Field Archery

Field Archery is a competition where archers shoot their arrows at targets located at different and unmarked distances and are often situated in rough territory. Three-dimensional archers aim at shooting life-size models of their targets. This is especially popular among hunters where the models are mostly animals. On the models are four rings in which only three of them are used in ASA shoots. The 14 ring is not used often because in order to score, the archer has to call it first before shooting. The ones usually targeted are the 12 ring that is inside the 10 ring, which in turn is inside the 8 ring. When the arrow hits any spot outside the fore mentioned rings earns a score of five. When the arrow misses the target completely, the score is a zero. The archer with the most points at the end of the game is declared the winner.

Clout Archery

Clout Archery is a competition that is similar to Target Archery. In this, however, the archers try to achieve high projectiles in order to drop arrows and hit the target which is situated in long ranges of 165 meters for men and 128 meters for women archers. Junior archers are given shorter ranges depending on their age. The target is marked with a group of concentric circular scoring zones similar to target archery. The target however is marked on the ground surrounding a marked flag. The flag is 30 cm square, is fixed to a stick and is inserted as near as possible into the ground. A Clout round normally consists of 36 shots. When given a certain signal to shoot, each archer releases six arrows in one 'end'. After the 'end', also on command, the archers approach their target to determine their scores, mark the hits and then retrieve their arrows. Clout Archery competitions often use the 'Double Clout' round system wherein the archers shoot a clout round twice or 36 arrows two times. In Double Clout, the arrows can either be shot in one direction, called a one way, or in both directions, called a two way. All kinds of Bow techniques, such as the recurve bow, compound bow, longbow, or the bare bow may be used by the competitor.

Scoring in Clout Archery is quite complicated for beginners. A certain rope with a loop on its end is placed over the flag stick. This loop of rope is divided into concentric circles that will serve as the target's scoring zones and are indicated by different colors. The Gold ring is worth five points, the Red is worth four points, the blue ring is worth three points, the black is worth two points and the white ring is worth one point. This rope is then walked around the target area and the 'end' is played. After each 'end', the arrows that fall within a certain scoring zone or color are laid out and the rope is withdrawn. The designated scorer calls each archer and the archer will call out their scores to him as they pick up their arrows. The scorer tallies them on a score sheet and they should be in ascending order like in target archery. The archer with the most points wins.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Archery Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell