Archery Rules

by Charles F. A. Hinrichs

Nocking.—Having mastered the position, the next thing to be looked to is the nocking. "The bow being held by the handle in the left hand, let the arrow be placed with the right (over the string, not under) on that part of the bow upon which it is to lie; the thumb of the left hand being then gently placed over it, will serve to hold it perfectly under command, and the forefinger and thumb of the right hand can then take hold of the nock end of the arrow and manipulate it with the most perfect ease in any manner that may be required." When the arrow is nocked it should be at right angles with the string. Some archers are accustomed to try to alter the range of the arrow by heightening or lowering the nocking point, but this is a great mistake.

Drawing.—Having nocked the arrow according to the foregoing direction, the next thing to proceed with is the drawing, which is managed as follows: Extend the left arm downwards until it is perfectly straight, the hand grasping the handle of the bow, the arrow being held by the nocking end by the two first fingers of the right hand passed over the string and on each side of the arrow, as in the cut, care being taken not to pass the fingers too far over the string, or the sharpness of the loose will be interfered with. This done, the left arm should be smoothly raised, still extended, until at right angles, or nearly so, with the body, the string being drawn at the same time with the right hand until the arrow is drawn about three-fourths of its length, when the right wrist and elbow should be at about the level of the shoulder. Having got it thus far a slight pause maybe made before drawing the arrow to its full length (although we think it better to make it all one motion), which done, the archer must take his aim before loosing. By the old fashion of drawing the bow to the ear, aiming was rendered impossible; in fact, there seemed to be a sort of idea that no aim whatever was required for archery. This, however, is far from being the case; it is most essential to take an aim, aye, and a good one too, if you wish to meet with success. By drawing the arrow below the level of the eye, the archer is enabled to look along it as he would along the barrel of a rifle. As regards the direction, the archer will find that it is but seldom he will be able to aim directly at the gold. He will almost always have to aim to one side or the other, to make, allowance for wind, &c. This cannot be taught. The archer will soon learn by experience whereabouts on the target his proper point of sight lies, and will aim accordingly. He will also learn the degree of elevation required by his bow at the various distances, which elevation he will always give by raising or lowering his left hand, and in no other way, if he values success.

Remember! the arrow must always be drawn to exactly the same spot. If possible, let the spot where the pile and steel join just reach the how.

Loosing.—Having drawn the arrow to its full extent, the next thing is to loose it properly, and this, although apparently a very simple thing, is by no means so easy as it looks. The great object to be attained in loosing is to remove the obstruction of the fingers from the string suddenly, and yet in such a manner that no jerk is given to the string (which would be fatal to the aim), and that the fingers do not at all follow the string, which would weaken the force of the shot. The string should lie across the fingers at an equal distance from the tip of each—not too near the joint nor too near the tip; about midway between the tip and joint of the first finger, and on the others in proportion, will be found about the most convenient position for a good loose. The fingers must all be withdrawn at once, for should one be an instant behind the others, it would be fatal to the aim.

It must be understood that, although we have described separately the actions of drawing, aiming, and loosing, no perceptible pause should be made between them: they should all appear to form part of the same movement; for, as Ascham says, "Holding must not be long, for it puts a bow in danger of breaking, and also spoils the shot; it must occupy so little time that it may be better perceived in the mind when it is done than seen with the eye when doing."

We have now concluded this portion of our subject, and hope that we have succeeded in making ourselves sufficiently intelligible to be of service to our readers. Let them always recollect that "practice makes perfect," and that we cannot make them good archers without great exertion on their part, although we hope we have succeeded in making plain to them those first principles, without which all efforts would he but labor in vain.

Clout Shooting.

This kind of sport is so called from the mark being a clout, or small white pasteboard target, about twelve inches in diameter. This is placed into a cleft stick, and then fixed in the ground in such a manner that the lower edge of the target touches the ground. The distances in this kind of shooting are generally 180 and 200 yards, and those shots alone count which hit the clout; or in default of any in the clout, the nearest arrow to it will count; so that, supposing you got thirty-six arrows within a foot of the clout and your adversary managed to get one in, even though his others may not have been anywhere near, he will nevertheless be the victor.

Roving.

In this kind of shooting there is no fixed mark, anything being aimed at, such as trees, gate-posts, etc. The winner at one mark chooses the next, and so on. The distances are usually from 100 to 200 yards, and no shots count which are not within five bows' lengths of the mark.