Traditional Archery

When reading about traditional archery, the Scythians nomads of antiquity come to mind. Well known for their ability to breed horses and galvanize the most precious trait of the individual animals through selective breeding, it is not surprising that the traditional archery enthusiast who wishes to reenact the martial art that was made popular by this civilization aims to learn more about shooting arrows while galloping at full speed on horseback.

In many ways, all traditional archery may be traced back to the use of bows and arrows for the sake of defense, offense, as well as hunting, and Scythians added the element of the motion to the discipline. Thus, traditional archery sales is beginning to take off in the United States, and even though many competitions focus less on skills and more on the latest and greatest titanium and steel, it is modern traditional archery that seeks to once again wed style to skill.

Traditional archery bows are usually short bows that are made from wood rather than metal. Additionally, traditional archery products will focus on authenticity rather than upgrades, and thus you will find bronze arrowheads rather than steel, and measurements that will have most modern archers moaning with frustration.

The former owner of Archery Traditions - Dan Quillian – once spoke about the physical training that is part and parcel of traditional archery; those who engage in the largest traditional archery competitions, especially those who follow the Scythian model, held in Hungary prove him right by adding extensive strength training regimens to their daily workout routines. While the occasional traditional archery supply shopper will search for gadgetry to make the use of traditional archery equipment more palatable to the Western physique and taste, the pure aficionado scoffs at these little aids and instead seeks to draw the bow as it was intended in the Middle Ages.

Various stores, such as Valley Traditional Archery and Meggers Traditional Archery cater to a discerning clientele, while some have gone so far as to add used traditional archery gear ads to the various classifieds of any non-traditional archery magazine. Granted, traditional archery basics are oftentimes left to the interpretation of the event organizers or – for those who join a club – to the club presidents, but by and large there is a sharp divide between the traditional archery hobbyist who dabbles and plays and the traditional archery aficionado for whom authenticity is king.