Longbow Archery - Shooting, Hunting And Accessories

I remember the first time I stepped into the Calgary Archery Center. It was the same feeling you get when you walk into Canadian Tire or even when you knew that wood shop class was coming up next in school.

I went with my buddy who just started archery as well and he went the recurve bow route. At any rate, I walked around the corner, past all the sleek compound bows and there they were. An assortment of recurves and my longbow.

I couldn't even tell the difference between a longbow and a recurve bow at the time but once I held the longbow, I had the archery bug.

Needless to say, I had never tried archery before but I wanted this longbow with the pretty wood grain. The shop owner asked me if I wanted to shoot it. I was scared to death! I had NO idea how this whole archery thing worked. How to aim, draw the bow, nock the arrow.. nothing. But I gave it a shot.

I walked up to the lane line for my first ever attempt at archery. I drew back on the longbow... and launched it off into space! I shot two more arrows with equal results but didn't care.

I dropped my $450 on a Martin Savannah longbow right there and then and have shot it almost every day since.

I don't know what it is about archery that is so compelling. I mean a longbow is just a piece of wood yet it almost made me cringed to write that with such cold efficiency. It's something primitive. There's history and for some reason, thinking of myself as an archer that can harvest my own food makes me feel more like a man.

I also like the hobby factor of traditional longbow archery. Refletching my own arrows and looking for odd scrapes of things that might be made into a quiver. The social aspect of primitive archery is also something that has been a really welcome surprise. Actually, it's not just confined to archers that use wood. It's anyone involved in archery at all.

If you have a few guys hanging out at the archery range throwing some arrows downrange, they're all good to talk. A compound guy will look at your longbow and say "Not to much to go wrong there eh?" and you'll look at his compound bow in stunned silence and think "How does all that work?"

Regardless, you'll find a friend at the archery range.