With what you know by now, you must already have your preferred type of longbow in mind but remember that if you are just about to introduce yourself to archery, you should definitely think of doing so with a recurve bow first, because of the low draw weights available.
I know from experience that trying a heavier bow than what is recommended can seem pretty easy at the first draw. You will be shooting many of them…. Hundreds of them in a day, maybe, if it is your ambition. So, drawing a high poundage bow for one shot is easy, but will you be able to sustain a hundred shots with it?
I am pretty sure your form and accuracy will be affected negatively, making the correction of your flaws even harder to achieve. Starting off with a longbow could be hard on your learning curve and even ruined your experience, therefore, your future in archery, which would be a shame. As you gain experience and increase your draw weight until you reached 30 lbs, you may, then, consider going for a 35 lbs longbow which is pretty much the lowest draw weight you can get.
Any wooden longbow needs to be treated with proper maintenance and left unstrung to avoid permanent damage to the bow. Proper maintenance constitutes of waxing the bow and the string periodically. Bow stringers usually don't come with the longbow, unless it is part of a package. It is highly recommended to getting one, although you may have seen people string their bow with their foot.
The proper way to do it is with a bow stringer, this is good practice, so think of getting one. Your arm is standing near the trajectory of the bowstring which can be surprising when it slaps the arm, leaving small, or not so small, souvenirs you don't want to have such as shown in the picture below. Wearing an armguard is good advice to avoid getting hit straight on the skin.
One of two shots may not affect your bare fingers but doing hundreds of shots will. Wearing a glove or a tab is a good thing. I like the style of the glove but like the tab on hot days. What probably gives every beginner headaches!
Selecting proper arrows for your first longbow is crucial. You will have to understand what is the arrow spine of your arrows to make the best selection possible according to your bow setup. To understand the concept of the arrow spine, you may want to read the post What is the Arrow Spine?
Do keep in mind that this article is essentially giving you an understanding of the arrow spine, manufacturer's charts must be used to determine yours properly according to your equipment, arrow length, draw weight and point weight. Will you be shooting with a cut-to-center longbow or not? This will affect the spine. When aiming with a center-shot longbow, the arrow will be directly pointing the target.
If you are using an English Longbow, for example, the arrow will be pointing slightly off the target. Those two cases would require two different arrows with different spines.
You can hardly shoot an arrow without ahead. You definitely want to get some field points so it can stick in a target. Field points come in a variety of weight, this will affect the spine of your arrows as mentioned above so make sure to choose the right weight and stick with it.
If you want to go for a hunt, you must be selecting proper broadheads for the type of game you want to be hunting. You may not want to take the same broadhead type for hunting a cottontail rabbit than you would for an elk. A quiver is not a necessity but definitely a plus. Something to hold your arrows, especially if you are on the move, is something I would consider.
Aside from being handy, there are pretty nice models to choose from to look good with your trad equipment. Unless shooting in a bale of hay is your thing, It is great to have something to shoot on to measure your accuracy. If you are not planning to go to an Archery Club, getting a target that won't prematurely damage your arrows would be a good investment.
Retired Soldier desire to learn long bow for the very first time. Please advise. I am a lifetime archer and read this article since it popped up on my phone. It is very informative and well written. A beginner can benefit greatly from reading this content. Hunting-Bow is Open for Business!
Call us today: November 29, Chino Eustaquio. Of course, the main characteristic of a longbow, no matter what type, is the length. The English longbow has an average of 1. How it's made The construction of a good and more durable longbow consists of seasoning the yew wood or any wood for a few years. The Flatbow Longbow The Flatbow also has a non-recurved design and has a wide range of lengths.
How it's made The construction of a Flatbow is quite similar to the English Longbow. Being able to start with a cheaper and more available timber is good news for beginner bowyers. A deeper look into the longbow differences The Back and the Belly The English longbow is made from a single piece of wood a single Bow Stave for the back The outside part when shooting and the belly The inner part when shooting of the bow. Its speed comes from its curved tips, which store more energy than do straight limbs.
Some longbows, however, rival the fastest recurves. A smooth-drawing bow is easy to pull at the start but its draw weight rapidly increases when nearing full draw. In contrast, a smooth-drawing bow evenly increases in weight and feels effortless to pull.
Recurve bows draw more smoothly, in general, but bow designs play significant roles in how they draw. Taller archers, for example, find longer bows smoother to draw than shorter bows. From ice-age hunters to medieval archers, longbows embody history.
Photo Credit: ATA. For classical looks and historical appeal, longbows rule. Recurves have their own fascinating history. Mounted archers, for example, used recurves to conquer Asia. Recurves are also the choice of Olympians. Some of the differences between the two are:. Field archery can be shot indoors and out, three different types of targets are commonly used and it can be done on a walking course of targets.
Target archery is simply shooting in a straight line standing still, while in field archery you could be walking an outdoor course and shooting at targets in the woods uphill and downhill from you. Both recurve bows and longbows can be used for field archery, so you can pick whichever one feels best for you.
Bowhunting is pretty self explanatory, hunting wild game with a bow and arrow. While compound bows are the most commonly used type of bows for bow hunting, any type of bow could be used. If you do decide to use either a recurve bow or longbow for hunting, you should only use a bow with a draw weight of forty pounds or more.
For those of you who like the idea of doing things the historic way, traditional archery may just be the thing for you. For the most part, traditional archery involves shooting only wooden bows with wooden arrows, fletched with real feathers. The two most commonly used bows in traditional archery are longbows and one piece, wooden recurve bows.
The targets are life sized, 3D representations of different animals. The 3D targets are normally placed at unmarked distances from the archer throughout a walking course in the woods. The targets may be uphill, downhill or partially obscured by trees and brush. If you do decide to invest in a 3D archery target, be sure to read my guide on the best 3D archery targets for the money , it covers which of the targets on the market today are the highest quality and are available at the lowest prices.
Both recurve bows and longbows are great for 3D archery. You may find that more than one of the above styles of archery interests you. For a beginner, longbows are typically much easier to shoot with more accuracy.
The reason for this being that the body of the longbow is thick, which in turn makes it harder to twist the limbs of bow also called torquing. Longbows prevent this, especially for new archers that have yet to develop proper form. Quite simply: Since the limbs cannot be torqued, the arrows will fly much straighter to the target.
Another benefit of the longbow is that the long length of it causes less tension on the fingers of the archer when the bow is pulled back and held at full draw. Additionally, this also means less force on your fingers when you release the arrow. Longbows are just all around more gentle on your fingers and your joints than most other types of bows , which makes them easier for most newbie archers to learn how to shoot.
Some longbows have this, and depending on the bow, it could be quite annoying. There are some longbows that have a little hand shock, which is easy to ignore. While there are some bows that have a lot of hand shock — which will make you want to throw out your bow. If the idea of traditional archery, and shooting in the way that archers did thousands of years ago really appeals to you — you will probably want to get a longbow over a recurve bow.
Longbows are great for beginners, great for backyard shooting and somewhat versatile. Because of the unique shape of the recurve bow, more power is directed into the arrow — causing recurve bows to shoot both faster and with more power than most longbows. Recurve bows when shot with proper form tend to be more accurate overall than longbows.
While longbows can range from alright to good when it comes to accuracy, modern recurve bows are engineered for accuracy.
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