Beginning the Archery Journey

Every journey begins with a first step. In the world of archery that first step is picking up a bow and arrow.

Beginning The Archery Journey

Like most people my age, I first shot archery in school. Then again in Boy Scouts. Later my brothers and I shared a bow. And when all the arrows were lost, so was our interest. Fast forward 20 or so years. My stepdaughter, who like every other young girl on the planet, was in love with Legolas, the elven archer from “Lord the of Rings”, asked me if I could teach her how to shoot a bow. That simple request, lead to a deep dive on the internet, which lead to me building my first bow out of a hardwood broom handle. That was the beginning of my journey into the depths of traditional archery. Along the way, I have learned to make almost every piece of gear my family needed; including bows, arrows, quivers, targets and armguards.

Continuing The Archery Journey

Along with my wife, children and grandchildren, I have also helped many friends and their children and now grandchildren with their beginning into archery. While I do not claim to be an expert or a coach or even a really good shot, I do have a firm grip on the mechanics of a bow and the process of shooting one. I know what it takes to get started shooting archery and to have fun doing it.

There are a lot of choices for archery equipment these days. And not all of them are appropriate for a youth or beginning archer. While my goal is to foster interest in youth archery, much of what will be covered will be helpful to any beginning archer. The archery lessons I am going to share on this blog are intended to give an archer first starting out a strong foundation of the basic skills necessary to shoot a bow and arrows safely and successfully. But, at the same time to not hamper the archer if they chose to participate in some of the many other disciplines of archery. Or to not interfere with any more advanced archery coaching you may choose in the future.

I shoot traditional archery. Which means with a recurve or longbow, not a compound. Traditional archery will be my main focus. I believe if you can shoot with traditional archery equipment, you can easily transition to modern archery, shooting a compound bow. But the reverse is not necessarily true. That is why I will lean more to traditional archery lessons than modern archery.