Field Archery: Challenging Your Hunting Skills

One of the best forms of archery is field archery. The main aim of this type of archery is the practice of precision in a somehow realistic bowhunting outdoor setting. The International Field Archery Association, also known as the IFAA, and Federation International de Tir a L'Arc, also known as FITA, rules govern the game.

There are many different types of field archery. The most common in the Americas and in Oceania is 3D archery while FITA Field Archery is common throughout Western Europe.

In the United States, the NFAA or National Field Archery Association, an affiliate of the FITA, has three basic rounds. These are field, hunter, and animal rounds.

  Field Round. In field rounds, the target has three concentric circles. The bull's eye is black and is worth five points. The next outer ring from the bull's eye is a white ring that is worth four points. The outermost ring is also black with a weight of three points. The target distance is usually laid out at even distances of 80 yards. Some of the shorter lengths are measured in feet.

  Hunter Round. In this round of NFAA field archery, targets are placed at uneven distances of up to 70 yards. Scoring is similar to the field round. The only difference between the two is the target. In hunter rounds, the target has all black outer rings with a white bull's eye.

 Animal Rounds. Animal round is similar to hunter rounds in the sense that the targets are placed at uneven distances of up to 70 yards. But the targets are two dimensional animal figures that are life size. In this round, the archer is given three stations. If the archer does not miss on the first round, he does not have to try again on the second station. But if he misses, he has up to the third station to try his aim. For the scoring, if the archer hits a vital part, he is given 20, 16, or 12 points (depending on what part is hit) and for a non-vital part, 18, 14, or 10 points, depending on from which station the archer hits the 2D animal target.

3 Dimensional Field Archery

This is a very realistic form of field archery because the targets used are lifelike three dimensional figures of game. This type is very popular among hunters because of the target used. In this type of field archery, most 3D targets are set at unmarked distances because of the game's adherence to hunting. The environment in 3D archery is very much like the environment where a hunter is hunting for real game. Each target is marked by four rings - the 14, 12, 10, and 8 ring. The 14 ring is rarely used and a hunter should inform range officials that he is aiming for the 14 ring. The outermost ring is given 8 points, the next ring is given 10 points, and the innermost ring is given an equivalent of 12 points. If the hunter hits any other part of the 3D target, he is given 5 points and a zero is awarded for a miss.

So if you love the outdoors and you want to try your hand at hunting but do not want to hurt animals, you can try field archery. The environment setup in this sport makes for a very interesting and very challenging game.