[Horsebow] Field shooting horsebow

chaosbat

New member
I have just bought a hungarian Magyar horsebow, i was fed up with catching my longbow in the trees on field shoots.
question what catagory does this type of bow come under for field shooting?
 
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Haywain

New member
I have just bought a hungarian Magyar horsebow, i was fed up with catching my longbow in the trees on field shoots.
question what catagory does this type of bow come under for field shooting?
Depends on the society and what your bow is made from, if you can give a little more detail someone will be able to help.
 
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warbowz

New member
haywain's right, in some traditional societies different bow classes will shoot on a level playing field with different disciplines eg. field shooting the horse bows and lighter draw weight long bows will have the upper hand, whereas in flight and roving the heavier draw weight boys can get their own back.
Suppose it all depends on the society you decide to join.
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
In GNAS Field archery you'd be classed as Trad, assuming that you used wooden arrows and only one finger position on the string, and one anchor point

Daniel
 

chaosbat

New member
I shoot with NFAS usually. I use wooded arrows and use the conventional three finger draw. I have tried the thumb ring but its difficult - (you must use different muscle groups i guess). The bow is quite a heavy bow 62# 28"
 

Haywain

New member
For NFAS there are 2 possible style you will shoot under.

HT (Hunting Tackle) - If your bow is made of modern materials and / or you shoot wooden arrows with a plastic stick on nock.

Primitive - If your bow is made of laminations of natural materials only and you shoot self nock arrows or those reinforced with natural materials.

Quite a lot of the newly made traditional style bows are made with modern materials, so it's worth making sure before you go to a shoot.

Now as to finger position, if you shoot Primitive, you can go with whatever you like or use a thumb ring (not a mechanical aid though)......BUT....if you shoot HT you must use the Mediterranean loose (two fingers under, one over).
 

Toxophilus_Archer

New member
You may be ok with a thumb ring shooting NFAS but GNAS thinks a thumb ring is a mechanical aid and if they do not change their ruling the horsebow is classed in a compound category if you use a thumb ring but, if you shoot normally you can use it as a recurve barebow. Obviously NFAS class the thumb ring as protection not an aid as is a tab. Very wise organisation.:kyudo:
 

English Bowman

Well-known member
You may be ok with a thumb ring shooting NFAS but GNAS thinks a thumb ring is a mechanical aid and if they do not change their ruling the horsebow is classed in a compound category if you use a thumb ring but, if you shoot normally you can use it as a recurve barebow. Obviously NFAS class the thumb ring as protection not an aid as is a tab. Very wise organisation.:kyudo:
Not strictly true. If the thumb-ring has a groove for the string, then it's classed as a release, but if it's smooth then it'll count as a tab. At least according to one judge I spoke to on the matter.
 

Toxophilus_Archer

New member
There has been a similar thread on this forum. I think you will find that GNAS will not allow the thumb ring to be used when shooting barebow. This has been brought up with GNAS and has had an entry in Archery UK if I remember correctly (I cannot find the issue) and they are classed as shooting aids. But I live in hope that this is not correct and GNAS have realised that they are for protection not as an aid to shooting. Check any posts from MIke Hardman.
 

^HUN^

New member
You would be in Traditional is GNAS.

As for the thumb ring issue, the answer may be to simply tell the judge that you do not intend to hand in your score card anyway.
 

yoda

New member
There has been a similar thread on this forum. I think you will find that GNAS will not allow the thumb ring to be used when shooting barebow. This has been brought up with GNAS and has had an entry in Archery UK if I remember correctly (I cannot find the issue) and they are classed as shooting aids. But I live in hope that this is not correct and GNAS have realised that they are for protection not as an aid to shooting. Check any posts from MIke Hardman.
well i mailed gnas over 3 months ago asking for their ruling on this and surprise surprise not a single reply :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow
 

FlightyRachel

New member
Fonz Awardee
I shoot with NFAS usually. I use wooded arrows and use the conventional three finger draw.
Hi Chaosbat, as Haywain said, you'd be HT, in with all the odds and sods of recurves that shoot wooden arrows.

This makes the results sheet a bit useless for us Hun bow archers, I tend to compare my scores to the longbowers to see how I'm doing! :eek:)

HTH
Rachel
 

Andy Gilbert

New member
I have just bought a hungarian Magyar horse bow, i was fed up with catching my longbow in the trees on field shoots.
question what catagory does this type of bow come under for field shooting?
I have been shooting with a Hungarian bow for three years and am frustrated because it fits into no particular GNAS category. It is recurved so can't compete with longbows. It is not a centre-shot bow and is therefore disadvantaged when shot against American flatbows or normal recurves. I have written to GB Archery to ask for a new category - "Asiatic Horsebows" and I would urge everyone to do the same. These bows are cheap, great fun to shoot and very popular. They have a more ancient lineage than the longbow and conquered most of the known world under the Scythians, Parthians, Huns, Avars, Mongols, Ottoman Turks etc. Join the campaign !!!

Andy
 

ChakaZulu

New member
I've raised this with them as well in reference to the move to allow AFBs a category in target archery. I'm about to make my second bow and whilst the first would count as an AFB the next one is planned to be a Holmegaard type bow, which wouldn't.

There are so many types that the 'primitive' class certainly doesn't cover it. If the asiatics were allowed a class though, you'd still be left with bows that would be at a disadvantage.

Besides Andy, you can't complain - shoot your longbow!
 

chaosbat

New member
Hi Andy.
I have emailed the editor for the NFAS and joined your campagn for a separate catogory for horsebows.
Having attended two shoots now using the magyar bow (hunting tackle catogary) it is quite clear you have more chance of wining the lottery than getting placed anywhere near in a competion against a modern recurve.

Then again maybe its just me thats rubbish
 

Andy Gilbert

New member
I've raised this with them as well in reference to the move to allow AFBs a category in target archery. I'm about to make my second bow and whilst the first would count as an AFB the next one is planned to be a Holmegaard type bow, which wouldn't.

There are so many types that the 'primitive' class certainly doesn't cover it. If the asiatics were allowed a class though, you'd still be left with bows that would be at a disadvantage.

Besides Andy, you can't complain - shoot your longbow!
Never know who you meet n these site do you Dan?!!! I would shoot the longbow but I happen to shoot better with my Hungarian and enjoy it more !!! It also saves the pain of constantly switching between disciplines which is a pain. I have had a reply from GB Archery and they are considering the request at their next meeting - my view is that in its current form the old GNAS classifications are exactly that - old ! They need revising to take into account that the world has changed and embrace different shooting like the National Field Archery Society. Especially since the dawn of the internet has impacted on bow variety - I even came across an Inuit cordage-backed primitive bow the other week - this could be used for field shooting but not much else. For target archery why don't GB archery and the Field Archery side sit down and talk. The same categories could be used for both fairly easily. The main categories could be Recurve ; Compound ; Barebow ; Flatbow ; Longbow ; Asiatic Horsebow and Primitive. Pretty simple really with the will to make it happen.
 

ChakaZulu

New member
It would lead to some interesting discussion about what is what. Some primitive bows are basically AFBs shot off the knuckle, so that would have to be the decider. I think the horsebow would have to be called primitive recurve since other examples existed. Basically recurve off the knuckle.

That said, the Traditional Bowyer's Bible Vol.4 suggests that recurving may not be such a huge advantage so it could just fit into primitive...
 

Andy Gilbert

New member
It would lead to some interesting discussion about what is what. Some primitive bows are basically AFBs shot off the knuckle, so that would have to be the decider. I think the horsebow would have to be called primitive recurve since other examples existed. Basically recurve off the knuckle.

That said, the Traditional Bowyer's Bible Vol.4 suggests that recurving may not be such a huge advantage so it could just fit into primitive...
Agreed - I think that the major issue is making a differentiation between those bows with centre-shot and those shot round the bow /off the hand or thumb (if using a shooting ring). Maybe that is the only difference needed - when myself, Roger and Mark shot at the field shoot in Fletching two of us out of our group of 5 were shooting horsebows and three longbows - there was very little in (30 points between the 5 of us) and Mark got a silver medal. The real difference was between our horsebows and the centre-shot recurves we were up against in the "recurve" or "barebow" class. There was over 250 points difference !!! In reality there is little performance difference for the same bow weight - the main difference is less handshock /smoother action with the hungarian/mongolian which is why it is more enjoyable to shoot. For me there is no reason why horsebows and longbows could not shoot under the same guidelines.
 

Andy Gilbert

New member
Hi Andy.
I have emailed the editor for the NFAS and joined your campagn for a separate catogory for horsebows.
Having attended two shoots now using the magyar bow (hunting tackle catogary) it is quite clear you have more chance of wining the lottery than getting placed anywhere near in a competion against a modern recurve.

Then again maybe its just me thats rubbish
Good man - please write to GB archery too? I agree - I entered a field-shoot the other month with a friend who also shoots a Kassai and we are not that bad with them - there was just 30 points between us and my friends son who won a silver medal for the longbow. We were lumped into the "recurve" section (the shoot was under the pathertically outdated GNAS classifications) and were over 250 points off the pace - it's the rules not the shooters at fault. There are enough shooting horsebows now to make a real difference and GB archery need to take this into account. Until recently they ran a category for compound shooters that shot with the fingers. We only have one at our club who shoots this way out of 60 members. We have 6 people shooting horsebows !!!
 

Andy Gilbert

New member
well i mailed gnas over 3 months ago asking for their ruling on this and surprise surprise not a single reply :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow
They did actually reply to me - I wrote to the ceo personally - you might want to do this again? Andy
 
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