are some examples of faces and 3-Ds:

 
Faces

 
3-Ds

The idea is to shoot at the target from a peg set at an unknown distance away from the target. If you miss the target you will then have to move forwards onto the next peg. If you fail to hit the target again, you then must shoot from a third peg closer to the target.  If you miss this time then you will not score (known as blanking a target). 

Styles:

There are many styles of shooting that are allowed under NFAS (National Field Archery Society) ruling.  The complete list of bow styles that can be used in NFAS competitions are:

For more information on the different styles visit the NFAS Website for more details.

Scoring:

On each 'face' target you will have a 'wound line' which outlines the animal and a 'kill zone' which is also marked out on the face.  With a 3-D target you will also have a 'kill zone'. 

The usual scoring system is as follows:

So you can see that with the scoring it is better to 'wound' an animal with your first arrow than it is to 'kill' it with your second. In some shoots a score of '24' can be awarded if an archer hits the smaller zone inside the 'kill zone'.  In other shoots there is a 'feathers and fur' rule which is when the arrow is outside a wound line but is touching the fur or feathers.

The Pegs:

(Recurve archer shooting from the white peg)

In front of each target will usually be five pegs laid out in the following order:

1) Wasp Peg   2) Red Peg   3) White Peg   4) Blue Peg   5) Yellow peg

A compound limited/unlimited archer will shoot off the wasp peg first followed by the red and white.  All other bow styles will start from the red peg followed by the blue and white.  Juniors and Cubs will shoot off the blue and yellow pegs.

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