What is “Field Archery”?

When most people think of archery they probably imagine a group of uniformed archers standing in a line, shooting arrows together at round targets with multi-coloured concentric circles on them, and which takes place on an immaculately mown stretch of grass. This is Target Archery, which can trace its origins back to the English Medieval requirement for all men and boys over a certain age to spend their Sunday afternoons on the village green, practising with bows and arrows in preparation for war.

Field Archery has much more ancient origins, where arrows were used in hunting game for food. The modern sport seeks to reproduce that experience as closely as possible but without the use of live animals as targets. In the UK it is illegal to hunt and kill animals with a bow and arrow, so in Field Archery two different types of target are usually used instead; either pictures of animals on paper (known as ‘2Ds’ or paper faces), or rubber compound realistically-coloured models (‘3Ds’).

Targets

A typical 3D target:

The number of targets in a field archery shoot can vary but is usually 36 or 40, shot in a single round. If the club’s “Shooting Ground” is not very big, the number of targets may be 18 or 20, which are then shot twice in two rounds to make up the full 36 or 40 target shoot. A continuous route is planned through woodland, fields, moors or mountainside on the club’s “Shooting Ground” and the targets are spaced around the route to form a course.

The example below has a trefoil arrangement which takes the archer past the tea tent three times:

Targets are placed so as to make the challenge of shooting at them as realistic as possible. They may be partially hidden behind trees, bushes or grass, and are often placed in shade. Some shots may be on the flat, while others may require the archer to shoot up- or down-hill. If the club is lucky enough to have a pond, lake or river in their grounds then this is often used to provide a really challenging shot.

Each target is numbered and shot at from coloured or marked pegs. The distances of the target from the pegs is unknown to the archer thus testing their skill at judging distances, something which an ancient hunter would have had to be good at if his family were not to go hungry.

Shooting and Scoring

Archers shoot the course in groups of up to six, each group starting the course at a different target and working their way around the course in numerical order. Each archer is allowed to shoot up to three arrows at each target in an attempt to hit it and score points, with each arrow being shot from a different peg. The first peg is usually, but not always, the furthest from the target (this being the most challenging shot), with the remaining pegs placed at increasingly closer distances. The pegs in order are “Red”, “White”, “Blue”, “Yellow” and “Orange”. A further peg, “Silver” or “Wasp”, may be used as the first peg for archers shooting bows with sights. If the distance to the target is very short then some or all of the pegs may be grouped together.

The sequence of pegs used by an archer will depend on either the style of bow that they are using or their age. For example, an adult archer using a compound bow with all the trimmings may shoot from the “Silver”, “Red” and “White” pegs while an adult archer using a longbow will shoot from the “Red”, “White” and “Blue” pegs. The youngest archers, those less than nine years old, no matter what their bowstyle, will shoot all of their arrows from the “Orange” peg.

If the archer hits the target with their first arrow shot from their first peg then their “go” is finished. If they miss they then shoot their second arrow from the second peg. If that then hits the target, their “go” is then over but if it also misses the target, they then shoot their final arrow from the third peg.

Each target has three scoring zones: the “Inner Kill”, the “Kill” and the “Wound”. The “Wound” area is usually all of the animal outside the “Kill” area, though horns, hooves and bases count as misses! – see the picture below. The “Inner Kill” and “Kill” are marked on 2Ds by a black line and on 3Ds by an engraved line.

There are different methods of scoring but the one used by KLFA (and many other clubs that are part of the National Field Archery Society (NFAS)) is known as “Big Game Hunting”, which scores as follows:

if the first arrow shot hits the target;

• hitting the “Inner Kill” scores 24 points
• hitting the “Kill” scores 20 points
• hitting the “Wound” area scores 16 points.

If the second arrow has to be shot;

• hitting anywhere inside the “Kill” scores 14 points (no additional points are scored for hitting the “Inner Kill” with the second arrow)
• hitting the “Wound” area scores 10 points.

If it comes down to shooting the third arrow;

• hitting anywhere inside the “Kill” scores 8 points (again, there are no extra points for hitting the “Inner Kill” with the third arrow)
• hitting the “Wound” scores 4 points.

Notice that the “Inner Kill” is only counted as an additional scoring area for the first arrow.

See if you can work out how many points this arrow scores if it was a) the first, b) the second and c) the third arrow shot*:

When the whole group has finished shooting a target they record their scores, retrieve their arrows and move on to the next one. When all the targets have been shot the scores are totalled. In a competition, prizes, usually medals or sometimes a trophy, are awarded to the highest-scoring archers.

Different Categories

Under NFAS Rules there are thirteen different bow-styles that can be shot by six different categories of archer depending on their gender and age. That makes a total of 78 different categories which, depending on the number of archers on the day, may have awards for first, second and third places, though it is very rare for any club to have to give out all 234 medals!

The thirteen bowstyles are:

• American Flatbow (AFB).
• Barebow (BB).
• Bowhunter (BH).
• Compound Limited (CL).
• Crossbow (XB).
• Freestyle (FS).
• Hunting Tackle (HT).
• Longbow (LB).
• Primitive (PV).
• Traditional Bowhunter (TB)
• Thumb Draw (TD)
• Traditional Crossbow (TXB)
• Unlimited (UL).

Full details about the equipment used for each of these bow-styles can be found on the NFAS website under “Rules”. A summary chart can also be found here.

The six age/gender categories are: Gents, Ladies, Junior Boys, Junior Girls, Cub Boys and Cub Girls.

The peg sequences used are:

• Adults (16 and over): Red, White, Blue (unless the rules for the type of bow used specifies Silver/Wasp, Red, White)
• Juniors (14/15): White, Blue, Blue.
• Juniors (12/13): Blue, Yellow, Yellow.
• Cubs (under 12): Yellow, Yellow, Yellow.
• Cubs (under 9): Orange, Orange, Orange.

Challenge Yourself

There are three main forms of competition shoots. The first, the “Club Shoot”, is organised for the benefit of the members of a particular Field Archery club. The second is the “Open Shoot”, where a club lays on a shoot for visiting archers from other clubs. For Open Shoots the host club charges visitors a shoot fee to take part and refreshments are usually available, taken at tea stops indicated during the course of the shoot. There is invariably a raffle as well for the chance to win additional prizes!

Open Shoots are a great opportunity for archers from different clubs to meet, chat, shoot together and generally have a fun day out. Many archers find that shooting in such a social environment is far more rewarding than simply winning a medal.

Going one step further, one of the best experiences you can have as a field archer is taking part in the third type of competition shoot – a National competition! The NFAS has two National competitions each year; the 3D Nationals (exclusively 3D targets) in May, and the National Championships (a mix of 2Ds and 3Ds) in September. Each championship attracts up to 600 archers, shooting over two days in beautiful and exclusive woodland – what’s not to like?!

*a) 24, b) 14, c) 8