Archery And Its Many Forms

Archery has been a popular recreational activity for generations. It has been in use since the dawn of mankind. Archery has been used in many varied ways. The most commonly archery was used throughout history for war and hunting. Civilizations used archery to change the tides of many battles. Archery was thought of highly in ancient times. Great prestige came from being a properly trained archer.The equipment commonly used in archery is, but not limited to, bows and arrows. The first bows can be traced back to the Mesolithic Age. Pine trees are used to make arrows. There are many variations of the bow including the shortbow, longbow, recurve bow and crossbow. The longbow is designed to fire arrows at long distances. The longbow is usually quite a bit longer than any other kind of bow, hence the name. The longbow is oftentimes even longer in length than the person using it. The longbow was used in England’s history throughout the Middle Ages.The shortbow was designed to provide its user with a lightweight bow that is also durable and reliable. Of course reliability always depends on the quality of materials used. The shortbow was typically used for hunting. The crossbow was a popular weapon that was used in castle defenses as well as battle. The recurve bow was made famous by the Mongols. The Mongols used the recurve bow to fire from horseback. The recurve bow was also effective for hunting. The recurve bow is still used today by many modern day hunters and for target practice.When firing an arrow properly the archer needs to have a solid stance. Posture of the users body is essential to achieve accurate shooting. Also proper handling of the bow, in the correct position, will spell success or failure in archery. Archery became obsolete in battle once the concept of firearms was developed. Even archery was eventually eliminated by the firearm in hunting as well. The civilizations that did not adapt to the use of firearms were usually quickly overcome by more modern civilizations that used gun powder weapons.Some of the advantages of using firearms was that the range was greatly superior to bows, bullets are more lethal than arrows, and the level of skill required to use guns was significantly less than the bow. In today’s age archery is used as a sport. Recreational archery is popular in the world for the skill and determination it takes to succeed in it. There are archery camps that offer youth the chance to learn archery as well as the role archery played in our history.