Archery Types

There are three main types of archery: Target archery, Clout archery and Field archery. These are described below:

Target Archery

In Neston’s formal sessions Target archery is practiced, and our beginners courses will be taught this discipline . Target archery is a popular form of archery, where members shoot at stationary targets usually at distances from 18 to 90 meters (WA rounds) or 20 yards to 100 yards (Imperial rounds). There are four types of bows commonly used – bare bow, longbow, recurve or compound.

Archers are divided into seniors and juniors, with juniors being under the age of 18. The year is split into two season, the Outdoor season (Easter – October generally) and the Winter season (indoors) (October – March).

Clout Archery

Clout is a form of archery in which archers shoot arrows at a flag (Clout) scoring points depending on how close each arrow lands to the flag. The scoring zones are defined by a set radii from the flag pole, with each arrow scoring points similar to the rings of target archery depending on which scoring zone it lands in.

A single clout round consists of three dozen arrows, shot in ends of 6 arrows. Tournaments typically consist of a double clout round, in which a total of six dozen arrows is shot.

Juniors will shoot shorter distances from 80yds-75m upwards dependant on age and seniors will shoot 140yds-125m for Ladies and Gents shoot 180yds-165m. On the metric rounds compounds shoot 20m further.  Scoring zones for the WA rounds are 7.5m radius whilst for imperial rounds scoring zones are 12ft radius.

Field Archery

There are also members of Neston who take part in Field Archery which involves shooting at targets of varying (and often unmarked) distance, often in woodland and rough terrain. Field archery endeavours to improve the techniques and abilities required for bow hunting in a more realistic outdoor setting. This form of archery is carried out over unknown distances teaching you to shoot uphill, downhill and judge distances, often across rough terrain.

Field Archery is usually shot according to either IFAA (International Field Archery Association) rules or to World Archery (WA) rules. WA rounds consist of 24 targets, which may have marked or unmarked distances depending on the specific type of round. WA Field Archery is very popular in Western Europe.