A Little History

New Bows Survival and Enjoyment

From long ago to the present

Archery has been a part of humans for hundreds if not thousands of years. Most of us are familiar with the tales of Robin Hood and his expert abilities with the English Long Bow. Many of you may remember the leagues of Roman archers launching simultaneous volleys of arrows at an approaching enemy. The long bow is still with us, although in a much wider variety of materials than English Oak. The Turkish warriors of ancient Asia used a stout short bow with forward curved limbs called a "Yag." The short bow was a lot easier to handle on horseback or in the woods. This style led modern man to design the Recurve Bow, a style that improved the ability to balance the limb pull (the amount of pull from each limb on the string) on the on the bowstring. A balanced pull on the arrow helps to propel the arrow from the bow more accurately and in turn improves the shooters accuracy. The modern Recurve bows are quite balanced, because they use laminated materials and can control the strength of the bow limbs.

Some great new bows

In recent years, the invention of the Compound Bow greatly increased the speeds of arrows and the need for new materials to support the required rigidity and remain lightweight. With Compound bows shooting arrows at around 250fps (feet per second) up to 350fps, about 200fps faster than traditional bows, archery hunters have gained a much bigger advantage on their game. This is very good when your hunting something like a bear. The increased speed from the compound bows has taken a lot of the arc out of the arrow flight, allowing improved accuracy at longer distances, say 80 yards.

From survival to enjoyment

While archery of old was almost entirely used for survival, there was some competition on festival days or maybe as a deciding factor for a "Ladies" hand in marriage. While archery has been a part of the human race for a long time, it has recently grown into a favored family sport. Most cities have a local archery club now and the members participate in several national events around the country. The national events draw several of the professional archers and several dealers set up a product booth to show their new lines of equipment and also to sell items if they can. Several other types of clubs include an archery contest in their club events, such as The Mountain Men's Association and Renaissance clubs. Archery has been a part of the Olympics for a long time and most summer camps include archery classes in their programs. Most archery clubs encourage family participation by having a reasonable family rate for membership and they usually have several pot luck picnics with their shooting events.

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