Just getting some dialog here as I'm wanting to shoot some field with my d/r longbow this year. My initial goal is to shoot a 400 or more with my longbow and wooden arrows. I think that is doable for an old fart like me, but haven't really tried it yet. Last year I managed a few rounds of 400+ with my recurve and aluminum. Talk about what you are doing.

The only thing stopping me is the wood arrows. I have yet to make any woods that shoot as well as my aluminum or carbons. From what I hear it can be done but I just don't have the skills to do it.

Well under PSAA rules here I can use any arrow material, but I want to do it with my cedars. They seem to fly pretty darned well so I suspect they will work if I do my job correctly. That is the stickler there though. 8^)

I'm just getting interested in field, pretty much been a 3d and indoor shooter and hunter thus far. I'm really solid out to 40 and getting better at 50. I'm planning on shooting a state international round at the end of March. Shooting a Bear Montana and sitka spruce arrows.

I will shoot a round now and then. With my hunting longbow and wood arrows, a good round for me is just over 300. I would never be able to get to 400 without using some kind of aiming system.

It is possible to shoot 400+ I've shot 399 but that was in practice and on my home range, the only person I've heard of getting close in tourney conditions is Paul Meeson from UK, scored 399 with his own made 60# Longbow.

I don't shoot Longbow much these days, I've a tendon injury on the ring finger of my bow hand that gets uncomfortable after a few days shooting Longbow, I keep to heavy mass recurves with a finger sling. I also got disheartened with all the IFAA rule changes, bringing in facewalking, when it was voted out with a majority and IFAA then said it wasn't a big enough majority it was the straw that broke the camels back for that div and walked away from it.

Enjoying the Recurve and just pick up the Longbow for fun 5-6 times a year during the warmer Summer months.

Oh have at it George and best of luck, with wood that will be a blast. I participated in senior Olympics last summer.30@60yd 30@50 and 30@40yds. I cheated I use my 43# hybrid and 1535s. It was a blast. I came in first and last in my age group :)I'm 50 going on 51 in a couple more days, still lots a fun. I'll be doing it again this summer. Maybe I'll try wood this year :) Jeff F

Well since moving to Az. I have no 24/7 3d range to shoot. So I am shooting animal rounds out a Ben Avery range. This thread has peaked my interest in shooting field/hunter/animal rounds for score after a 30+ year layoff. I went to NFAA website for info on the trad classes but rules are not posted. I know about wood arrows, been that way since trad class was started in NFAA.But confused about max distance. I know there was motions made to use the Youth stakes for max distance? Hopefully they will get back to me.

I've shot the 900 round also Jeff but haven't tried it in the past decade or so. We used to shoot a lot. It will indeed be a challenge, but at one time I averaged 425 in the bowhunter barebow class of the PSAA. That was with a recurve and aluminum. Even shot a 480 in a club shoot...think I had some divine intervention on that one. That was a while back...1978. 8^).

George, are you shooting all the way out to 80 yards? I guess some trad shooters shoot a maximum of 60.

You go for it George, two thumbs up to ya. Jeff

Good luck with it George. I came very close in practice at my home range a few times. I was able to score about 15% higher with a target recurve and aluminum arrows.

I love my longbows. They are lovely to look at and to carry in forest and field. And they are handy on movers and fliers. But they are harder to score with on targets.

Kindly keep us informed of your progress. - lbg

Shootalot, I practice out to 80 yards but I am in what's called the super senior (over 65) class in PSAA. So I'm not sure yet; I haven't seen any limitations in the rules and regs that are posted online but I don't know if they include that information.

M60gunner, if you go to the NFAA website, click on "resources" at the top of the homepage; then click on "documents". A list of NFAA documents will appear. One of them is the "Constitution and By-laws" which contains the rules for the various shooting styles (Article II in the by-laws). Traditional style allows any type of arrow, while Longbow style requires wood arrows only. No stringwalking or facewalking in either style. Barebow style however allows stringwalking/facewalking and any arrow as well as long rods and clickers.

For those of you interested in how they compare on a field/hunter round to the best in the world, you can find the record scores on the IFAA website: www.ifaa-world.org. Click on "Tournament scores & records".

PSAA differs from NFAA, here is our longbow rules in a nutshell.

H. TRADITIONAL LONGBOW (adult): Equipment 1. BOW: The bow must be of a conventional design. The bow may be of a straight limb design or of a reflex-deflex design such that when the bow is strung, the string touches only the nocks of the bow. Take-down longbows are legal. No added weights are allowed either on the inside or the outside of the bow.

2. BOW STRING: Defined in the glossary. a. The bow string center serving must not, in any way, serve as a sighting aid. No ties or string attachments are allowed in the sight window.

b. Servings may be added at the nocking point to make the string fit the arrow nocks. One or two nock locators may be positioned on the string to locate this nocking point. Only one nocking point is allowed, either above, below, or between the nock locator(s).

3. ARROW REST: Arrows shall be shot from the shelf or hand. No elevated rests are allowed. Permanently attached shelf-leveling blocks are permitted. A piece of leather or rest-rug may be on the shelf and on the inner side of the sight window. Matchstick bumps may be under rugs and leathers.

4. ARROWS: Any type arrow, as defined in the glossary, may be used. All arrows must be identical size, including length, width/diameter, nock size, and fletching with allowances for wear and tear. No broadheads or parts of broadheads are permitted.

. 5. FINGER PROTECTION: Any type of finger stalls or tips, gloves, shooting tab or tape (plastic) to draw, hold or release the string, as per the definitions of such in the glossary, are permitted. On the bow hand, an ordinary glove, mitten or similar item may be used.

Breaking 400 on a true NFAA field course from the adult pegs in Longbow class would be an extremely tall order. Shooting with more liberal equipment rules from the youth pegs would be much, much easier.

Yes, I think you are right JRW. John Wert is checking for me but thinks all the "adult" stakes for traditional are 50 yards. I'll know more tonight.

I think he meant senior rather than adult.

By adult pegs I meant 80 yards maximum, like folks shot when they first standardized the field round in 1942. Unfortunately, the NFAA decided a few years ago that Traditional and Longbow archers could shoot from the 50-yard-maximum youth pegs at the state level and below. Personally, I'd rather move up a class than shoot from the kiddie distances.

PSAA yearbook page C-35

a. Adult. Any archer shooting in the Traditional divisions shall not shoot any distance longer than fifty yards. All 80, 70, 65, 60, and 55 yard shots shall be shot at 50 yards.

George, just spent 15 min. On NFAA website looking at rules. I

It looks like number 15 answers my question.

M60, there is a proposal to change the wording of number 15 to, "For all tournaments below the Sectional level, all traditional archers may shoot at youth distances at the discretion of each state or club.", which might avoid confusion if some archers wanted to shoot full distance, and some short.

They should just scrap #15 entirely.

400 with a longbow will be tough. Assuming full distances and wood arrows.

I shot a lot last summer and on most days I was in the 180's on halfs. My best is a 188 half and a 372 full round. The points are there to be had, they're just tough to come by with this equipment.

Good luck, I hope you can do it. It would make you one of very few.

"They should just scrap #15 entirely."

Agreed. While I commend them for making a change they thought would increase participation, all it did was dumb down the challenge for those who already shot.

I'm not for shortening the distance. I have shot literally hundreds of field/hunter rounds, starting in 1967 and had no trouble reaching the 80 yard walk-up, and much prefer the challenge. It really makes no sense to me since the playing field is still level. And yes, I agree with arrowwood.

While rule #15 may make no sense to some of us, it has done wonders to encourage bowhunters to come out and give NFAA Field & Hunter a try, and I'm for anything that will bring increased participation.

While rule #15 may make no sense to some of us, it has done wonders to encourage bowhunters to come out and give NFAA Field & Hunter a try, and I'm for anything that will bring increased participation.

Can't argue with that Floxter is it is indeed working. That said, it still detracts what the field round was meant to be. Seems we have to make things easy to make people happy, or at least easier. I was tickled to death to shoot my first field round and I was terrible in 1967. It showed me how bad I was compared to how good I thought I was. Seems nowadays that isn't the case anymore.

Floxter I just looked up MAA outdoor results back to 2009 and there's a total of three trad shooters in that time who shot the MI state shoot. It's about the same here.

Arrowwood,

That's three more than we had here in IL.

I was able to shoot a few international rounds last year. I enjoy it and wish I had more time.

In the PSAA, even the Bowhunter Barebow class is just a skeleton of what it used to be, and that includes the compounds bows. I don't think that is because the shoot itself is too difficult for shooter, it's something else altogether. Frankly, the newer compounds are hard to shoot with fingers so that has to be a mitigating circumstance. The Unlimited class is overflowing however.

I'll just keep shooting out to 80 yards. I enjoy it and around here, I don't have anyone to compete with but myself.

Well, Geo. Stout..

Nothing wrongheaded about well matched wood arrows..

I think you could at least approach the 400 mark with the stickbow and wood arrows..

You are an older but talented archer..Better than I AM I suspect..tho we have never met.. Hope the snowpocalypse treats you folks OK..:(

I only won one NFAA field archery shoot in Arizona back in the early 70's..and it was with wood arrows and a 75#@30" Howard Hill bamboo lammed Tembo..(Schultz made)

Still have the NFAA silver ring with turquoise stone and NFAA logos either side..Jim

Dire Wolf: I took silver in the IFAA world's and north america in the 90's in longbow... and never got anything near that nice.

No its not what it used to be because guys today mostly don't want challenge, they just wanna score good. Thing is that doesn't matter, you're shooting whats required today,plus adding the challenge of wood. Best of luck George. Now, go kick butt!!

Thanks Guys, I appreciate the input a lot.

hmmmm.... Personally, I've always found scoring good to a challenge.

It's a shame they took the distance down to 50y in some states, I think the idea was to get more Longbows shooting, it's didn't help increase attendance numbers so maybe it should now go back to normal distances.

My better half Katrin shoots a 37# Longbow with 360g POC's, every IFAA World/Euros she has shot in she would have ended up in top 5 in mens div, 04 worlds in Watkins Glen she shot the second highest Animal round in Longbow. If a girl with 37# Longbow can manage 70 and 80 yards with no issues no reason why us can us guys cannot.

zetabow, over the years here we have become a society that thinks we need to make everything easier to fit those who can't, or think they can't compete. The old way was for archers to really work on their form to become archers that can shoot the rounds as they were intended to be shot. So to be all-inclusive, everything is made easier. Not my idea for sure, but typical of how things are done nowadays. If you can't make the grade, they change the game so you can.

Geo.Stout..I'm clicking the "LIKE" button on that sentiment..:)

IF doing challengeing things well was easy( or made easier by lowering the bar) why EVERYONE would be excellent..:)Jim

Kinda of a leave no archer behind kind of thing.

Greetings fellas & or ladies. I've been a archer/bowhunter starting 59 years now. When I started in 1956 NFAA Field, hunter & animal was basically what you shot + target. 3-D was few & always home made targets & considered "novelty" shoots. Anyway, on the old scoring field face shooting barebow & 45#s I consistently shot field scores just over 400 & many 425s. I even posted a clean 14 target animal round. When I went to a sight I was consistently over 500 & shooting 42#s. I won the 1970 Great Lakes sectional shooting fingers, chek-it-site & 42# American Archery 70" pro supreme. I shot a near perfect field & a perfect 560 animal round. Now, 20 years shooting longbows & recurves I changed to compounds when they took over in the mid 70s & yes, have managed to do very well with them. Now, with bragging & background out of the way I JUST ordered a Ozark Mtn. longbow 68" & 50#s. My goal, IF my summer of practice revives my past ability with this bow will be to shoot the NFAA Nationals outdoor field championships. In those 5 days I hope to shoot near or over the 400 score. I will be there shooting longbow & wood arrows or compound but I'm going to try my darndest to shoot the longbow. Regardless of my score at the Nationals or any other tournament, I know one thing, I will enjoy myself & the friendship of meeting new archers. I shot 38 biggame animals in those stickbow days & mostly wood arrows so, I know I will be trying to up that number to an even 40. I'll try & keep my progress posted.. Hell, I may be lucky to break 100.

George and others, couldn't you just shoot from the longer stakes just for fun? My friend and I did that last year in a field round. We had a problem though. The host club hadn't trimmed the shooting lanes enough to allow for the trajectories of our arrows it took to reach the longer targets so we couldn't shoot them. They trimmed them for compounds.

reddogge-I saw this tree, branch problem for longbow shooters at the Nationals at Yankton last July.

reddogge, I shoot for fun all the time, and I have always shot the longer ranges. The point is, I want to do some competing this year again on the field range, so I need to follow the rules. I may find that those rules are tough enough for an old fart like me, or I may not. I've never shot longbow with wood arrows so wel'll see how it goes. I was 34 years old the last time I shot serious competition so I'll see what transpires. After 112 arrows, not including practice, I'll likely be ready for a nap.

I can also shoot in a different class, "Bowhunter Barebow", if I want and that includes the longer ranges. I doubt anyone would argue if I wanted to shoot the 80 yard walkup while they shot all arrows from the 50 yard stake. 8^). I'm still awakening to the fact that I'm "Senior Plus" class.

John,

There wer a number of lanes they pruned after the first or second day of the IFAA shoot. I think the 60-yard target on Rushmore was one of them. I remember looking at it and thinking there was no way a longbow or selfbow shooter could get an arrow through it.

George I bet you a pack of broadheads you can and will hit that goal. If you don't I'll be surprised. Old farts tend to be stubborn.

Well you guys that shoot field are awesome! My old man and I went and played around at a local field course not long ago and I realized I suck!! Lol shot from 50 and from 80 and I was lucky to hit the back stop at all! Lol almost all my practice is inside 30 (max shooting distance in the backyard range) it was a heck of a fun time though. Maybe when the kiddo is a bit older we can take it up together.

Field has always been my favorite & I've always said, a 28 target field round will separate the men from the boys.

I did get me a 68" 50# longbow & will be practicing for some of those shoots. Looking around for wooden arrows now as I will shoot traditional. Ozark Mountain, Ozark hunter is my new toy.

I field archery with a 66" A&H three piece longbow with a 16" RC riser, #51@29" at my draw. Victory 45-60 shafts cut to 30.25"and 165gr. pile. They are just local matches mostly at Rube Powell Archery Range in Balboa Park, centered in beautiful San Diego, Cailfornia. We have a couple near 70mit targets and the bow lobs them out well. I've decided this longbow set up is the best for me. Truthfully, I've not shot a recurve in a field round yet and save the recurve for 3D. Animal,Hunter, Field, 900...longbow. My bud WV Mountaineer is making me my first couple dozen wood arrows; for the longbow.

The IFAA World record Animal Round was 396. At the IFAA World Field Championship held in Yankton S.D. in August 2014 I shot a 452 Animal Round. Does that count?

Oh I need to clarify. That was in the IFAA Historical Bow class. I shot that 452 with a self bow.

The IFAA World record Animal Round was 396.

Bender you're mistaken it's 480, I've been fortunate to have shot the highest Animal round in every World/Europeans I've attended....wish I could do the same with the Field/Hunter rounds ;-)

I'm also very lucky to have a full Field, Target and 3D course outside my front door, the only downside I tend to spend more time maintaining the courses than shooting.

As I clarified I now hold the World record Field Animal Round in IFAA Historical Bow with a 452.

You can check it yourself

http://www.ifaa-archery.org/index.php/scorerecord/records/wfrecords

Selfbow, wood arrows, shot off the hand.

I've shot many animal rounds over the years, and the scoring is not the same....usually a person will shoot a much higher animal round score..shooting 3 arrows with sequential scoring per arrow. Many times a person can shoot near a hundred points higher at times on that round.

My quest is on the field and hunter faces, where a 400 is much harder to attain @ 4 arrows per target. Back when I was young, it was likely a lot easier for me than now at near 70. Anyway, I found that the PSAA has a 50 yard maximum for all the Traditional classes so that may make it more attainable. I personally like the old distances that included 55, 60, 65 and the 80 yard walkup.

I'm not using a three piece hybrid, I'm using a standard longbow configuration.

Darn George, if I lived a little closer to you , I would be glad to hook up with you and shoot one. I tried shooting a hunters round a couple of summers ago with my GN Traditional longbow and loved it. It is a challenge for sure. Jim :)

Well you're only two states over Jim. 8^).

I have several ranges now within 30 couple miles and they are PSAA Clubs, so I can get my registration again.

Yes you're right one does tend to score higher on the Animal Round.

So I guess that although it it is a sanctioned and recognized IFAA and NFAA Field Tournament Round it doesn't count?

Okey Dokey

Bender, it counts as an animal round score, and it was a good score. Nothing about my reply was meant to be negative. It's just a different round.

Apologies I missed the clarification bit about be Historical Bow, that's a great score by the way.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here