Choosing what style of bow to shoot is a very personal thing
Some archers choose one specific bow style and stick to it, others like to change styles of bows as and when the mood takes them
With 11 distinct styles of bow allowed in field archery there is bound to be one that you will enjoy shooting
From the very Primitive bow where it is very basic and just a piece of wood and a string to Unlimited class where anything is allowed and the bow is overdosed on carbon fibre, magnifying sights and even a trigger release aid instead of using your fingers to send the arrow towards the target
As well as choosing your bow you can also choose your arrows, from wood shaft through aluminium to carbon fibre, some with natural feather fletchings some with soft plastic or rubber fletchings
With such a choice there is bound to be a bow that you will love shooting
The American Flat Bow is the USA answer to the longbow, but this is a very high performance longbow with carbon fibre and exotic hardwoods often used in the handle which always has a lovely shaped hand grip and a shelf for your arrow
With Barebow the clue in in the name, this is a recurve hi performance bow, but apart from a single stabiling rod there are no added extras
Bowhunter is the name given to this bow in the USA where hunting is part of their culture, we do no hunt but the name has stuck, this is a compound bow, much shorter but with clever use of wires and pulleys that maximise the efficiency of the bow
Compound limited is again a very hi performance bow, shot with a 5 pin sight, a peep sight fitted to the string and using the fingers to draw and release the arrow
The modern crossbow is a very efficient bow, limbs can be solid fibreglass or a carbon fibre sandwich, to further enhance the accuracy of the crossbow it is fitted with telescopic sights
The Freestlye bow, or as many call it the Olympic Bow is as hi tech as recurve bows go, super fast limbs, and full stabiliser and sight set up, this bow can be extremely accurate in the right hands
Another bow named in USA, again a recurve bow with a wooden handle section these bows go from the very basic to incredible works of art with multi coloured exotic woods being used in the handle
No one in UK can fail to recognise the longbow, made famous by Robin Hood and Agincourt, it has grown into a legend on its own, very simply made from either 1 solid piece of wood or layers of wood laminated and shaped, very easy to shoot, incredibly hard to master
Primitive says it all, only natural materials are allowed the bow should follow a historical design, for many of the archers in this style a large part of shooting the bow is that they actually made it themselves
Traditional Bow Hunter is a recurve bow but void of any assistance, not even an arrow rest, the arrow sits on the shelf of the handle and must be shot with the arrows fletched with feathers. Again some of these bows can be works of art with exotic coloured woods used to construct the riser, limbs are often carbon fibre and fibreglass
Unlimited means exactly that, you can choose anything at all, and any bow or extra as long as they aren’t powered such as laser sights but magnifying sights are allowed, not shot by releasing your fingers but with a release aid that clips to the string and has a trigger to release the arrow
Primitive arrow are as simple as they can be, just wood is allowed and natural fletchings, no plastic allowed so nocks (where the string fits to the arrow) have to be cut into the shaft
Bamboo can be incredibly light and straight, while usually fletched with natural feathers plastic fletchings can be allowed depending on the bow being shot
These arrows come in all manner of lenths and thicknesses, they are allowed to have plastic nocks and commercially available points
Still prefered by many archers over the carbon fibre arrows, some alluminium arrows are almost as light as a carbon arrow, fast and accurate with the advantage that if the archer does miss they can be straightened again
To many archers the very light carbons’ arrow speed and the straightness of the shaft are the ultimate arrows, But they can be brittle, if you miss with a carbon arrow and hit something hard it is in the bin
Crossbow bolts are shorter than bow arrows and usually made from aluminium or carbon fibre, they are pushed from the bow and do not need an arrow nock so the string end of the shaft has a plug fitted