In field archery there are classes for a range of different bow types, and again this varies slightly depending on the society or association’s rules of shooting.

At Ballands Bowmen we have members who shoot competitively in longbow, barebow, recurve (or freestyle) and compound. Beginner archers are taught to shoot barebow, but once they have learned this technique they can try different bow types.

In our picture, Chris is shooting a recurve (or freestyle) bow complete with sight, stabilisation, and a ‘clicker’ to aid consistent draw.

Sarah is shooting barebow, a bow of similar construction but without these additional shooting aids.

Arrows may be made of wood, aluminium, carbon or a combination of carbon/aluminium. They come in a variety of ‘spines’ (thicknesses) and are carefully chosen to match the type of bow, the archer’s ‘draw’ length and the draw weight/poundage of the bow.