The Frogs and the Rosbifs: Drawing short at a straw target

After having gone 2 years without doing any, I've decided to get back into archery! I fell in love with the sport when I spent a year at Northumbria University, at which the team was then lead by David Wright, a British champion who came 3rd in his BUSA category at the tournament I attended in 2008.

Here's the bow I bought at the time; it's a Prostyle recurve with a draw weight of 34Lbs. Quite a light-weight bow, ideal for a beginner such as myself. Prostyle is a pretty common brand, available in most archery stores. I got mine at a great little shop in Notts called Custom Built Archery. The owners are extremely helpful and kind.

When I told one of my uncles that I was taking up archery, he produced a longbow seemingly out of knowing stating matter-of-factly that it had been "under his bed for years". He generously gave it to me. I have yet to string it and purchase suitable arrows, for budgetary reasons, but I did restore it by sanding off the old cracked varnishy coat, oiling it and repainting the tip markings. Of course, one has to use suitable arrows for each bow (weight, body and length), other wise the archer's paradox can cause this to happen! There are 3 markings on the front of the bow in 2 circles which I have yet to decipher. The draw weight is 46Lbs.

Among my recent purchases are a 3-tube quiver (about time!) and an arrow puller, used to safely remove arrows from the target without bending them.

I also bought a target bosse and target face! The bosse is 90x90cm and is made to withstand arrows shot from 25 to 30Lbs bows from a distance of 5 to 30 metres. None the less, after testing it in my garage, I've found that it can stop an arrow from my bow drawn almost to the max at barefly 6 paces! Good stuff. I now can't wait to go back out into a field to test it properly!