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Originally Posted by N.Vodden  Much as i love and highly advocate field archery  i think Target is better for beginners as they can practice form and build up thier skill and accuracy on a nice flat surface so even footing, and any arrows over or undershot are much more easily retrieved in a flat field than undergrowth halfway up a mountain
It could be very discouraging to a beginner to smash or lose half of thier arrows so early on! |
Not all courses are mountaineering ones. And our beginners courses are taught on a flat section, or indoors. We also introduce newbies to the course from the easy pegs until their skills are up to the difficult ones.
Our targets are placed with care given to the background, very few arrows are lost, those that are, turn up via the metal detector or grass rake, or in the arrow bin a week or so later most times. Very few arrows are smashed. No more than those that get broken by hitting wooden target stands. During the week, our woods are accessed by ramblers and other visitors. The forestry agency are very critical about arrows lying about, or ricochets into the paths etc.
So no, I would not advocate telling prospective archers to shoot GNAS to learn, then switch to field. With the quoted 1 in 3,000 retention rate, that would hardly encourage a thriving membership. With the new NFAS membership system it will be interesting to see how many newbies stay on in the future.