This page is to give you some basic information as to the common shooting styles that archers in IFAA Field Archery shoot, what they are and what they mean. Please note this is simply an overview of the main styles, if you want the full information and regulations governing all the styles please check the IFAA rule book.
The Style you shoot is reduced to an abbreviation for the score card and Class card, for instance I shoot Adult Male Barebow Recurve, that translates to – AMBBR.
Adults and Juniors have a full range of styles but Cubs have a limited range.
A glossary of common archery terms is on this link.
Oh, and why do we wear knives? As soon as you put your first arrow into a tree you know why!
Freestyle unlimited
Freestyle Unlimited shoot with sights and a release aid, and they shoot compound Bows.
The bows tend to be around 50 – 60lb draw weight but due to the technology of the bow the archer may only be holding 20lb at full draw
This is the top style in the sense of the equipment used and the expectation to shoot the higest scores.
It is the style that therefore has the highest minimum score required to achieve A class
Freestyle limited
Freestyle Limited shoot with sights and stabalisers as well as with a clicker. They can shoot compound or Recurve Bows, the most common is Recurve.
The bow tends to be between 36 and 45lb draw weight for men and 32 to 36lb for ladies. The archer is holding that at full draw
This is the top style in recurve archery in the sense of the equipment used and the expectation to shoot the higest scores.
It is the style that therefore has the highest minimum score required to achieve A class in recurve archery
Bowhunter / Unlimited / Limited
Bowhunter Limited / Unlimited shoot with fixed pins as sights. Limited shoot off the fingers and unlimited shoot with a release aid. They can shoot Compound or Recurve Bows, the most common is Compound.
This is the mid range style in archery in the sense of the equipment used and the expectation to shoot high scores.
Barebow
Barebow shoot without sights but may have stabalisers and a clicker. They can shoot compound or Recurve Bows, the most common is Recurve.
The bow tends to be between 36 and 45lb draw weight for men and 32 to 36lb for ladies. The archer is holding that at full draw.
The archer uses either ‘stringwalking’, ‘facewalking’ or ‘gapping’ to change the aim point depending on the distance being shot and in some cases a combination of all of these!
Longbow
Longbow archers shoot the closest to ‘natural’ archery, in the picture is an archer using an American Flatbow, this is a new variation on a longbow using laminated wood layers, the bow has a flat profile as against a D section that a traditional longbow has.
This style is seen by many as the purest form of Archery, the archer uses a one piece bow and wooden arrows, sighting is by line of sight with a flatbow and or ‘intuitive’ with a longbow.
Historically longbows were up to 100lb+ draw weight, most archers today would not be able to draw one let alone aim one, the shoot action is a single smooth movement going from draw to release hence the ‘intuitive’ aiming.