THE BRITISH ARCHER

Passages from The British Archer or, Tracts on Archery by Thomas Hastings (1831)

The first passage concerns target practice, and it confirms my own experience that trying to move to longer distances before one is consistently excellent at short distance is a pointless exercise. The second passage concerns both the importance of having the right frame of mind for accurate shooting, and the method of achieving the correct distance and straightness for the arrow's flight.

OF SHOOTING AT MARKS

The archer may proceed to shoot at marks, after he has attained a thorough command over his bow, viz. in bracing and unbracing it, and in the five points of archery just treated on. The shorter the distance, (say from about ten to fifteen yards, which agrees with the Persian method already noticed,) the better for the young archer to commence his practice, and at which, he may in a short time become so expert, as to hit the smallest mark. Nothing is so likely to prevent a person from becoming an expert archer, as by commencing the practice of shooting at very distant marks.—The bow-arm, and the eye, must in the beginning of the practice of the bow naturally want that steadiness and experience, which can be acquired only by first shooting at short distances.—Without sufficient practice and experience, long shooting, can be called nothing else, but random shooting. A command over the bow, can be obtained only, by degrees and steady attention. As the young archer finds his improvement, he will be better enabled to increase his lengths to thirty and to sixty yards, which latter has been said to be the key, to all distances within range of the bow. In practising at marks placed at distances from thirty to fifty and sixty, and upwards to one hundred yards, the young archer should always bear in mind, that the best shooting is always the most graceful, because, that which is most graceful is the most perfect; and that it is not enough for him, to be able to hit the mark, but, that his hitting should be attended with the utmost steadiness of flight in his arrows. Great advantage may be gained, by practising at the same time at different distances within one hundred yards, which will accustom the archer to various addresses, or degrees of elevation of the bow, necessary for the destined mark. By thus varying the distances, a much greater confidence is acquired in the art of shooting than could ever be attained by keeping to one fixed length. At private, or at public meetings, it is the usual practice to shoot at targets ; and the distances commonly adapted, are, for the ladies, fifty or sixty yards, and for the gentlemen one hundred yards.

OF TAKING AIM, AND SHOOTING STRAIGHT, AND KEEPING A LENGTH

"No instrument can be more affected by the animal spirits, than the bow." Coolness, attention, and confidence, should ever be present with the archer ; for without these requisites, he cannot expect to attain to any great degree of excellence in his art. Possessed of these, he can take a proper, steady aim; without them, he cannot. At the moment of taking aim, much judgement is required, for the care that is necessary to insure " the keeping the length," is different from that which directs the arrow straight. The first is by the draft and elevation of the bow; the latter is by the eye and mind acting together upon the object of the aim. It should be remembered, that however an archer may find it expedient to give elevation, or otherwise, at the moment of taking aim, (in which he will naturally be directed according to the distance of the mark and strength of his bow,) he should ever accustom himself to keep his eye constantly fixed on the object aimed at. This is indispensably necessary to straight shooting. Ascham particularly insists on this point; he says however, " some, and those very good archers, in drawinge, loke at the marke, untill they come almost to the heade, then they looke at theyr shafte, but at the very lowse, with a second sight, they finde theyr marke againe. This waye, and all other afore of ane rehersed, are but shiftes, and not to be followed in shootinge streight. For leaving a man's eye always on his marke, is the onlye waye to shoote straighte, yea, and I suppose, so redye, and easye a way, if it be learned in youth and confined with use, that a man shall never misse therein. Some men wonder whye, in casting a man's eye at the marke, the hande should go streighte; surelye if he considered the nature of a man's eye, he would not wonder at it. The eye is the verye tongue wherewith witte and reason doth speake to everye parte of the bodye. This is most evident in fencing and feighting. The foot, the hande, and all wayteth upon the eye. The eye is nothing else but a certaine window for wit to shoote out her heade at. The chief cause whye men cannot shoote straight is because they loke at theyr shafts."

Thus it appears from Ascham, (our high authority) and the truth of which may soon be confirmed by experience, that the only advantage to be derived by looking at the shaft head at the loose, is, in order for a just elevation, to keep the length, or proper distance of shot; but which as this author justly observes, " yet hindereth excellente shootinge, because a man cannot shoote streight perfectlye, excepte he loke at his marke, draw and loose equally, and keep his bow arm steadily and firmly fixed at the time of loosing."

ANCIENT TARGET PRACTICE

The following passage is taken from Arab Archery (Chapter 45 - Targets and Target Practice), written around 1500 A.D. The translation is by N.A. Faris and R.P. Elmer (1945), and can be found here.

What fun it would be to be able to use ancient methods of target practice at archery clubs! 

The first thing a novice should do is to practice shooting against targets of all kinds: near and far, still and moving.

The first type [of still target practice] is that of the "imitation horseman" and is done as follows: Take a staff the height of a mounted horseman; attach to its upper end a disk about a span in diameter, representing the horseman's head; one span below the disk place a shield about three spans in diameter, representing the shield of the horseman. The target is then placed at a distance equivalent to the cast of the bow. Thus placed, the novice should shoot against the shield with five arrows. When he can shoot the entire five arrows in succession without missing a single shot, he should then proceed to shoot against the "head" in a similar fashion. He should continue with this practice until he perfects his aim.

The second type of still target is that of the "opposing targets." It consists in placing four targets: one to your right, another to your left, a third in front of you, and a fourth behind you. You then stand in the center, holding four arrows between the fingers of your right hand. Starting with the one on your right and moving on to the one behind you, then the one on your left, and finally the one in front of you, you shoot at each while standing with your feet planted firmly on the ground and not moving from their place at all. The only part of your body which moves throughout the operation is your waist, which pivots around to whatever direction you may be shooting.

When after days, even months, of practice, this operation is perfected, start to practice the same thing while mounted on a calm and steady horse. When this is perfected, start to practice the same while your horse is moving between the targets. Finally, when you become adept at this, hitting the target every time you shoot, start practising the same thing- while your horse is running at full speed. When this stunt is perfected, you have attained the limit toward which every archer sets his eyes. This is, however, not possible except through perseverance and continued practice.

DABBLING IN YOUTUBE

Filming myself shooting often is helpful for recognising where I am going wrong with my form. I was not thinking of making a Youtube video, but in a few moments of boredom and curiosity, I thought I'd try my hand at it with what terrible footage I had at hand in my phone. 

YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!

The problem with taking up traditional archery is that every other archer - traditional and modern - becomes your coach, whether you ask for their advice or not. In a way, this is understandable: archery schools do not teach you how to shoot traditional bows, and all the instruction is based on shooting a modern recurve or compound bow. While the same principles apply to all archery, traditional shooting is more free and simple, but considerably harder, and so there is no end to all the tips and advice you will receive. Every traditional archer fundamentally is self-taught. Through experimentation, practice and experience, you learn what works for you and what doesn't. It really is that simple.

Matters become worse for archers who, like me, are intrigued by Eastern bows and techniques. A coach at one of my clubs was giving me some stern looks because of my unconventional (for Western archery) method of shooting. I started worrying that I would be ejected from the shooting range. When eyes are keenly watching you for errors and bad form when you are just trying to enjoy your archery while working out the best method for shooting a horse bow, it really sucks the enjoyment out of the sport.

Mongolian method: thumb draw with
the arrow placed on the outside of the bow

This brings me to the subject of bows and styles and why we use them. I have been on the receiving end of ridicule for my choice of bow: "Why are you shooting that without a horse?", "Where is your thumb ring?" Why are you placing the arrow on that side of the bow?" etc. etc. I do not expect all archers to be clued up on every style and method of archery, but it would be nice if people considered that I might actually know a thing or two about the form of archery I prefer. Most horse bows, in fact, are simply bows that were used in Eastern Europe and the Far East. Ancient archers from those parts of the world did not have one bow for horses and another for being on foot. They were simply the bows which were used in general - for warfare, hunting, and target practice. So no, I don't actually need a horse to justify the use of a horse bow. I now prefer not to use the term "horse bow" at all. I think "Mongolian", "Chinese", "Hungarian", "Scythian" etc. would be more accurate definitions. In fact, I seriously doubt any Eastern archers ever referred to their bows as "horse bows". Perhaps it is a term Westerners came up with to distinguish Eastern bows from their own.

Chinese method: the thumb draw with the
arrow placed on the inside of the bow

Moreover, there is more than one "traditional" method of shooting. The Mongolian style is not the same as the Japanese, and the Japanese is not the same as the Korean. Even within these traditions, there are variations. Alas, most people now glean their knowledge from Youtube videos, online articles and raging comments on social media, and then regurgitate them with remarkable confidence without ever having experimented themselves with the styles, tips and information they have picked up. For example, I have been told quite strongly that the arrow must be placed on the inside of the bow when using the thumb draw, as it causes the arrow to flex in the opposite direction to the Western draw on release. Not only did I not experience this when practicing, I later learned that many Mongolian archers use the thumb draw with the arrow on the outside of the bow. There may be more to it than I realise, but based on my own experience, that is a pearl of wisdom I may as well throw to the pigs.

Then there is the purpose of the bows and styles to consider. Here the objections of modern archers have a little more substance. Eastern bows, like English longbows, were not invented with the purpose of hitting a bullseye in mind. Bows were designed to kill, and no one really cared which part of the skin or hide on a rib cage you managed to pierce, or how good your grouping was on any given corpse on the battle field. It is indeed much harder to acquire consistent accuracy on a target face with such weapons than it is with their modern counterparts. But unless you are a lunatic who is preparing for a zombie apocalypse or hoping your skills with a bow will come in useful for killing living beings, shooting at inanimate objects is the only kind of archery you will ever do, and acquiring accuracy and consistency is the only real indication of improvement. So, there is something to be said of using bows which will help you be as accurate as possible. Notwithstanding that objection, there is more to archery than hitting one's target: there is the enjoyment, aesthetics, history and meditation of the art to consider. In my opinion - and this is an experience shared by many a traditional archer - the simpler the archery, the more enjoyable it is as an activity. 

There are many types of bow, many styles and traditions, and many "correct" ways of doing things. But I would dare to say that there is one very incorrect way of doing archery: if you are not enjoying yourself, you are definitely doing it wrong.