Beginner's Guide to Traditional Archery

by Brian J. Sorrells

- Easy-to-understand instruction for traditional archery - Covers both target shooting and bowhunting - Includes the author's exclusive tiered training program for instinctive shooting with in-depth advice on selecting bows, arrows, and accessories The popularity of traditional archery has exploded in recent years, and this handy, readable guide serves as the perfect introduction for anyone looking to break into the sport. From selecting arrow shafts to refining your form to entering your first tournament, it explains in straightforward, no-nonsense prose how to get started. Whether you've never shot an arrow or are making the move from compound bows, you're certain to benefit from the author's time-tested training program for instinctive shooting, which develops a foundation of shooting skill through repetition.

Genres: Nonfiction

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

Reviews

[Kim]

Solid beginners book but doesn't cover it all. Gives a lot of information on tuning your bow and arrows before it tells you how to shoot. This seems backwards to me as you must shoot the aforementioned bow an arrows in order to tune your set up, but as long as you read the whole thing through you'll get to it eventually. The shooting advice was good and straight forward, and the arrow tuning was also easily understood. Not much on sizing a bow or what to look for when getting your first set up but its a quick read and gives good practical shooting suggestions.

[Erica]

This is a basic introduction to archery equipment and techniques. I presume the b&w photos all feature the author, Mr. Sorrells, and were taken by his hunting partner & fellow police officer, Bill Phillips. They clearly illustrate the equipment, stance, and form used in instinctive traditional archery. At 105 pages, the book feels complete & thorough, without going into either history or competition. It includes some suggested activities and training ideas to improve accuracy, and basic equipment maintenance. It is clearly most useful for those who are practicing field-target archery and may or may not be interested in hunting - it doesn't cover anything about hunting.

[Seth]

I loved this book. It is simple, straightforward, to the point, friendly, encouraging and readable.
It is a quick read but I think I will make excellent use of the advice that it provides for the foreseeable future. It also filled in quite a few gaps that I managed to have during the course of my random and intermittent knowledge acquisition of instinct archery over the past decade or so. I would recommend this to any beginner of traditional instinct archery or anyone with some experience but lacking formal guidance. I am not sure if an advanced archer would find this valuable unless they wanted insight on how to explain these concepts to beginners.

[Mark]

I can't say I knew much about archery before reading this book, nor can I say whether or not it would be useful because I haven't yet put the knowledge in this book to any use. I do think it would be helpful to anyone in my shoes. It has given me a way to look at the process of buying a bow. It has taught me there are competition bows and hunting bows. There are even fishing bows. Then there are the arrows and the bow string. There are one-piece bows and bows that break down for easier transport. There are wood bows, fiberglass bows, and there are metal bows.

Yes, I am a neophyte when it comes to archery, but then that's why we read books -- to learn.

[Andy]

Useful for the beginner and it includes information that I really wish I had known before buying my first bow. However, there is also some more advanced information that I'm not really sure is useful to someone just picking up a traditional bow for the first time, though I won't complain about the additional information. The only real issue I take with the book is that it's resource lists are a bit outdated, though that's always the risk when including resources in a book that doesn't have planned updates. I'd recommend this for beginners.

[Erin]

As others have noted, this book is set up a bit backwards. I think it’s most helpful if you read it once you’re already comfortable shooting but are looking to improve your form; a complete beginning would be a bit lost. But I think a complete beginner is best learning in person anyway. If that’s you, reach out to your local archery club or shoot in range and ask about introductory lessons. *then* read this book.

[Ian Kuhn]

Good read

As someone that hasn't that hasn't shot a how in almost 30 years it was very informative, and actually had more information than I needed as I was just looking for basic information for target practice e rather than bowhunting as well.

Chapters were broken down well though so I could skip those chapters that did not pertain.

[Anders]

This is a great little book on archery. It's very easy to read and encouraging in tone.
The details in some of the photographs blur together a bit in the dark areas, but no information is lost. It just looks a bit dated.
The book is packed with good advice and I wish it was a bit longer, especially covering more about form.

[Hamish Donaldson]

A great introduction to traditional archery

Covers all the essentials and gives you some great exercises and drills. Heartily recommended for anyone interested in traditional archery.

[Luis]

No está mal como referencia pero es muy, muy básico.

Al menos es muy cortito :-)

[Sebastian Jones]

Great to have as a beginner archer. Shows solid training techniques to develop accuracy and coordination.

[Logan Streondj]

Excellent book reviewing many of the important points of developing instinctive archery along with practice regimens.

[Aaron]

Great section on bare shaft tuning your bow. Other sections could have been longer and included better instruction.

[Benjamin]

I need a backyard to shoot in.

[Stephen Arnott]

An interesting book, but covers traditional archery as practised in the USA, with a heavy emphasis on bow hunting. It's of limited use to someone using an English longbow as the book's author favours aluminium arrows (not allowed in longbow competitive archery in the UK).

[Mark Bourdon]

Very good introduction to traditional and recurve bow archery. I've been shooting for about 8 months and probably should have read this 8 months ago, so I would definitely recommend this for new traditional bow archers.

[Tim]

Great prep for first bow hunt

Read this book prior to going on my first bow hunt. The training exercise is more than thorough. The instinctive shooting section was perfect for my use case

[Dani (The Pluviophile Writer)]

Review to come.

[Michael]

Quick read, I wish it was more detailed. It was still a pretty informative book.