Sometimes it’s worth reminding ourselves of the best practices to be observed when shooting outside, especially as some of our newer members might never have shot outside!

1. Make sure you keep to the left of the field when entering, ideally keeping to the gravel section where the tables normally are – we keep that side at a safe distance from the shooting area.
2. Make sure you wear appropriate clothing; tight fitting clothing is best, no loose items that could catch the bow string. No open toe shoes. A hat is a good idea to keep the sun off. Bucket hats are favourites of archers as you can normally keep them on to shoot! A gilet is good for keeping the body warm but the arms free.
3. Suntan cream! Essential when we’re on the field without any shade.
4. Hydrate! Keep drinking, especially when it’s sunny. You are doing a sport and your performance will suffer if you don’t keep your body fuelled.
5. As we’re shooting on a shared sports field, it’s absolutely vital that we find ALL arrows before we leave the field. Make sure you know how many arrows you’ve shot and double check that you have them all. Arrows do miss targets from time to time and that’s absolutely fine, just let us know and we’ll all help you find them! We can break out the metal detector if we need to. If you can, try to remember roughly which way the lost arrow went – left, right, over or under the target!
6. When we’re walking down to collect arrows, be aware of any arrows on the ground and make sure you pick them up and signal to other archers that you’ve found them. You could even poke them into the ground standing tall so they can be easily seen. It’s very easy to be focussing on your arrows in the target and tread on an arrow by mistake. Arrows are fairly easily broken and quite expensive, so be mindful.
7. Take care when removing arrows from the targets, particularly with people standing behind you. Sometimes it’s much easier for a couple of people to remove everyone’s arrows and then distribute them, than everyone trying to remove their own.
8. Shoot in a timely fashion. When we’re outside we have plenty of room on the shooting line so try to find a gap and shoot as soon as you can and don’t be left on the line in your own detail, holding up everyone else.
9. Understand the rounds we tend to shoot outdoors. These are normally ‘252’ badges (measured in yards) ‘National’ rounds which comprise two distances (also measured in yards) and Metric rounds which are 6 dozen arrows at your chosen distance measured in Metres, e.g. a WA60 or a WA70. Descriptions of these can be found on the website or just ask us.