Used with author's permission
The following tips are my personal opinion, based on personal incidents, experiences and my life in the SCA and doing SCA archery for 11 years. Always be aware with archery there is a very real danger to do some bodily harm to a person by erratic arrows or breaking bows. Arrows can not be recalled once shot. These are weapons that can kill at distance. Always be aware of the backstop or the area you are shooting to. It is better to call "HOLD" and see if it is safe before shooting.
Now for a less serious piece, wear a tunic or garb with moderately tight sleeves. If you shoot with tippets or angel winged tunics or similar costumes, you may have a problem with garb becoming twisted in the bowstring. This is embarrassing, to say the least, and possibly dangerous to you and others. Too many people end up tying their sleeves before they can shoot. Be careful with necklaces and other dangling objects, for these can be caught by the bowstring. On the same line, wearing a lot of knives, swords, and other sharpes may bet in the way of the bow and shooting. You can shoot erratic scores from a bad stance or bad shooting. Learn to shoot with your hat on to protect yourself from sunburn, even on overcast days. Your favorite suntan lotion and bug repellent are very helpful. Bring your own water. Wear good, sturdy foot gear. You will be on your feet for a long period of time. Dress comfortable for the weather. When I shoot in August, I wear my cotton T-tunic and sandals. When I shoot in January at Ursalmas, I wear long-johns, a heavy tunic with knitted hat and strong, warm boots and warm gloves.
Make certain all your equipment is in good repair. You have equipment under pressure, which can break and cause injury to others around you. You should check your bow and arrows for cracks and splits. Check your bowstring for being frayed. Applying bowstring wax solves this problem. A frayed string can cause the bow to break. Have an extra bowstring in your pouch. It may save the day and your expensive bow. If you drop an arrow from the quiver and can pick it up without crossing the line, fine. If you can't then it is a shot arrow. It counts as one of your six arrows. When you are shooting any round, just keep six arrows in your quiver. This keeps you from shooting extra arrows, which will lower your score. For every extra shot arrow, the highest scoring arrow is dropped. Unless you have the strange mutant ability to shoot more than six arrows in the speed round, you do not need any more than six in your quiver. On the other hand, you should bring extra to cover lost or broken arrows and keep them handy on the range.
When shooting on the line, there should be no more than three archers per target. If there are more than three, the target gets to be crowded with arrows and becomes difficult to score accurately. If there is only three targets, then only nine archers may shoot at one time. If there is more than nine archers, you need a second line of shooters to shoot after the first line finishes. You take turns at shooting so everyone gets a chance.
When everyone is finished shooting, the rangemaster tells everyone to place their bows down, retrieve the arrows and score their targets. All the archers place their bows down on the line and, as a group, go to the targets. As you approach the targets, please be careful to not step on any arrows that are in front of the targets. An archer pulls his or her own arrows from the target and tells his or her score to the rangemaster. To pull arrows from the target, place one hand near the arrow and pull while holding the arrow near the point of entry. Do not pull the arrow from the nock because you may break the arrow.
A pocket notebook is helpful to keep a personal record of your scores. This will show you your improvement and helps the Royal Archer if the scores are lost.
On the range, as with all your dealings in the SCA, safety, courtesy and honor are the buzzwords. The range is not a place for horsing around, loud shouting, crowding other archers, arguing with the rangemaster, etc. On a final note, I am a pipe smoker and enjoy a pipe when finished with the day. Of late I have noticed many people smoking on the range, during, while and after shooting. Aside from the health reasons, smoking at an SCA event is done at the approved smoking area, not on the archery range, not on the eric, and not when other people are close by who would object.
