Types of events

There are quite a few types of competitive events that the barebow archer can participate in.

Field Archery

Overview

Field archery is an event shot at a variety of distances (in some events they are unmarked distances) usually along a trail winding through the woods or other rough terrain. Unlike target archery which is shot on flat terrain many field archery targets feature uphill and downhill shots. There are two primary governing bodies for field archery. The World Archery Federation commonly known as WA and formerly as FITA (Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc) and the International Field Archery Association (in the US the National Field Archery Association).

FITA Field

FITA Field uses the World Archery definition of barebow. A recurve bow that fits through a 12.2 cm ring. No sights. The archer is allowed to stringwalk and change anchor points.

FITA field is based on a 24-target field range. There is generally an unmarked distance round followed by a marked distance round. Archers shoot three arrows at each target.

Four target face sizes are specified: 80 cm; 60 cm; 40 cm and 20 cm. Six target faces of each size are used on the course. For each target face size there are upper and lower distance limits for the various divisions of archer. In the marked round the 20 cm target is used for targets at 5, 10 and 15 meters. In the unmarked round the 20 cm target is used anywhere from 5 meters to 10 meters. In the marked round the 40 cm target is shot at 15, 20, and 25 meter ranges. In the unmarked round it is found between 10 and 20 meters. In the marked round the 60 cm target is found at 30, 35, and 40 meters. In the unmarked round it is used between 15 meters and 30 meters. The 80 cm target is shot at 40 meters, 45 meters, and 50 meters in the marked round. In the unmarked round the 80 cm target can be found in the 30 to 45 meter range. Barebow shoots FITA field rounds from the blue stakes. The maximum distance for barebow is 50 meters in the marked round and 45 meters in the unmarked round.

The 80 and 60 cm targets are alone on the bale. The 40 cm targets are presented 4 to a bale. The 20 cm targets are also 4 to a bale but there are 3 faces on each target and the archer must put one arrow in each face. Target faces have four black outer rings and a yellow spot, each with an equal width. The yellow spot is subdivided into two rings. The black rings score 1 point for the outermost to 4 points for the innermost. A hit in the outer yellow scores 5 points. A hit in the inner yellow scores 6 points.

NFAA Field

Shooting a recurve without sights in the NFAA may land you in a few different classes. The NFAA barebow rule allows stringwalking, allows a 12 inch stabilizer but also includes compound bows shot without a sight or release. The other class you can shoot in NFAA is Traditional. Also allows a 12 inch stabilizer but NFAA Trad class does not permit stringwalking.

NFAA field consists of 3 rounds of 28 targets. All targets are known and marked distances. Some targets are walk ups (1 or 2 arrows at a few distances). Some targets are fans (1 arrow from 4 different positions)

The Field round consists of 28 targets shot from even distance yardage markers out to 80 yards. The targets are black and white and are scored 5, 4, 3 with Xs being noted for tie breaking.

The Hunter round consists of 28 targets shot from odd distance yardage markers out to 70 yards. The targets look similar to FITA field targets except the center is white rather than yellow. They are also scored 5, 4, 3 with Xs being noted for tie breaking.

The Animal round is different. The target faces feature animal silhouettes with three score zones, X, kill and wound. A maximum of (3) marked arrows may be shot, in successive order, and the highest scoring arrow will count. In the case of walk- up targets the first arrow must be shot from the farthest stake, the second arrow from the middle stake, and the third arrow from the nearest stake, in order to be scored. The first arrow is worth 21, 20, or 18. A second arrow is worth 17, 16, or 14. The third arrow is worth 13, 12, or 10.

More on NFAA rounds can be found here.

3D Archery

Overview

Like field archery 3D archery is shot along a trail and the terrain including hills and trees are an important part of the game. Rather than using paper targets on bales the targets are 3D animals made of foam with scoring zones on them. The targets range in size from very small (squirrel) to very large (moose) to crazy large (big foot, elephants, woolly mammoths). There are a wide variety of organizations running 3D shoots.

World Archery

World Archery 3D is two arrows at each target at unmarked distances. A full round is 24 targets. Scoring is 11, 10, 8, 5. They follow FITA barebow recurve rules. They also have divisions for longbow and "instinctive" bow (wood riser recurve, shot off the shelf, no stringwalking).

IBO

IBO shoots are unmarked distance, one arrow per target. 30 yard max distance (at Traditional World Championship). A round is 20 targets. Scoring is 11, 10, 8, 5. There are a few classes a no sight recurve might shoot in. Recurve Unaided (known as RU) is similar to World Archery barebow, except that they allow a 12 inch stab and a clicker). Traditional is no plunger or elevated rest. They also have a few longbow divisions and a selfbow division.

ASA

I have shot one ASA tournament in my life so I do not know much about it. One arrow per target, unmarked distance, seems to max out at 30 yards. Scoring is 12, 10 8, 5. I believe the rules are similar to NFAA traditional (12 inch stab, no stringwalking)

NFAA 3D

NFAA mostly does marked distance 3D shoots. They used to do an unmarked national championship but they have not in the last few years. NFAA marked is a two arrow per target shoot. The scoring zones are 11, 10, 8. Some targets just have 11 and 10 rings. The longest distance is 101 yards. Classes are the same as NFAA field.

Novelty

There are lots of novelty 3D shoots. Dinosaur targets, giant bug targets, zombie targets. Most seem to follow NFAA rules. Scoring varies.

Target Archery

Overview

Target archery is shot both indoor and outdoors.

USA Archery

USA Archery shoots under World Archery rules. The targets are multi-color and scored 10-1 (see above). They range in size from 40 cm (for indoors) to 122 cm for longer ranges outdoors. There is also an 80 cm target used at some middle rounds.

The indoor round is shot at 18 meters (20 yards). Indoors one shoots 3 arrows per end. There are usually 10 or 20 ends in a round.

There are a variety of outdoor rounds. The "full FITA" round is shot at 4 different distances. For barebow the ranges are 90 meters, 70 meters, 50 meters, and 30 meters. Ends are 6 arrows, there are 6 ends at each distance. There are other rounds shot at 50 meters.

NFAA

NFAA has an indoor round shot on the blue face target below. You shoot 60 arrows in ends of 5 at 20 yards. The scoring is 5,4,3,2,1.