So does anyone shoot Recurve without sights?

Author

Message

kirk
Moderator

Owlethall Bowmen Moderator

Posts: 955
No Commercial Interest
Location: Lancashire

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject:

Chris the only down side to feathers is when it's raining, they can close up a bit, but if your kit is tuned it aint a biggy. Feathers are lighter and impart more spin to the arrow, they are also more forgiving of bad technique. Try em you'll love em, and once you have had a go at making a set of arrows you'll be hooked. _________________ JUST SHOOT IT Owlethall Bowmen Secretary

Club: Owlethall Bowmen
Bow: Mathews Conqest 3...Hoyt GameMaster Hybrid...Kota TD AFB
Sight: Apex five pin
Arrows: Easton Maxum...SS XX78 2213 - Gamegetter 1816 - redline carbons
Accesories: sims products

jimbow
Cub Poster

Posts: 23
No Commercial Interest
Location: Inverness

Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:58 am Post subject:

I agree I very rarely lose a feather but Blackcats plastics fall of if you look at them funny ( better now with a different glue and abrading the shafts slightly). Remember feathers have had around 100 million years of R&D to perfect there performance travelling through the air plastic fletchings have only had a few 10's of years trying to copy how a feather works. The only thing I would say that if you are looking to put all your arrows in the X at longer distances then because feathers are a natural material and no 2 will be the same for consistency plastic fletchings would be better. To answer the original post I shoot a recurve without sights ( shoot it don't hit much but I do shoot it), at last years Highland open shoot up here in Inverness the Bowhunter class ( recurve no sights) was the largest. By the way I would like to extend an invitation from IFAC to all archers from any federation to come up in August for the open shoot ( Blackcat will probably mention it again nearer the time)

Club: IFAC
Bow: Border Reaver
Sight: mince pies
Arrows: anywhere but the spot
Accesories: Always matching

tony08
Cub Poster

Posts: 35
No Commercial Interest
Location: East Yorks. England

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject:

As I've never done the sans-sight thing I'd like to ask a question or three... Am I correct in assuming that with either Mediterranean or 'three fingers under' you need to anchor just under your eye and sight along the arrow? Which style is more accurate in the field and or used by native hunters? What kind of distance could a good archer reasonably expect to still be quite accurate? I ask because this greatly interests me. I'm currently happy to develop my skill in target archery, although I'm not too keen on getting a clicker. At some point I intend to have a go at field and barebow, as the complexity, challenge and downright naturalness of it attracts me. Thanks Tony

Club: Bowmen Of St.Mary's - Hull
Bow: KAP Winstar II - Samick Universal limbs
Sight: Cartel K
Arrows: Easton Platinum Plus xx75s
Accesories: Button & longrod

JimN
Global Moderator

UK East Mids Area Rep (NFAS-Trad)
Outstanding Contribution Award Winner
Posts: 904
No Commercial Interest
Location: Derbyshire

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:00 pm Post subject:

tony08 wrote:

As I've never done the sans-sight thing I'd like to ask a question or three...

Am I correct in assuming that with either Mediterranean or 'three fingers under' you need to anchor just under your eye and sight along the arrow?

No, you can anchor where you like (within reason). I anchor under my cheek-bone, I've seen other's anchor to their wisdom teeth. It's archer preference. Plus there's really not much point in sighting down the arrow as you can't really aim when you get to a distance over a few yards. There's a number of methods people use, from pure-instinctive through to just guestimating the distance in your head and beyond.

tony08 wrote:

Which style is more accurate in the field and or used by native hunters?

Pfff, how long is a piece of string. Different preferences, different results for different archers.

tony08 wrote:

What kind of distance could a good archer reasonably expect to still be quite accurate?

Define 'good archer'. I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't barebow archers that can match a decent sighted-archer at any distance.

tony08 wrote:

I ask because this greatly interests me. I'm currently happy to develop my skill in target archery, although I'm not too keen on getting a clicker. At some point I intend to have a go at field and barebow, as the complexity, challenge and downright naturalness of it attracts me.

Do it

tony08 wrote:

Thanks
Tony

You're welcome.

_________________
Jim

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of Desire;

Club: Black Arrow Field Archery Club
Bow: Internature Viper AFB (45# @ 28")
Sight: Staring maniacally
Arrows: 31" POC
Accesories: Silver patent leather slingbacks

English Bowman
Cub Poster

Posts: 44
No Commercial Interest
Location: Portsmouth

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:41 pm Post subject:

Feather's don't come off more easily than plastic, they do take more looking after, but not much more, so don't worry about that. As for style if you're shooting with plastic fletchings then you will be in the barebow style in GNAS. This is a style that is recognised in both target and field archery, and the best barebow archers get very close to those using sights Daniel

Club: Fort Purbrook Co Of Bowmen / Raven Field Archers
Bow: Bickerstaffe Osage ELB
Sight:
Arrows: Wooden
Accesories:

Many

geoff
Apprentice Bowman

Posts: 157
No Commercial Interest
Location: Chellaston, Derby

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:41 pm Post subject:

English Bowman wrote:

Feather's don't come off more easily than plastic, they do take more looking after, but not much more, so don't worry about that.

I would certainly agree - from many years experience, I have never once lost a feather flecthing. The main reason (aside from the fact I tend to mainly hit the ground

) I would imagine is from a manufacturing point of view - a feather has a rougher surface on the base for the glue to get hold of (even more true I imagine when gluing to wooden shafts rather than smooth aluminium or carbon), as well as it having a greater surface area for the glue to stick.

In terms of looking after them, they are suprisingly tough, and if shooting in the wet you can use feather proofing which I have heard good reports on (though never tried it myself). If they do get a bit bedraggled, holding them over the steam from a kettle for a few seconds makes them spring back into shape - its like magic!

_________________

My thread on making a longbow

Club: Anchor Bowmen
Bow: Longbow
Sight: ... in both eyes
Arrows: DIY - POC, self nocked, feathers
Accesories: Tassle - well used

Other bows: Another longbow!

tony08
Cub Poster

Posts: 35
No Commercial Interest
Location: East Yorks. England

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:12 pm Post subject:

English Bowman wrote:

the best barebow archers get very close to those using sights

That's interesting. In any case I wouldn't ask a barebow archer to whup the Koreans at the Olympics any more than I'd ask an Olympic target-only supremo to successfully out-shoot a skilled roving field archer. I guess if you superficially consider the two disciplines, a sight (and possibly a clicker) are really the only 'essentials' separating them, but there must be a world of difference in how it's executed (I assume). If an archer doesn't know the exact distance to his target, then a sight is not much use in any case. In such a scenario, an archer would have to rely entirely on his own judgement. I've read a bit on the 'gap' versus 'instinctive' debate but I'm not sure it's so easy to untangle the two and does it matter?

Club: Bowmen Of St.Mary's - Hull
Bow: KAP Winstar II - Samick Universal limbs
Sight: Cartel K
Arrows: Easton Platinum Plus xx75s
Accesories: Button & longrod

Paul Thomas
Cub Poster

Posts: 39
No Commercial Interest
Location: Staffordshire

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:50 pm Post subject:

I've opted to learn without using a sight because my ambition is to eventually shoot longbow so I think it's easier to start as I intend to carry on. _________________ Best wishes Paul Someone's got to come last. It may as well be me

Club:
Bow: KAP Pro-Style 32#@28"
Sight: Not a pretty sight
Arrows: Merlin Flames & Secura Carbons
Accesories:

mattjdodson
Cub Poster

Posts: 11
No Commercial Interest
Location: Idaho usa

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject:

I am rather new to archery and I do not have a sight. I actually put in a request in anouther post to see what suggestions people had for sight purchase. But now that I think about it its just that much more skill involved without sight. Besides the ancients did not have much for sights either! _________________ ARCHERY IS A GIFT FROM THE ANCIENTS

Club:
Bow: BUCKEYE 62&quot; RECURVE
Sight:
Arrows:
Accesories:

English Bowman
Cub Poster

Posts: 44
No Commercial Interest
Location: Portsmouth

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:53 pm Post subject:

tony08 wrote:

English Bowman wrote:

the best barebow archers get very close to those using sights

Fair comment, I was thinking from a field archery view point, but although you will never win a target shoot without a sight, I think that you might be surprised at how high a top barebow archer would score.

Daniel

Club: Fort Purbrook Co Of Bowmen / Raven Field Archers
Bow: Bickerstaffe Osage ELB
Sight:
Arrows: Wooden
Accesories:

Many

tony08
Cub Poster

Posts: 35
No Commercial Interest
Location: East Yorks. England

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:25 am Post subject:

Hi Daniel, Do you know if 'buttons' are allowed in barebow?

Club: Bowmen Of St.Mary's - Hull
Bow: KAP Winstar II - Samick Universal limbs
Sight: Cartel K
Arrows: Easton Platinum Plus xx75s
Accesories: Button & longrod

Desert Archer
Junior Poster

Posts: 64
No Commercial Interest
Location: Mesa, Arizona USA

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:26 am Post subject:

tony08 wrote:

Hi Daniel,
Do you know if 'buttons' are allowed in barebow?

I'm not Daniel but if you mean a plunger, they are in FITA and IFAA.

Dave

_________________
Barebow Recurve Shooter
Bring Back Field Archery

Club: Usery Mountain Archers, Papago FITA Archers, Arizona Bowhunter & Field Archery Association
Bow: 2 Spigarellis, 2 Best of Italy, 1 Bernardini Nilo (in route)
Sight: Barebow Recurve
Arrows: All are aluminum/carbon Eastons.
Accesories:

tony08
Cub Poster

Posts: 35
No Commercial Interest
Location: East Yorks. England

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2008 2:05 pm Post subject:

I guess plunger and button must be the same thing, unless there's yet one more device to attach to a recurve that I've not yet heard of. Thanks for the info.

Club: Bowmen Of St.Mary's - Hull
Bow: KAP Winstar II - Samick Universal limbs
Sight: Cartel K
Arrows: Easton Platinum Plus xx75s
Accesories: Button & longrod