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Archery is now a very widespread sport and hobby all over the planet, but in the past, long ago, it was even more popular. Every army had archers and men hunted with bows for food. Every country or every territory invented its own particular design of bow and therefore, even nowadays, there are many different types of archery bows. Modern technology has meant that new varieties of archery bows are still being invented.

Some bows were invented by people who rode horses a lot. These bows were shorter, other bows were intended for long range shooting and these bows were longer. I will list some of the main varieties of archery bows below with a short explanation of each

The traditional Welsh or English longbow was made from a single piece of yew (or other wood) at least the length of the bowman, but up to about six feet six inches (two metres). It was ‘D’ shaped in profile with the flat, bark side, facing away from the string. The rounded inner side followed the natural growth rings of the limb. The timber itself was left to dry for two years.

The draw weight of a longbow was roughly 160-180 pounds, which is hard to accomplish by contemporary man. In the days of the longbow, in the Middle Ages, men and boys were obliged by law to do target practice with longbows at the village butts every Sunday. The target range for a man was to be no less than 220 yards by command of king Henry VIII.

The longbow was used to great effect as long range (400 yards) artillery by the British army at Crecy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415, raining lethal three ounce, three foot long arrows down on the enemy. As the armies drew closer the longbow could be used accurately to aim at particular targets. Not long after these great victories, which can be attributed to the archers and their longbows, bows were superseded as military weapons by firearms.

Flat bows, just as the longbow, can be over six feet long, are not recurved and can be crafted out of a single length of wood. However, they are rectangular in profile, not ‘D’ shaped.

Short bows are similar to longbows or flat bows in every aspect bar size and because they are shorter, they do not have the power or the distance of the other bows. Sort bows are easy to carry and easier to use in cramped conditions like woods or a forest, so they were used mostly for hunting small animals.

Recurve bows are more effective that any other bow inch for inch of length. The tips of a recurve point frontward when the bow is unstrung and look odd to the uninitiated. The recurve was very common from the Mediterranean to the Far East from about 2000 BC until 1700 AD. Nowadays, the recurve is the only type of bow permitted to be used in the Olympic Games.

Compound bows use very stiff materials in their assembly so have pulleys or cams to help bend or draw the bow. This mechanical assistance to drawing the bow to the best length means less physical force on behalf of the archer, which means that the archer con focus on the target more.

Crossbows have the limbs mounted crossways on a piece of timber and the draw string is held by mechanical means until it is let loose with a trigger. The arrow, or bolt, is a great deal shorter. They are practically half-way houses to guns.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on various topics, but is presently involved with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special deals, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Do you have a leisure pursuit that you like to carry out out of doors or are you permanently glued to the seat in front of your computer? If you never get out, then that is a shame and you ought to take that common piece of guidance and get out more often .

And do what? – you may inquire. Yes, well that is up to you, is it not? But there are hundreds if not thousands of things that you can do outdoors and they are all better than sitting down in front of your PC no matter what you are doing with your computer.

I will confess that I spend too much time at my desk, although, in my defense, I will say that that is how I make my living. However, I do like to get out-of-doors sometimes too. I live in a country where foreigners, such as myself, are not allowed to own or carry anything that might be construed as a weapon. This includes penknives as well.

When I venture out into the beautiful countryside it is only to walk with my wife and look for animals – mostly snakes and birds.. However, I have had a lifelong fascination for archery.

Something inside me desires to be able to hit a target from a long distance. I do not want to kill anything, but I am OK with people who do so long as it is for a good reason.

It would be fantastic to make a bow and the arrows to accompany it. I am Welsh and have always wanted a Welsh longbow, although it requires a great deal of strength to pull a longbow. The minimum draw weight in medieval times used to be 160 lbs for a war bow, for hunting it was 100 lbs, but these days it is more like 60 lbs.

However, this is still pretty heavy for modern man, who does not usually pick up anything weightier than a pint of beer.

There are some great archery dealers, but if you do not live near one, you ought to go on line and either order from there or get a catalogue sent to you. Two good places to begin are ‘Footed Shaft’ and ‘Three Rivers’ archery suppliers.

Both of these firms will send you your chosen goods through the post and they have every kind of archery equipment that you could require. For example, they have finished goods such as bows and arrows, but they also sell nocks, feathers, arrow shafts and points so that you can make your own arrows.

Do you want to make your own bow too? No problem. You can either buy a kit with all the bits and instructions or you can buy a book or DVD and buy the parts yourself.

These and other on line archery supplies dealers offer good value for money and have very wide-ranging stocks of archery goods. Their catalogues and web sites are easy to browse and use as well.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on various subjects, but is presently involved with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Scott Tucker’s racing schedule, for most people, would be an overcommitment. Competing in 5 series in 7 countries for the 2011 season, Tucker has been literally all over the map for the past 10 months. But for Tucker, his racing schedule-which includes the Grand-Am Rolex series, the American Le Mans Series, the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series, the Ferrari Challenge series and the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge series-is truly evident of simply commitment. The schedule doesn’t overwhelm him because he’s doing it for the sole reason that he enjoys it. The sometimes four-race weekends don’t stress him out because he wants to be at each and every one. There is perhaps no better way to illustrate Tucker’s commitment to all of the series and cars that have gotten him where he is today than to look at his five-year relationship with Ferrari, where everything started.

Now, Tucker is a three-time national driving champion who has competed in some of the newest, fastest cars in the industry and stood at podium next to the racing veterans who have been doing it the longest. But just five short years ago, Tucker was climbing into the driver’s seat of a Ferrari for his first full season as a race car driver, in the Ferrari Challenge series. He raced at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and later he took 5th place at Portland International Raceway, his best finish of the season. He then took third in one of the two North American races at the World Finals in Italy.

Tucker drove Ferrari again in 2007 for his second full season of the Ferrari Challenge. In May 2007, he nabbed his first career win at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Tucker then created his Level 5 Motorsports team in 2008, entering the FC series as both owner and driver. He took his Ferrari to the top six times in the 13-race season and finished second overall in the final drivers’ standings, and then won both of the two North American races at World Finals. Tucker took a Ferrari V8 Crawford GT to four Rolex Sports Car Series races in the same season. In 2009, Tucker won 10 races, which made him the winningest driver in Ferrari Challenge’s history. His Boardwalk Ferrari team won the Dealer’s Championship.

When Tucker decided to pursue even more prestigious racing events, including the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and the American Le Mans Series, he knew his increasing opportunities were in part thanks to his success with Ferrari. Not only that, but he still loved racing Ferraris. So to ditch his Ferrari career after finding so much success in the series was never an option. Even as he added four additional series to his racing schedule, along with cutting-edge supercars in the Le Mans Prototype classes, Ferrari always made the list, too. Tucker has raced in up to four different races in a single race weekend to accommodate all of his commitments.

In 2010, Tucker began a partnership with Ferrari to test and develop its new 599XX for the 2011 season. Tucker’s new No. 55 Ferrari 599XX improved the mechanics, technical specifications, technology and speed of its predecessors. The fact that he not only raced for Ferrari while racing in four other series but also spent time creating a new car with the program is testament to Tucker’s solid ties to Ferrari. Without Ferrari, he might never have ignited an engine on the race track, and he isn’t ignorant to the fact. As his schedule permits, he will continue to race in the Ferrari Challenge series just as he did five years ago.

Find more on Tucker at Tucker