How to Shoot a Bow and Arrow

When I was a kid, I wanted to be Robin Hood. I started taking archery lessons, and found it easier than I expected. If you ever need to hunt, it's quieter and more reliable than a gun, and as long as you recover your arrows, you'll always have ammunition. As a sport, archery is good for your upper body strength and hand eye coordination. What's not to love?

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Archery range
• Bow
• No less than three arrows

1. Rent a bow, or choose one for yourself. This article concerns recurve bows and long bows. Compound bows are their own animal, with crazy sights and pulleys, but the mechanics are basically the same. Bows are built to shoot at a certain strength, based on pounds of force. Many find that 30 pounds is a good place to start.

2. Take your bow in your weaker hand. Nock an arrow onto the string and rest it on your hand, or on the arrow rest on the bow.

3. Hold the nocked arrow and the string with your dominant hand, and raise the bow and stretch your arms until the arrow is parallel with the ground. Your arrow hand should rest on your chin, just under your mouth.

4. Aim your shot. You should be practicing with a 10 ring bullseye target. If you have a sight, align it with the bullseye. If not, look down the end of the arrow.

5. Stretch your back muscles and release the arrow in a fluid motion. Make sure to follow through naturally. Once you've shot the arrow, don't try to control the bow. Note where your arrow lands, make sight adjustments, and do it again.

Tips & Warnings

• Until you get the movement down, you are probably going to hit your forearm with the string. Get the motions down, and you won't have this problem.