Shooting the Stickbow: A Practical Approach to Classical Archery Paperback – March 11, 2010

I have been learning/shooting traditional archery for about a year now. I have had this book recommended to me several times during the course of that year, but always held off as there is a wealth of information available online for free. I had some extra cash, so I finally gave in and ordered the book.Since receiving it 4 days ago, I have read through the entire book, cover to cover. I am going to start from the beginning and read through it again, because it is that helpful! There is SO much information to take in with this book. This book is a 400+ page manual to ALL things that any traditional archer should know, AND understand. I had alot of things I didn't know or understand cleared up for me in this book, and the greatest thing about it is that it is very easy to read.This book does an amazing amount of stuff! It has information for choosing the correct/best bow for your needs along with all the accessories needed. It will teach you how to set brace height/nock height on your bow, and explain why its important and everything it effects. It teaches you about the different types of arrows, explains arrow spine, length, and the pros and cons different types of arrows. It teaches you how to make your own strings, arrows, or even bows! You will learn the different methods of aiming, and find which is best suited to you. You will learn about proper form and the exercises that will help you develop it. You'll learn training exercises to develop your skill, and competitions you can participate in when your comfortable with your skill level. You will learn about arrow trajectory, and how weather, wind, angles or obstacles can affect it.It even goes into the mental battle that every archer faces when confidence drops or target panic happens. And so much more.I honestly wish I had bought this book a long time ago. I understand so much more about whats happening during my shot sequence, and when mistakes are made during a shot I now understand where that mistake originated from and how to correct it. I know when I need to open my stance, rotate my elbow, adjust my grip, or focus on my release.Seriously, if you are getting into traditional archery, or are already into it and are considering purchasing this book, DO IT!!! After spending almost $900 in archery gear(bows, arrows, equipment, training videos, books, etc) I can easily say this book is the best investment I have made yet in archery, and will probably be the best investment I ever make in archery.

I put away my 1966 Bear grizzly (68" 40#) in 1988 or thereabouts when I got a Pearson (l think) compound with just two pulleys. I used that bow until I bought a Matthews ultra-lite in 1998. It killed 3 deer. I had killed12 or 13 Ohio deer with the Bear over the years before the Pearson. I got 4 or 5 with the Pearson. I got 3 with the 1st Matthews. My last Matthews was a Switchback and it's killed 4 or 5 deer. The long & short of this was the epiphany was when I focused more on proper hunting rather than hunting technology & equipment I killed more deer with a recurve stick bow than I did with science and lots of money. So I spent 3 hours digging through the garage an found the old Bear, took it out of it's sock. The string was frayed & I didn't trust it. I called a friend who introduced me to 3-rivers Archery near Ft. Wayne Indiana. There I learned about Flemish strings, hand shock and carbon vs. aluminum vs. wood/ a 31.5" compound draw vs. a 30" draw on the stick bow. I cut down a dozen carbon arrows, Checked the spine, put on a Flemish string and headed to the back yard range. Couldn't hit crap. I bought Byron Ferguson's book and that helped brush away a lot of cob webs. It also got me interested in the longbow. Quite by accident while searching longbows on ebay I found a Zack Ferguson 66" 42# 30 inch draw listed in the wrong place on eBay and ended up getting a $700.00 longbow for $185.00. Zack Ferguson is Byron's son and the bow is nothing but sweet. I was hitting the target regularly at 20 yes but no "groups" to speak of. I read the reviews on this book and took a chance ordering it.This book is fantastic. It took me back to age twenty and an old archery dealer, whose name is not retrievable from the cobwebs, who was out on the range every weekend 42+ tears ago telling me what I was doing wrong or right. In two weeks and the Ferguson Longbow, I was able to shoot 12-15" groups at 20 yds and 8-10 inch groups at 15 yards. Next was getting into the woods with a camera, camouflage and scent blocker to see how close I could get to a deer for a photo. No laser range finders. Fortunately I live on a section of land that's 80 % hardwoods & pines. By the time the September bow season rolls around, I should be ready.I would recommend this book for technique and Ferguson's book for anyone who wants to shake off 30 years of science an get back to 800 years of instinctive archery shooting. PLUS you aren't going to be carrying 25 lbs of equipment in a backpack into the woods in the fall. All you need to do is scout and pattern your deer or turkeys. Also, you'll have 6-8 weeks of squirrel hunting to tighten up your groups to the size of a squirrel's or groundhog's chest. Incidentally, a 1 lb. bow & three arrows on a bow quiver beats the hell out of a 4 lb compound with with a 6 six arrow quiver, a 10 oz. of extras needed to quiet the compound. Oh, you might want to keep the tree stand.The book is terrific and the return to basic archery is invigorating. I'm not getting rid of the switchback either. It.s still fun to shoot at 30-40 yards in the back yard. My wife has inherited the Bear grizzly and she' s getting good at it also thanks to this book. She's never shot a stick bow but likes it as much as I. I highly recommend this book- no dreamy hunting tales just how to shoot the stick bow. J.D.

Excellent coverage of the learning process, from basic equipment to the processes to make you a better archer. Would recommend.

Ottimo libro veramente approfondito su ogni aspetto del tiro con l'arco e della sua messa a punto. Lo consiglio veramente a tutti

When I received the book I quickly looked through it and I was initially disappointed as I was expecting it to be about shooting bows like the English longbow. not flat bows and recurve bows with sights (Well it is written by an American).However once I started to read it, it became apparent that the author really knows his subject and this was one of the most informative books I have read about shooting traditional bows.I own quite a few books on archery but this is the best one by far, I have learned more from this book than any of the others I own.If you want a book to take you from the basics to advanced shooting with a traditional bow this is the book for you.I cannot recommend it enough.

der für einen Bogenschützen wichtig ist. Ich schreibe dies als Anfänger (7 Wochen "dabei"), deshalb können die Fortgeschrittenen gleich zur nächsten Rezension springen ;-) . Nicht daß Fortgeschrittene nichts aus dem Buch herausholen können, ganz im Gegenteil. Das Buch strotzt vor Informationen und geht sehr ins Detail. Ich bin der Meinung, wenn man nur dieses eine Buch hätte, und es gründlich umsetzte, könnte man das Bogenschießen erlernen. Mit der Einschränkung natürlich, daß gerade bei den wichtigen Haltungsfragen ein "Coach" manchmal nicht zu ersetzten sein wird. der Wenn man gut Englisch kann, wird man flüssig durch die Themen geführt und kann aufgrund der guten Gliederung immer wieder nachschlagen. Die (Schwarzweiß-)fotos könnten stellenweise etwas besser sein, das hindert mich aber nicht an der Vergabe aller 5 Sterne

It's clearly a very comprehensive book. Perfect for beginners, as I'm a beginner I can't comment so much on the value for an experienced or even expert Bowman but judging on my experience in fields in which I have some skill I supsect it would be super useful even for the expert to delve into. An expert might give it 4 stars I'd imagine. But only if he/she is good enough to keep learning, adjusting and perfecting! I prefer a hard copy as this is a reference work and I like to jump forward and back as suits my learning objectives. This book will be my Full Time Coach.The section on aiming put the whole thing into persective for me. As a reasonably competant rifle shot the concept of instictive aim was somewhat hard to grasp. However, if I think about it a hand gun if not disimilar. I can hit most things the size if a penny with 20 feet and the size of a dinner plale out to 60. A raised shot maybe out to 100, certainly a hit out of three rounds. I'm going to use the book to perfect my form and decide which hand to shoot with. I'm slightly left hand dominant but strongly right handed. It seems to matter more with archery that handgun though. Not quite got my head around that yet.Anyway for the price of a couple of hours at a paid range this book is ENORMOUS value and I can see me using it frequently and over time probably refer to it once form every dozen arrows! It would take me 6 months to learn oeven on a club range what I can at laest understand in an hour from this book. Leaning by untutored practive is also how you develop bad habits which mean good never gets better. I found that with golf for sure! In fact after a year the harder I tried the worse I got!