When people shoot their arrows from a bow it is said to be indulging in the activity known as archery that from time immemorial has been used for shooting down enemies as well as game. The person that practices archery is known as the archer and one who is an expert or who likes the sport a lot is known as a toxophilite. After the discovery of gunpowder, archery was relegated from being the main weapon of war and hunting to that of an instrument for target shooting. Nevertheless, it has pride of place in many mythologies and thus has a special place in the hearts of many peoples.



Types Of Bows Used

There are different types of bows that are used including the longbow, shortbow, recurve bow, compound bow, and the very famous crossbow. Even the arrows are of different sizes and construction, and the use of different bow strings is also quite common. And, the archers themselves need to sometimes wear bracers or arm-guards so that they have protection to their bow arm as well as helps in preventing the bow string from being caught in the clothing of the archer.

Archers also use the drawing fingers which includes thumb and for protection the archer wears leather tab, or even gloves and maybe also a thumb ring, though the tab or glove are most common. In addition, it is also common for archers that use compound bows to take the help of release aids so that the strings are held without fluctuation and are released with precise accuracy. The release aid may be attached to bowstrings where the nocking point is so that the string can be released through a pull of a trigger, which may be in the form of a lever that is pushed by thumb or fingers though there are other mechanisms used as well.

There is also a technique used in archery for better shooting as well as form with the bow being held in the bow hand which is opposite to the archer's dominant eye. The drawing hand is the one opposite to the bow hand so that if an archer is right handed and uses the right eye as dominant then he will surely hold the bow in the left hand and also face targets with his left side and use the right eye to espy the target and also use the right hand for the arrow as well as string.

It is common to hold the bowstring as well as arrow with 3 fingers with the index finger on top of the arrow and the other two below, and the string is held by the primary or secondary joints of the archer's fingers. Next, the bow gets raised as well as drawn and the archer draws the string towards his face so that it rests softly on what is known as anchor point. The archer should stand in an erect position making the shape of ?T? and he should use his back muscles for pulling the arrow to anchor point and to release the arrow, the archer will relax fingers of his drawing hand and he must also be careful about the recoil, which should be minimum.

Thus, archery has a well defined system for drawing, aiming as well as shooting and the technique used must be perfected to get best results.