An experienced archer knows exactly what he wants, so this should in theory make purchasing equipment a doddle. However, the exacting standards of the sport and his / her desire to choose the very best equipment on offer may come at a high price, so this can make things a bit more complicated. You may want to check out our How to Choose a Compound Bow guide too.
Aside from the archery equipment There are one or two other purchases necessary when you’re taking part in competitive archery. For example, there’s membership of Archery GB, the British national governing body. This is not a legal requirement, but there are legal implications.
High Quality Recurve And Compound Bows
Two of the best compound bows available are made by Bear Archery, an American company formed by Fred Bear (1902-1988), a traveller, film producer, and archery pioneer.
The Bear Attitude is a powerful compound bow, offering huge speed and accuracy – perfect for experienced hunters and field archers.
The Bear Cruzer can be used from child beginner level to large game hunting. It has a huge peak draw weight range from 5 to 70 pounds and a fully adjustable draw length from 12 to 30 inches.
Top of the recurve class are bows made by Hoyt Archery, a company founded in 1931 by Earl Hoyt Senior. Made from super-strong (and comparatively light) carbon fibre, Hoyt recurve bows were used by every gold medal winner in archery at the international sporting event of 2012.
All of these compound bows can be found in the Pellpax online archery shop, along with a wide range of archery supplies.
Second-Hand Equipment
There’s a lot of second-hand archery equipment available. One of the best outlets is Aardvark Archery, based in Pudsey in West Yorkshire. The large warehouse stocks new and second-hand archery equipment, all of which can be viewed on their website and ordered online.
Other sites where you can find second-hand archery gear are: Freeads, Preloved, Clickers Archery, and Trovit.
A Word On Insurance When Competing Abroad
When competing abroad, an archer must buy insurance, because Archery GB does not cover members when shooting outside of the UK. Archery GB is the National Governing Body (NGB) for British Archery, and is a member of the World Archery Federation (WA), the governing body of world archery.
If a British archer enters a competition abroad, he must obtain insurance for that event. Archery GB membership does not cover a British competitor abroad. However, in the event of the Briton being uninsured, the other competitors’ insurance will not be invalidated, as long as the Briton is a member of Archery GB.
The same applies to competitions in the UK. A foreign contender will have to be specially insured. But as long as he’s a member of his own National Governing Body, which, in turn, is a member of the World Archery Federation, the foreign competitor’s lack of insurance will not invalidate that of the other archers.
This ruling applies also to individuals taking part in competitions in their own country. If a British archer, who is not a member of Archery GB, were to enter a competition in the UK without obtaining insurance, the insurance of all other competitors would become invalid.
Grab all of your archery supplies, from compound bows and recurve bows to quivers, arrows, and much more, in our archery store. And learn more about Hoyt Archery on their dedicated collections page.
