using a bow for (victimless) sport.
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You don't need any form of license to own a bow whether you want to use it for any kind of target archery, reenactment activities, or even just keeping it hanging around the house doing nothing. You can't use a bow to hunt any animal (including birds and fish) in the UK. Some places won't sell to you if you are under age (usually 16).
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There are lots of strong opinions about where you can actually use a bow. You are usually allowed to shoot in in your back garden, subject to local bye-laws, but ricochets and glance-offs can be very unpredictable and if an arrow leaves your land you could be in big trouble. You can't shoot on someone else's land without their permission (could be accused of poaching). Nor can you shoot on someone else's land if you might endanger others. If you have your own extensive land (200 yards square +) then you will have no problems.
The usual advice is join an archery club - however I found most are rather snotty towards "primitive" archers and those self-taught, especially if they have a GNAS/Target archery bias. Field Archery Clubs and the Primitive Archery and Atlatl Society will be more like-minded
NS
The usual advice is join an archery club - however I found most are rather snotty towards "primitive" archers and those self-taught, especially if they have a GNAS/Target archery bias. Field Archery Clubs and the Primitive Archery and Atlatl Society will be more like-minded
NS
If you have permission from the land owner then target archery is fine and legal, no licence required.
Obviously you should take precautions to protect yourself and others. You don't want to hurt anyone and you don't want to be sued.
You should really only shoot where there is enough spare room around you, and if there's any chance of any public wandering into that area then you'd be better off if you clearly marked it out.
I'd recommend at least 20m either side of you, and 50m beyond your target as an overshoot.
Unpredictable things can happen to arrows with some larger angles of error than you might expect.
I've been shooting pointy sticks at pointless paper targets for a number of years myself
No one's been seriously seriously hurt or killed doing archery for a while in the UK. It'd be good to keep archery out of the Daily Mail and hence my reasons for being cautious. *grins*
Obviously you should take precautions to protect yourself and others. You don't want to hurt anyone and you don't want to be sued.
You should really only shoot where there is enough spare room around you, and if there's any chance of any public wandering into that area then you'd be better off if you clearly marked it out.
I'd recommend at least 20m either side of you, and 50m beyond your target as an overshoot.
Unpredictable things can happen to arrows with some larger angles of error than you might expect.
I've been shooting pointy sticks at pointless paper targets for a number of years myself
No one's been seriously seriously hurt or killed doing archery for a while in the UK. It'd be good to keep archery out of the Daily Mail and hence my reasons for being cautious. *grins*
I thought it was a Welshman in charge of a wagon and horses after dark in Hereford - been keeping mine at home just in case for years.......
Isn't it all the above? However, now the law accepts that the Welsh and Scots are just another form of human being, later laws regarding murder and human rights also apply to them. So, while technically legal under one law, shooting them is very definitely illegal under more recent and therefore binding legislation.
Tempting though it has always been to test the theory, it would mean moving to or at least visiting somewhere which borders Wales. York wouldn't be so bad I suppose, if it weren't for being unable to buy a decent pint while there.
Tempting though it has always been to test the theory, it would mean moving to or at least visiting somewhere which borders Wales. York wouldn't be so bad I suppose, if it weren't for being unable to buy a decent pint while there.
Isn't it all the above? However, now the law accepts that the Welsh and Scots are just another form of human being, later laws regarding murder and human rights also apply to them. So, while technically legal under one law, shooting them is very definitely illegal under more recent and therefore binding legislation.
Does the afore mentioned law also cover chavs as their claim to being human has still not been proven
Chav shooting is pest control.
I have often thought that they would make a good substitute for hares or foxes...
One Burberry clad "yoof" and say two deer hounds in a wide field.
I have often thought that they would make a good substitute for hares or foxes...
One Burberry clad "yoof" and say two deer hounds in a wide field.
Chav shooting is pest control.
I have often thought that they would make a good substitute for hares or foxes...
One Burberry clad "yoof" and say two deer hounds in a wide field.
Classic
The other things to think about if using a bow made yourself is the personal safety.
If you are making a bow yourself then consider the amount of power that might be released uncontrollably if one of the fades breaks. Test it using scales etc. check the fades for unbalanced stress and get good advice if you aren't sure. Also NEVER blank draw a bow, this is a basic rule of field archery to avoid over stressing the fades and causing a nasty accident, drawing a bow beyond the natural length even when properly made and tested can be fatal. Having the arrow in there as a gauge stops you doing that.
Consider if you draw a powerful bow of seasoned wood beyond its range and it snaps, you have a very powerful recoil with some possibly very sharp seasoned wood involved. Femoral arteries and neck area are quite prone as are eyes etc. take care with a bow ^^
Yep in my limited experience there is a tendency to be snotty toward "primitive archers" or anyone who sees archery as anything than a competitive team sport. Some time ago I belonged to a University archery club, it was not my first experience of archery so I did not need to be taught how to shoot. I got ****** off by the ethos of the club eventually, the fact that there was a coach telling you the proper way to shoot, discouraging the use of any natural or traditional technique. The hi tech bow was god, and anyone who brought a long bow or recurve bow was regarded disparagingly. I had enough of it and quit, it's put me off the "sport" forever as I don't think I could find a friendly place to simply shoot a bow (let alone for what I consider a "real bow" and that is not some techie wonder) for the sheer enjoyment of the experience alone. Alas I don't have a garden or private land to practice on.
An unfortunate experience and in mine not a typical one. I have experience of quite a few clubs and have been a member of two, both of which are quite happy for you to shoot whatever bowstyle you like from the latest high tec marvel to a homemade stick. Some (from across the kit spectrum) are competitive, attending tournaments and monitoring their handicaps etc., others shoot purely for the pleasure of doing so. Both camps co-exist in an atmosphere of tongue-in-cheek banter. The one thing that is always there though - and by necessity - is a safety-first based discipline. You can't have tens of archers with lethal equipment all doing as they feel when they feel like it without risking something very unpleasant, and the reason they all go along with it is because if they didn't they would be regulated out of existence.
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Its gauging the competence thats the problem - a lot of people would quite happily go and buy any ill-matched (to themselves) bow and equally ill-matched arrows and wander into the woods without the faintest idea of the risks invlolved - not good for them, the wildlife, or anybody else within range.
I think the same can be said with air rifles or sling shots i would bet the rong people could get a licence for a shot gun so there is no
differents the rong people will do damage sadly what ever but they dont ban guns?.
A good friend of mine who is a very competent bowhunter allways says you never see an arrow in a road sign but quite often bullet holes.
differents the rong people will do damage sadly what ever but they dont ban guns?.
A good friend of mine who is a very competent bowhunter allways says you never see an arrow in a road sign but quite often bullet holes.
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