How to Learn Archery – Guide

Discover in this article how to learn archery. Become the best archer with this completely updated guide.

Archery Ranges: The Easiest Way to Get Started.

The easiest way to get practical experience and professional guidance is to go to the nearest archery range. Many ranges require you to take an introductory safety class, where you will learn the proper way to hold a bow, aim, draw, etc. You’ll be amazed at what a single session will do for you: you’ll enter the range as a novice and leave the range … well, with at least a little more knowledge. You’ve probably hit the target a few times and you can feel that thing that hooks you so much about the sport.

Plus, here’s the real value of a range: they’ll give you the equipment you need to shoot for a few hours. They’ll let you rent a bow that fits your size specifications, give you arrows to match the bow, and set up a target at the right distance. That alone is worth the price of admission because choosing equipment when you’re a beginner can be quite difficult as you’ve seen.

So where is your closest range? This you should look at depending on where you live, although google can always give you a leg up on that.

Going to an archery place can help you compete in those places and meet people with the same passion as you. It’s like going to train with a team sport, so you can learn much faster with people who are experts in archery.

how to learn archery

How to Learn Archery: Learning On Your Own

If you spot the bug and want to learn as much as you can about archery, there are some fantastic sites and YouTube channels dedicated to archery that you should visit.

If you still don’t have a bow to practice from My Sport Outdoors we recommend these two bow models to start practicing.

Sale
Tongtu Recurve Bow Right and Left Handed,Takedown Bow and Arrows for Adult & Youth Beginner 30lb 40lb Traditional Archery Bows Set with 6pcs Arrows (30 LBS)
  • LIGHT WEIGHT BOW AND ARROW SET.Simple design of an archery set.Easy to assemble and fire.
  • GOOD QUALITY ARCHERY BOW SET.Durable riser can be taken down and can hold enough resistance and stretch, ambidextrous reinforced handle, soft-touch grip for excellent handling.Quality tested ensured for maximum durability.
  • FOR LEFT AND RIGHT HANDED SHOOTERS.Double Arrow Rest,alternative 30Lbs 40Lbs,easy to use for adult beginners and teens.
PANDARUS Compound Bow Archery for Youth and Beginner, Right Handed,19”-28” Draw Length,15-29 Lbs Draw Weight, 260 fps (Black Right Handed)
  • 【SPECIFICATIONS】: IBO Speed: 260fps; Axle-to-Axle: 27-3/4"; Draw weight: 15-29lbs, Draw length: 19”-28” adjustable,Brace height: 6-3/4”, Let-off: 65%, Net weight: 2.5 lbs , Hand Orientation:Right
  • 【PACKING LIST】: 1 x Bow , 1 x Instruction Manual , 5 x Brenches, 1 x Bow sight , 1 x Arrow rest , 1 x Arrow quiver , 12 x Arrows , 1 x Arm guard , 1 x Target paper
  • 【ADVANCED CONSTRUCTION 】: Adjustable draw weight & draw length without bow press ; Available in Red, Green, Blue, Black and Pink ; String stopping function; The speed is higher than the same bow ; Light
E-ROCK Youth Compound Bow and Arrow Set with 4pcs Carbon Arrows Archery for Beginner Teenagers, Right/Left Handed, 19”-28” Draw Length, 15-29lbs Draw Weight Archery Hunting Equipment (Red)
  • 【Material】CNC Milling riser and USA Gordon composite limbs for extended durability. Features the fast, smooth for maximized performance and accuracy.
  • 【Advanced Design】Powerful enough for hunting and small enough for easy handling with light weight and comfortable design. Adjustable draw weight & draw length without bow press. Available in Red and Black. The speed is higher than the same bow.
  • 【Great for Youth & Beginner】The perfect first bow for the young shooter. Help your young archer's passion for shooting catch fire from their first shot and make the most of a kids first arrows with the bow.
archer practice

How to Get Started

10 steps that should always be present in our archery sequence both training and hunting:

Foot position in archery.

1. Position of the feet. Body posture.

Foot position square

Open foot position

These two positions of our feet are the ones we should work on when executing our shooting sequence.

Although both are correct, the one that offers the best solidity to our anchor in the open position, which consists of, if we are right-handed, bringing the outside (right) foot forward a little concerning the inside (left) foot, placing it perpendicular to our target.

In this way we achieve a slight twisting of our spine, making the back-spine assembly more solid.

2. Contact with the equipment (pretension): Grip the trigger and the bow.

3. Opening (elevation): Coordinated traction, direct to the anchor point, peep in front of the eye, and sight to the center.

4. Anchoring: Good hand contact on the jaw to fix the position of the peep in front of the eye. Center the scope inside the peep, horizontal level.

5. Aim: We must be in the center as soon as we reach the anchor, except for a small correction.

6. Hold: Avoid losing traction, maintain at the wall, with the arch ‘held’ between the shoulder blades, with dorsal traction and minimal intervention of the arm musculature.

The effort will be divided between pulling and pushing depending on the situation.

7. Relax hands: Relax contacts with the equipment.

Bow hand from the front, passing all the force to the arm; trigger hand from behind, relaxing the fingers on the trigger and the wrist, leaving all the effort to the elbow.

8. Trigger grip: Ensure relaxed and consistent contacts (will depend on the type of trigger used, in principle any trigger can be used).

9. Waiting: Attention will be focused on aiming, letting our scope float over the target while reinforcing our mental image of the point of impact.

Keep tension on the wall, hands relaxed, and let the release occur without any conscious intervention.

10. Hold position: The trigger mechanism has jumped, releasing the arrow, but we hold the position as if nothing has happened until the arrow impact.

practice archery bow

How to Learn Archery: The Launch

The hips and shoulders should be perpendicular to the line of fire and the face rotated toward the target. A relaxed stance is essential.

Securing the arrow

1. Securing the arrow

Resting on the arrow rest, grip the string with slight tension and align the bow with the target.

2. Tensioning the bow

Tensioning the bow

Fast at the beginning and slower in the last third up to the anchor point. The tensioning arm is in a straight line with the arrow.

Anchoring, aiming and tensioning

3. Anchor, aim, and tension

The index finger of the tensing hand is placed under the chin with the string touching the nose and lips. Supplementary back tensioning

Release arrow

4. Release

The fingers are opened and the hand should relax. Hold the position until the arrow hits the target.

Secure arrow

5. Check

Let the bow swing

arrow equipment