The bow and arrow was undoubtedly one of the tools developed by man at the beginning of his history, representing the greatest technological advance for many years, since it facilitated access to greater food resources through hunting.
It is not known exactly when it was first used, but it is known that in different places and at different times this new technology was developed, which surpassed in range and speed the use of spears or spear guns fired either by hand or with propellants, spear throwers or atlatls, greatly increasing their effectiveness.
Stone points have been found in Africa about 64 thousand years ago, and in Europe, especially in Spain, cave paintings with figures of archers have been found about forty thousand years ago. The use of the bow and arrow for hunting (as well as a weapon of war) remained the basic tool for hunting until the advent of gunpowder and later firearms.
However, this did not mean its disappearance, but rather it underwent a “transformation” from a hunting activity to a sporting activity that has reached our days: There are references that in ancient times Egyptians or Chinese already practiced archery as a sport, but if there is an important date in the history of archery is May 19, 1900, when at the Olympic Games held in Paris archery is included for the first time as an “Olympic” sport.
In reference to the types of bows, we can find the following: Recurve bow (Olympic), compound or pulley bow, instinctive recurve bow (made of wood), barebow, which is the same bow as the “Olympic” bow, but without the stabilization aids or aiming sight, and finally the most famous longbow or straight bow, always made of wood.
Currently in Spain there are different modalities of archery
This is known by all as Olympic shooting, whose current name is “Open Air”, a modality that is carried out on flat terrain, with the targets placed on their respective parapets at fixed distances that vary according to the type of bow used, 70 meters for the recurve bows used in the Olympics.
Indoor archery, as the name suggests, takes place in a covered area where a series of parapets and targets are placed at a fixed distance of 18 meters, the size of the target varying according to the type of bow used.
Field course, which consists of setting up a course of 24 parapets in an open space, shooting three arrows at each target, going from parapet to parapet until the end of the whole course, in which we find 12 of the targets at a known distance and twelve at an unknown distance.
But if there is an archery modality that brings us closer to the sensations of our ancestors, it is the 3D Forest Course. In this modality, as in the field, it is carried out in the open air, with a circuit of 24 targets. Here, however, the parapets and flat targets are no longer used, but different three-dimensional figures are placed along the course, which are usually real animals or not, and even lately the imagination of the manufacturers has been transferred to other types of figures, as we can see in the illustrations.
3D Forest Tour
In Madrid there are several clubs where you can practice this modality, but there is only one that maintains a fixed field course and a 3D forest course throughout the year, and that is the Archers of Madrid.
During the course, the archers shoot two arrows at each figure, scoring according to the area where the date has been nailed, they pick them up and go to the next target, following this cycle to finish the whole circuit.
Those archers who use a pulley or a compound bow only know that the maximum distance at which the figure will be placed is 45 meters, but at all times they do not know the distance at which it will be placed, so “in addition to being good archers, they must know how to calculate the distance well so as not to miss”.
In the case of longbow archers, instinctive or naked, they know that the range of distances will be between 30 and 3 meters, so throughout the course are placed on the ground some pegs of different colors so that each archer knows from where he has to shoot. Red piqueta for the compound archers, blue piqueta for the rest of the archers and white piquete so that children can also enjoy this activity by facilitating the shooting distance.
The 3D figures placed on the circuit are usually divided into four groups according to their size, and placed evenly so that there are large figures placed far apart and small ones placed closer together.
In the facilities of Arqueros de Madrid every month there are courses of initiation to archery, where both adults and children begin their journey in this fun outdoor sport, and also regularly held competitions, both at club level, regional and even national developing on several occasions Spanish Championships or National League shots, so it is easy to find novice archers who learn archery as archers of international level, in this discipline so unknown to the general public.
