Bows And Arrows For Good Or Evil

Bows and arrows may have been the weapons of choice in the medieval times, but today they are used mostly for sporting activities like archery. The level of skills of archery today may not quite mean a matter of life and death, but it sure helps to get equipment that can shoot the arrow straight and far. The level of craftsmanship employed in designing bows and arrows is all meant to make the sport more enjoyable for those who engage in it (toxophilites). If you add to them the other accessories, that are too many to be mentioned, you end up feeling like a those heroic men of olden times who fought real combat wars.

Archers of today receive almost the same kind of recognition for their skills, and are even known the world over. In Australia, with its diversity and size, there are places where hunting with bows and arrows is legal. Here, in some cases, it may mean a matter of life and death, and so a more serious level of mastery is essential.

Luckily enough, there are stores that stock these bows and arrows for any kind of shooting activity of your choice.

Just like there is a lot that goes into designing these bows and arrows, you also need to know a lot about your own body to be able to handle them well.

The first thing is your arm span. You need to know the exact length, in inches, because this determines the draw length, which is calculated as a quarter of the arm span length.

Secondly, the weight of the bow depends on the weight of the person using it. There are bows and arrows for every single person; young and old, male and female, built and slender, and any other comparison there may be.

So, what is the next thing to look at after knowing yourself?

We do appreciate the strides made in the designs of bows, where mechanisms such as strings on pulleys and cams are included. The 'effort-less' mechanism goes to help the archers' aim and accuracy, which is a good thing. These are generally referred to as compound bows.

Going to the extreme of archery, as far as hunting goes, there are also other items that are available. A ghillie/yowie suit can be fun to wear even if you are not in the army. In the cover of the bushes, it can help keep the target standstill while you aim and shoot.

This may be too-big-a-step for kids, so some stores include the normal bows and arrows, with slight variations in design, but still simple.

Long bows are, sort of, the old-style bows for grown-ups, with lighter fiberglass limbs and a stronger string making them ideal for today's archers.

Archery and bow-and-arrow hunting represent two activities that are not quite the same, but employ the same tactics. In hunting, the target may be a moving one, and in archery the only challenge seems to be to hit the bull's eye. So, in making the choice of which design to go for, talk to the experts- they know better.


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Helen Cridland is an expert in all things archery. Visit http://www.combataustralia.com.au/compound-bow/ for more insights about Compound Bows.