String Bag

With a title like Traditional Archery, Sam Fadala set out a book with high expectations for itself. It is not a book on a particular shooting style like some have written, nor is it a book on a particular niche of tackle. It seems that what Mr. Fadala sets out to cover is an overview of Traditional Archery as a whole – from the history of trad. archery, to selection of gear, to safety while roving with bows via bicycle. So how well does he do?

Traditional Archery has 225 pages of readable content, plus a glossary and three appendices – not a case where the author cuts subjects short for the sake of space. Chapter 1 starts out by tackling the tough question “What is Traditional Archery?”, which everybody knows the answer to… right? The problem is that everyone has a different answer to that question. So what he gives is not an exact definition of what traditional archery is, rather he gives a historical background and contrasts that with some of today’s advanced equipment. Coming up with an exact definition is left as an exercise for the reader.

With some of the basic background covered, the author moves on to discuss traditional archery hardware – and what better place to start than bows? A chapter on modern longbows and recurves is followed by a chapter on custom bows. He covers a variety of points, from bow materials (different bow woods and the explanation that each may affect “feel” and performance, synthetics and their role in bowmaking today) to the parts of a bow (throat, shelf, strike plate, etc). The section on custom bows should be helpful for beginning archers, explaining what exactly makes a longbow or recurve “custom”, then giving advice on what a person should do before deciding on a particular custom bow. The author takes a relatively large section to discuss “ten general characteristics” of modern longbows and recurves. He doesn’t number them as he goes so I may be wrong, but I ended up with a good deal more than 10 in the list I kept. Maybe some of them are supposed to be subtopics rather than topics.

After talking a bit further on testing bows and arrows (chrono, arrow weights, etc) Mr. Fadala revisits a story that he touches on in the introduction – chapter 5 is on Otzi, the 5,300 year old archer found frozen in the Alps in 1991. The story is not a complete aside, since the details of this ancient archer show that many apsects of traditional archery have not varied much in those last 5,300 years. Necessary reading? Probably not, but it is certainly an interesting story that adds to the character of the book.

Earlier I mentioned that Sam Fadala takes care to cover each topic in-depth, not shortchanging the reader in order to keep things brief. If you want a good example, flip a few chapters further and find the section on “Matching Traditional Tackle”. A major topic in this chapter is, of course, properly matching arrows to your bow. After discussing spine, fletching, feathers, and nocks he still follows up with an entire chapter on “Assembling Arrows” (19 pages), which then carries into a related chapter on “Carrying Arrows” – overall a thorough treatment of the subject of arrows.

One of the more interesting additions to this book that I mentioned earlier is a topic given 3 whole pages in the “Roving” chapter – bows and bicycles. Maybe it is living in the Upper Midwest that makes that such a novel idea to me (bicycling here merely gets you closer to one cornfield and a bit further away from another), or maybe that still remains a rather uncommon combination in general. Either way it sounds like it would be kind of interesting to try.

So does the author manage to cover “traditional archery” in all its aspects? Let’s check. If a person wants to try and cover all of this field they would need to hit a few key points, including the history of archery, gear (bows, arrows, etc), shooting the bow, safety while shooting, building arrows, building bows, and… that’s all I can think of at the moment, so there may be more. But if those are the key categories, then Mr. Fadala covers all of them but bowbuilding. So he skipped one topic that has consumed volumes worth of space in other books, which I would say is acceptable on his part. Overall this book is a good read, especially for beginning archers – but I would not limit it to being a beginner’s book. There is enough history involved to keep experienced archers reading. Given the length, it may not fit into a weekend of quick reading but it is worth the time.

Traditional Archery

Author: Sam Fadala

ISBN: 0811729435

Date: 1999

Pages: 225

Chapters:
1. What is Traditional Archery?
2. Today’s Traditional Longbows and Recurves
3. The Custom Bow
4. Testing Traditional Bows and Arrows
5. A 5,300-Year-Old Archer
6. Instinctive Shooting
7. Tuning Longbows and Recurves
8. Setting Up Stickbow Tackle
9. Bowstrings
10. Gloves, Tabs, and Arm Guards
11. Matching Traditional Tackle
12. Assembling Arrows
13. Carrying Arrows
14. Roving with the Stickbow
15. Bow and Arrow Maintenance
16. Transporting and Storing Bows and Arrows
17. Bow Safety

‘Beginner’s Guide’ is Brian J. Sorrells work intended primarily for those looking to develop or try out instinctive shooting with traditional archery equipment, and it lays out a program for doing so. In reference to developing the proper “feel”, or sight picture, he says “It’s just a matter of harnessing this instinct and guiding it through a structured program that will assist the archer in developing that natural ability to its fullest potential. This book is intended to do just that.” Much of the book is written for the new or aspiring archer, but the sections on practice and accuracy exercises are a place where everyone can find something that applies to them. Like Become the Arrow by Byron Ferguson, this is another short book (110 pgs) that can easily be handled over the course of a weekend.

Brian starts out the book with a topic that everybody struggles with at some point or another – practice. It is not so much a practice regimine as it is a warning or guideline for the rest of the book: cheating, fatigue, and frustration ought to be avoided during practice regardless of your shooting ability. If you are tempted to skip steps in the program he lays out (cheating), are too tired to focus or perform properly, or become frustrated, it is best to put your bow down and come back to it tomorrow.

After that caveat, he jumps into proper equipment selection (everything from bows to bow cases). This chapter actually makes up a good chunk of the book (40 pages), but covers the requirements and considerations for choosing just about every piece of equipment that a person might need to start out their archery career. This section of the book is good information especially for those who are just getting into archery but do not yet have their own gear.

After buying your equipment, the next necessary step is tuning your equipment – and Sorrells follows that logical step. The chapter on tuning your bow covers bareshaft tuning, starting with selection of arrows and proceeding on through nock placement and and determining proper arrow length.

The real meat of the book starts with chapter 4, Correct Shooting Form. As the author points out, proper form is the solid foundation of a successful archer. A large number of descriptive photos help to illustrate the 9 basic form requirements covered. Shooting Form exercises help the reader make these second nature after some practice (OK, so a lot of practice. But that’s to be expected since we are aiming for instinct!).

Basic and advanced accuracy exercises also help to develop that instinct. The idea behind these is to help your mind adjust to the sight picture at different distances so your body begins to know where to point. You start out by shooting from increasing distances, then you make it tricky by mixing distances between shots. Following the procedure laid out here should give the reader solid shooting ability within their practiced range.

Instinctive bowhunting exercises throw in a few more loops, shooting from odd positions and past obstacles. Really this is what it is all about – simulating hunting conditions not only gives you practice, it gives you the confidence needed to execute successful shots in the field.

Overall, Beginner’s Guide to Traditional Archery provides a solid foundation for new archers to build upon. If you are looking for information on a particular style of aiming, then this is probably not the end of your search. But if you are looking for an overview of instinctive shooting, or a program for improving your instinctive shooting, then this is the book for you. One thing I would like to point out is the absence of a warning (primarily for beginning archers) to ease into their practicing. Chaffed forearms, sore fingertips, and sore arms are just a few things a new archer can experience as they start out. Don’t be afraid to take a day off between sessions, especially if things start to get sore. Maybe that is implied with his first discussion on practice, but it never hurts to say it outright.

Be aware that despite the small size of this book, the program it lays out is not a brief one. It will take substantially longer to work your way through his exercises that it will to read the book itself. Don’t let that deter you from picking up a copy though because we all need to practice; this should just help you do it more effectively.

Beginner’s Guide to Traditional Archery

Author: Brian J. Sorrells

ISBN: 0811731332

Date: 2004

Pages: 106

Chapters:
1. Acknowledgements
2. Introduction
3. Perfect Practice Makes Perfect
4. The Right Equipment
5. Bare Shaft Tuning your Bow
6. Correct Shooting Form
7. Basic Accuracy Exercises
8. Advanced Accuracy Exercises
9. Instinctive Bowhunting Practice
10. Custom Bows

This book, subtitled “The Art of Modern Barebow Shooting”, is Byron Ferguson’s work summarizing his views on shooting modern barebow equipment. What he lays out in the book really constitute a philosphy for how a person should learn, practice, and hunt with their traditional archery equipment. Before Byron wrote this book he was already a well-known trick-shooter and bowhunter, performing at gatherings around the country and around the world. The years of experience he has gained shooting the bow are summarized in this convenient, easy-to-read book.

The author begins chapter 1 by explaining what “Become the Arrow” is. He describes it as “a philosophy, a belief, a projection of self and self-confidence, a tremendous amount of concentration” which results in a deeper enjoyment of shooting and (hopefully) increased success. At this point, it is already apparent that the book differs from most instructional archery books. He goes on to differ even further by asserting that to discover true success, an archer should not strive to make the bow an extension of themself, they should not strive to make the target an extension of themself – the key is to become one with the arrow and make IT a part of yourself. Doing so helps put your focus on the flight of the arrow, and on the downrange destination of that arrow. The confidence of that mental concentration means assurance of success before the arrow is even released.

“That’s all well and good”, you may be saying, “but it takes more than just concentration for us to learn to shoot properly.” That leads to the contents of chapter two – what you find here is a brief description of the pieces that make up a barebow shot (stance, breathing, arm position, anchor, release, etc). Each section is covered briefly, but with enough detail that new archers can pick up the necessities, and experienced archers can find a point or two to work on regardless of how many times they may read it. Once form has been covered, Mr. Ferguson gives a discussion on how to practice shooting effectively (both mentally and physically).

Since all the good form in the world cannot compensate for a poorly-tuned bow, tuning and setup are also covered. Starting with brace height adjustment, he moves on to discuss bareshafting, nocking point, and troubleshooting of problems you encounter on the way.

The remainder of the book covers a variety of topics, with discussion on bowhunting, bowbuilding, and answers to frequently asked questions.

My initial reaction to this book was that it is considerably shorter than many other archery books on the market today. Although there are advantages to having longer books with more detail, this one’s size gives it several distinct advantages. The first is that it is not a time-consuming read – a few hours or a long evening will get you through most of the book. The second advantage is that it is easy to go back for a refresher course. If you flip to the chapter on form and pick a topic, two minutes of reading will give you a specific piece of your form to work on for the day.

Perhaps what works best about this book is that Byron Ferguson’s “Become the Arrow” philosphy is not a locked, this-way-only type of system. Since the primary focus is on the mental aspect of shooting, there is room for adaptation to suit your current shooting style.

Overall, Become the Arrow does a good job laying the groundwork for a solid shooting philosophy. Whether you are new to archery or have been doing it for years, it has something for everyone. Its length lets you finish it in a weekend, but gives you pointers that you can work on for months or years.

Become the Arrow

Author: Byron Ferguson

ISBN: 091330509X

Date: Sep, 1994

Pages: 110

Chapters:
1. What is “Become the Arrow”?
2. The “Become the Arrow” Shooting System
3. Practice / Shooting Form
4. Tuning for Barebow
5. Bowhunting
6. Most-Commonly Asked Questions
7. Building A Longbow
8. Children’s Hospital Benefit