• Archery Guides

The Best Way To Teach Yourself Archery

Posted by Andy Ryan

Posted at December 14, 2022

I always see people asking, “Can you teach yourself archery” and the short answer is yes. I will explain a few steps to practice and give tips on what bow you should choose.

Yes, You can teach yourself archery. It requires a lot of practice, but there is a lot of information online and videos that can help you improve your archery skills and shorten the time needed to become an archer.

How To Teach Yourself Archery For Beginners

If you decide to learn archery, you must focus on a few things to improve your overall shooting. I would recommend you use youtube in addition to this article because you will learn visually, and you can correct your form and technique by watching what the pros are doing.

Stance – How to stand while shooting

This is how you stand while you shoot. This is very important and greatly impacts your accuracy when you shoot. After shooting on your own, it could be a good idea to ask someone who knows what they’re doing to take a look at your stance. This way, you don’t learn a mistake that will be harder to un-learn than learning correctly.

Here Is a Youtube Video on Stance: 

Arrow nocking – How to attach the arrow to the string

Arrow nocking is the action of putting the arrow on your string. This seems like an unnecessary step to perfect, but it is more important than it seems. You need to find your perfect spot on the string and use the same spot for every single shot. This way, you can adjust the other parts of your shot according to your result on the target.

Here Is a Youtube Video on Arrow Knocking.

I mentioned the string in the text above. If you wonder, the string is the line attached from the top of the bow to the button.

Pulling – Pulling the string and charging power to the arrow

The string to power your arrow is important. Doing the pull perfectly is a must. It is best to learn to pull correctly to get you and your bow in a line to shoot accurately.

It is best if you use the right muscles not to injure yourself and not get tired. To do this, you need to: Raise your shoulder and elbow; when you do this, you activate the back muscles more and decrease the tension on your bicep. This will give you more power and more durability.

The Release – Perfecting the art of letting go of the arrow

The release looks easy, but it is not. At least if you’re going to learn it to perfection. There are usually a few things that get overlooked when it comes to releasing. A common mistake among beginners, I did this myself, so don’t worry, is to pluck the string. This is when you “help” the arrow to fly when the correct thing to do is to drop it.

To give you a clearer image, you can imagine holding your backpack the same way you are holding your string with only your fingers. Then you let it drop on the ground. You are not pushing it or using any necessary power to do so. Only let your fingers open up. That is exactly what you want to do when releasing the bow too. Releasing should not be a forced motion but a natural movement.

The last important step is the follow-through. When you release the string, your shot is not done. It would be best if you still aimed at your target throughout the follow-through. This will give you a cleaner shot, and you can feel it when you do it correctly.

This was a step I was terrible at, but with this youtube video, I improved a lot, and after a few days, my shot wasn’t horrible, but decent.

These are four important steps that I think you should put a lot of time and effort into, and after a while, you will see it pay off.

Why you should learn archery!

Shooting a bow and arrow is a lot of fun, but even more, fun when you hit where you want. I am happy that you are considering starting your archery carrier, but before you invest a huge amount of money, there are a few things you need to know.

How to Be a Pro at Archery

To become an archery pro, you must dedicate a lot of time and practice. Correct your mistakes and get help from professional archers or at least experienced archers. Ask them if they can take a look at your archery form and if there are any mistakes that you should fix. 

Continue to improve on those points and practice until you become the archer you want to become. We have a full in-depth guide on becoming a pro at archery here.

Steps Before Buying Your First Archery Equipment

Before investing in the bow and equipment, I suggest you go to a bow and arrow club nearby and ask if you could try for a day. Then you can find out if this is a hobby for you. Maybe you could get tips and tricks from the locals or find new friends to shoot with later.

As time goes by and you are sure that you want to become the new robin hood or arrow, then there are just a few things that you need to do.

⦁ Buy a bow
⦁ Get Arrows
⦁ Find the correct draw length and height

How to Purchase Your First Bow

Buying a bow can be confusing; a few bows look like the newest technology from Apple, and some look like carved wood. They have different purposes and usages. Let me tell you in short what you need to know and buy. If you want a full in-depth guide on this topic, you can find it here: Types of bows.

Buying a Decent Bow from The Start

A common myth is that you must start with a cheap beginner bow and buy a better one after time and practice. If you continue to do so, you will buy four types of bows throughout your career. This will result in a much bigger expense than buying one good one from the beginning, but if you choose to do this, you need to be 100% sure that archery is something you are interested in and not just a one-time thing.

It’s smart to buy an intermediate bow right away. It will be much better to use than a fiberglass bow, and you will be pleased with its performance for a longer time. After practicing your skills, you will probably buy another more specialized bow. Hunting, Competition, etc. But at this point, you will have more experience and can make a better purchase with your new knowledge.

These are the bows we recommend for beginners trying to learn archery

Here are the bows that I was recommended, and the bows I found were the best on the market for a beginner.

1. Southwest Archery Spyder

We have selected 3 recurve bows that are perfect for a beginner—starting with the southwest archery spyder. Wich has the overall best score and is just a fantastic bow. It is made by the same company that makes the popular Samick Sage. Wich, we will discuss further in this article. Still, if the Samick Sage is one of the most popular bows, the archery spyder has a slight edge. Because of its improved quality, it’s more polished and is lighter. Here are a few pros and cons.

Pros

• Takedown
• Wide range and draw weights
• Light
• Limbs interchangeable with Samick Sage/Journey

Cons

• Requires a tool for a takedown

2. Samick Sage

This is also a light, durable recurve bow. A great bow overall. It shoots and feels like an upper-tier bow. It comes in various weights, but I recommend going low on the draw weight for your first bow. I will explain how to find your draw weight at the end of this post. But if you go with the low-weight draw, upgrading further down the road is easy by changing the limbs. 

Pros

• Takedown (Tool is included)
• Possible to upgrade strings because of limb reinforcement
• 64″ AMO limbs available

Cons

• String upgrade if needed for advanced shooters
• For hunting, a string silencer is required.

3. SAS Courage

A traditional takedown is barebow of high quality. It is only available as a 60″ AMO. That’s why it has a smaller score than the other bows. The bow comes with a 3-year warranty from the manufacturer, which is great.

Pros

• Available for both left and right-handed
• It comes with an arrow rest, usually
• 3-year warranty

Cons

• Can not reinforce the string