Target Archery

Greetings! Shire Archery Marshal, Baroness Mari Clock van Hoorne, is planning to begin holding archery practice on occassional Sunday mornings.

2022 SCHEDULE
Check back soon…

WHERE
Iron Hill Science Center, 1115 Robert L. Melson Lane, Newark, DE 19702, (map). Free, on-site parking.

RSVP
While our Calendar and Facebook page are great resources for up-to-the-minute information, it’s best to confirm with Mari before showing up for any practice as weather can be an issue.  Contact Mari on Facebook or by email to 142137@members.eastkingdom.org or by texting 302-740-5343 (no calls please).


Archery

It doesn’t take a hawk eye to take up archery and thrown weapons in the Society!

One of the most important skills throughout the time frame that we recreate, archery was used for hunting, practice, and especially war. Archery played an important role in many a battle and many cultures depended upon their innovative and skilled archers for defense as well as a means of conquest.

Target Archery

In order to be as true to times as possible we try to use materials and methods available to period archers. This includes a focus on natural materials such as wood and feathers in our bows and arrows. Some modern types of equipment like compound bows, are not allowed in our archery activities to keep the playing field more level and medieval.

In addition to the traditional target archery competitions where points are scored by shooting at a bullseye, the competitions for target archery are often designed to mimic situations faced by medieval archers. These might include 3-D or 2-D animal targets set at unknown ranges to demonstrate hunting prowess. Alternatively, a set of targets might be made to represent the slots on a fortress, the objective being to try to shoot the “archers” within the walls of a fortification under siege. Novelty targets will sometimes be encountered; blow out a candle with an arrow without hitting the candle itself, hit your target paddle to trip a swinging bar to block your opponent’s paddle from falling before they can shoot it, or get the best poker hand by skill or luck.