BOWS AND ARROWS — KLOPSTEG 571 



down steeply to stick in the sod on whicli the target is described. In 

 wand shooting, a vertical lath 2 inches wide is set up at 100 yards, and 

 hits are counted regardless of their elevation on the wand. 



A second category called flight shooting puts a premium on skill in 

 shooting for maximum distance. The bows and arrows are especially 

 designed for the purpose. Another, field archery, requires a course of 

 14 targets, laid out where possible up hill and down dale, with dis- 

 tances only approximately known, and with targets roughly propor- 

 tional in diameter to the distances from the shooting stands. Hilly 

 woodland is preferred terrain, with natural hazards, or with artificial 

 ones built in. 



Still another bow-and-arrow sport is archery golf, played on a golf 

 course. Bows and arrows are substituted for clubs and balls, and the 

 cup is replaced by a circular disk of the same diameter as the cup, 

 supported vertically. Some historians of sport surmise that the 

 "antient and honourable game" of golf is descended from the old 

 archery game of rovers. In this form of contest the participants, 

 ambling about the countryside, selected a series of marks as they 

 strolled, and scored the total number of shots to hit the marks, low 

 score winning. Archery golf may, in fact, be "rovers reviv'd," in 

 modified form. 



The fifth major category, and the one growing most rapidly, is that 

 of hunting wild game with bow and arrow. Most States have long 

 open seasons limited to bow hunting, usually preceding the rifle hunt- 

 ing season for deer. Deer hunting is the most popular version. Hun- 

 dreds of deer fall annually to the bow, but this is only a small fraction 

 of those still being taken each year with rifles. The word "still" is 

 used by design, because many of today's bow hunters are yesterday's 

 riflemen. Other large game being hunted with the bow includes bob- 

 cats, mountain lions, javelina, elk, and moose in this country, as well 

 as black and brown bears. Eabbits, squirrels, and upland birds are 

 among the small game. Carp and gar fishing with the bow and special 

 arrows is becoming increasingly popular. 



The requirements for precision shooting where the object is to hit 

 a mark have already been enumerated. These are closely approxi- 

 mated in most modern bows and arrows. Thus any appreciable 

 scatter on a target of six matched arrows may be attributed to the 

 archer's technique, to the variations in liis performance in the different 

 shots. Variable and gusty winds increase the scatter, whereas in a 

 steady wind, the effect can be minimized by allowing for drift. With 

 all these factors considered, it seems reasonable to use the comparison 

 of scores of today's champion archers with the corresponding scores of 

 35 years ago as a measure of improvement in the equipment during 

 the intervening period. Before the improved bows and arrows were 



672-1 74 — 63 4 2 



