Archery

 Archery must be one of the oldest sports/activities in the history of mankind. One of the MOST interesting events at the 2008 Olympics, to our surprise, was archery. If you ever get a chance, go see an archery match.

My earliest purchase, even pre-dating the canoe, was a fiberglass bow and arrows from the Sears and Roebuck CO. Where we lived, so far out in the country, that was my best bet to get a bow. I don't remember another bow until I was a Naval Officer stationed at Pax River, MD. There I killed my first whitetail with a recurve bow. I don't think I got a compound bow until after I arrived at U of AL in 1984. Sometime after that, one of my friends at church quit bow hunting and gave me his much nicer, much better compound bow. I am still using it.

When we moved to Maryland, Brenda got a bow and for 3 years we were "members" of our Pax River field archery group, who had a nice field archery course on base. We went several times and shot. In field archery, there are several targets at different distances that aren't marked. So you have to first estimate the range, adjust for that range, and then loose your arrow.

Last year I bought a cross-bow which became a legal method of hunting deer in AL a few years back. It kinda shoots like a short-range rifle. I like it for hunting because there is very little motion in aiming and shooting it. It is more like shooting a rifle than a bow though. I like it, as it is fast and accurate and like I said, little movement is needed.

Archery, the ancient sport, is only practiced by a few sportspeople and quite a few deer hunters.

If you get a chance, give it a try. You'll be reliving a long history.