1. Know and Go the Distance
Competitive shooting with a bow and arrow takes many hours of practice judging distance. The sight pins on your bow are adjustable for different yardages. The top pin is for the shortest yardage and the bottom pin is for your longest yardage. Some sights have one pin, and you must adjust this pin to shoot the required distance. A one-pin sight has graduations on the bar slide for different yardages.
2. Choose Your Weapon
You may use two kinds of bows in field archery. One is a recurve bow. These bows have been around for many years. The recurve bow may be labeled saying it has a 60 lb. pull. In this case, you are actually pulling back the total weight of the string on the bow. These bows are harder to shoot than modern bows, which are called compound bows. They have cams on the top and bottom of the bow. Pulling the string back gives you a let off of the string. If this type bow is rated at 60 lbs. of pull, when you pull the string back, the cams roll. At full draw, you're only pulling about 30 lbs. instead of 60. You can hold the string back on a compound bow longer than you can on a recurve bow.
3. Match Arrows to Your Bow
Arrows come in many lengths, diameters and materials. Some people like to shoot a wooden arrow in field archery. Most people nowadays shoot aluminum or carbon-fiber arrows. Aluminum and carbon-fiber arrows come in different weights, and you must know what weight your particular bow shoots the best. Arrows that are too long don't give you the maximum speed and accuracy your bow is capable of shooting, but if the arrow is too short, you may not be able to make a full draw on your bow string. In this case, the arrow may fall off the bow rest.
4. Set Up Your Bow
Your arrow must run parallel with your bow rest. A bow square mounts on your string and rests on your bow rest, giving you a true parallel line from your string to your bow rest. You have "knocks" on your string. A knock is a little round rubber bushing with a copper or aluminum casing around the rubber that is clamped around the string at the top and bottom of the arrow to keep the arrow from sliding up or down in full draw. Some people use two knocks and others like one knock. Make sure you install your bow rest properly, because if the bow rest is too far in or too far out, arrows may fishtail when you release the string.
5. Hit the Target
Field targets are mostly round and have graduating circles, and come in different sizes. The bull's eye is called the 10-ring. Hit this and get 10 points. In field archery, the point numbers drop with each ring out towards the edge of the target.
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