Archery Scoring Guide For Both Indoor & Outdoor Shooting

Written by Tim Rhodes Last Updated: Mar 1 2024

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In today’s article, we will be talking about archery scoring.

We all know that everybody has a unique talent, and then some people venture into the spectacular field of archery to advertise their talent.

And mind you, archery is no child’s play!

This sport puts man’s cognitive skills and abilities into full swing; balancing and judging the elements of distance, time, and speed is a task that only a few can achieve.

For those of you who aspire to become a future archer, hang on because we’ve got some useful information for you in store!

Every sport has some rules, and the same goes for archery.

It’s generic know-how of playing this sport.

Even though it might seem complicated, we’ll try and simplify this for you as much as possible, and you can think of it as a user-friendly guide!

Archery Scoring Guide For Both Indoor And Outdoor Shooting

And before we begin, let us remind you that there are different archery scoring guides for shooting that are carried out in the great outdoors, while a separate archery scoring guide has been drafted for shooting in closed areas.

Outdoor Shooting Guide

Before we begin, let us remind you that there are some prerequisites for outdoor shooting.

And it is necessary to keep them in mind, whether you’re a beginner or simply want to develop an interest in archery before actually pursuing it as a passion.

Outdoor Archery

There are three main types of shooting bows (compound bows, recurve bows, and barebow).

Each bow has a different purpose, hence a different shooting range.

Each bow also shoots at a different target size.

Recurve bows shoot the farthest and at the larger sized targets, while compound bows allow you to shoot at an 80-meter range (approximately) at the smaller sized targets.

When it comes to competitions and tournaments, distances are kept into consideration for ages.

Tips & Tricks for Beginners

Build up your stamina; ideally, you should not get tired even after a set of 60-70 arrow throws.

Your bow gets to determine the distance it will go, so be keen enough to purchase a bubble that will remain your steady partner.

On average, you should be able to shoot approximately six times within 60 seconds; 10 seconds should be enough to load your arrow and set it free!

Surprisingly, wind resistance will polish your shooting capabilities; try practicing during breezy and windy seasons.

You can’t get the hang of this sport that easy; if you feel that’s your case, then you might as well hire a coach for yourself!

Types Of Archery Rounds And Their Uses

We’ve mentioned quite a lot of times now how archery is a complex sport!

There was anticipation for many target rounds emerging in the market as soon as the sport gained popularity.

In general, their diameters size down from 122cm to 40 cm.

There are different types of rounds for each purpose.

And if you’d broadly classify them, then you’d come across two main target rounds: the imperial and the metric round.

Let’s discuss a few of them in detail below.

1. The Imperial Outdoor Target Round

This target round is conventionally measured in yards and completely occupies the surface of the boss.

The yards range anywhere from 10 yards up to 100 yards.

It has five zones that you can shoot at to gain a score.

2. The Metric Outdoor Target Round

Albeit very similar to the Imperial outdoor target round, this one still has some form of variations.

The first variation would be the measurement unit; unlike its counterpart, it’s measured in meters.

Also, it comes in two sizes: 122 cm and 80 cm.

It has ten zones that you can shoot at to gain a score.

3. The Indoor Target Round

We’ll get to this one once we reach the Indoor Shooting Guide section.

The principles of shooting the target round

No matter what sort of target round you’re using, the longest distance will always be shot first.

So let’s say you have a 10-yard distance and a 100-yard distance.

You’ll have to shoot at the 100-yard distance; first, there are no bending rules to this game!

That being said, you’ll have to shoot at the distances in a descending fashion sequentially.

Sighters are beneficial components when it comes to shooting.

And there’s a whole section dedicated to their use as we go further in this article!

Distances are often allotted or selected upon individual capabilities, which is often depicted by age.

Junior archers are given shorter distances, and there’s a good reason for it!

Junior archers can suffer damage neglecting basic principles; it is essential to note that the bow’s weight and size are key factors that should be taken into consideration.

A bow too heavy or oversized can stunt the development of a junior archer during the growth spurt.

Competitions and tournaments organized by various committees often cater to junior and senior archers.

So once you think you’ve spent enough time practicing, there’s no harm in signing up for tournaments to execute or test your newly developed skills!

The Scoring Sheet

Someone would be there to record your score during tournaments, and during practice sessions, you can do it yourself too!

We’ll tell you about some archery linguistics commonly used in the standard archery scoring guides.

Although it may seem complicated in the beginning, as soon as you implement this practice, then you’ll realize that it’s all a piece of cake!

For a layman, of course, this might seem a bit overwhelming to understand.

They are as below:

1. End: this indicates the number of arrows dedicated to one end.
2. Doz: short form for a dozen arrows.
3. Hits: your jackpots and bull’s eye scores for all the times you’ve managed to impress people!
4. Golds: These can be slightly more complicated to understand than the terms mentioned above.
5. For a 5 zone target round, these will be all the numerals of 9s you’ve scored.

Similarly, for a 10 zone target round, these will be all the 10s numerals you’ve managed to score.

It is also important to note that 9s will not qualify as a gold score if you’re using the target round with ten zones!

It is restricted as a gold score for a 5 zone target round only.

Distance and round totals: the running total for all your shooted arrows recorded at each distance and each round, respectively.

WA rules For Archery

These sets of rules apply to metric rounds.

And there are different rules for each gender and age!

The rules are for outdoor archery are as follows:

1. For senior male citizens: the distance is recorded to be around 30-90 meters.
2. For women: the distance descends to a range of 30-70 meters.
3. For juniors: the distance decreases much more.
4. For the Olympics: the average distance range is around 70 meters.

The distance for indoor archery is shortened down to about 18-25 meters.

According to WA rules, the entire tournament or competition is segregated into sections called ‘ends.’

Each ‘end’ requires the archer to throw 3-6 arrows for outdoor shooting, whereas indoor shooting requires the archer to shoot three arrows over a series of 20 ‘ends.’

WA rules allow 2 minutes to fire three arrows at shorter distances.

And 4 minutes for arrows being thrown at longer distances.

GNAS Rules For Archery

Yet another archery scoring guide, but this time it is for the Imperial Rounds.

GNAS rules call for an average distance range of 18 meters for indoor archery and 37.

You can release 5 dozen arrows at a unique ‘Portsmouth’ round, for indoor archery.

The distance guidelines for outdoor archery are as follows:

1. For senior male citizens: 40-100 yards.
2. For juniors: 10-80 yards.
3. After every ‘end’, the archer is required to collect his/her arrows from the target.
4. There is a unique AGB dress code for archers qualified for tournaments under the GNAS rules.
5. There are a variety of rewards; for every gender, bow style, and age a separate reward will be awarded.

Indoor Shooting Guide

All the newbies might be wondering at this point whether an indoor shooting is even a thing.

Isn’t archery-only meant to be carried out in the great and glorious outdoors?

We’re here to clear out the air and tell you exactly what indoor shooting is about!

Let’s just put it this way: you know how the great outdoors allows you to span and shoot over large distances?

Similarly, indoor practices keep you confined to a smaller training area, usually less than 20 yards.

You can think of it as a nurturing ground for beginner archers.

Indoor archery is great for all those archery lovers who are new to this sport.

Let’s not forget the perks and benefits of getting the leverage to practice archery even on stormy and rainy days.

And once you’ve practiced for quite some time while being indoors, you could always pave your way to the great outdoors!

The Indoor Target Round

All the newbies might be wondering at this point whether an indoor shooting is even a thing.

Isn’t archery-only meant to be carried out in the great and glorious outdoors?

We’re here to clear out the air and tell you exactly what indoor shooting is about!

Let’s just put it this way: you know how the great outdoors allows you to span and shoot over large distances?

Similarly, indoor practices keep you confined to a smaller training area, usually less than 20 yards.

You can think of it as a nurturing ground for beginner archers.

Indoor archery is great for all those archery lovers who are new to this sport.

Let’s not forget the perks and benefits of getting the leverage to practice archery even on stormy and rainy days.

And once you’ve practiced for quite some time while being indoors, you could always pave your way to the great outdoors!

Variation In The Target Faces For Indoor Shooting

You’ll come across a set of two varieties in target faces for indoor shooting.

One being the Three Spot FETA target face.

The FETA is used for FETA rounds.

The second one is known as the Vegas target face.

The Vegas target face can only be used for a single round, and a specific one!

As mentioned earlier, indoor target faces are confined to 5 zones.

So you can manage to score anywhere between 6 to 10.

Depending on how good you are at it!

An interesting fact to know would be that different bows have a different archery scoring criterion for target rounds.

So if you’re using a compound bow, the inner gold coupled with the outer gold will yield a score 9.

But let’s say, you’re using a recurve bow or even a longbow, both the inner and outer golds will accumulate to form a score 10.

Useful Tips For Indoor Archery Practices

Using bow sights or sighters (discussed later) can lead to more successful and accurate shoots.

Before purchasing a bow, make sure it has the configuration or indentations that will enable it to receive a bow sight.

Purchase a bow that won’t be much of a burden for your arms in terms of weight and size; we don’t want any uncalled damage now, do we?

There are many aspects you need to consider to emerge as a fine archer, and postural correction along with firm grip are a few of them!

The way you release your arrow will most probably determine the success or failure of your throw.

Cognitive skills develop after strenuous practice; you could be a beginner but what would set you apart from the rest could be the amount of hard work you’ve put into your practice.

Always practice in a safe environment; things can often go nasty once you don’t pay heed to precautions.

What Are Bow Sights?

Think of bow sights as the glasses for a person with weak eyesight.

Or the telescope of an astrologist.

They are the large spectrum eyes for the archer, enabling them to aim and shoot at very accurate sites on the target round.

Bow sights are excellent tools.

So it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a professional; a bow sight will work its way to amplify your vision.

Let’s talk about how you decide to purchase a bow sight.

What do you exactly look for in a bow sight?

The anatomy of a bow sight is quite complex, and it all starts with the reticle inserts.

Reticle inserts are purely transparent and have a standard pattern printed onto them, which helps the archer determine the symmetry of his/her target.

The next part is the Iris.

And yes, it functions exactly like the Iris of our very own eye, zooming in or out of the target circle for you to judge the best shot with maximum accuracy.

There are instances when one has to aim and shoot in the dark, for which man has built illuminators into the body of the bow sight.

The illuminator allows you to brighten your aim, literally!

So bad lighting or dim evenings won’t be a problem!

Adjustments are allowed in two directions: horizontal and vertical.

The word adjustment is often rendered synonymous with windage in archery terminology.

They allow you to alter the angle and the wind speed (hence the windage) of your throw.

Bubble-levels just might happen to be the most important of a bow sight.

This could spark quite a debate since not all bow sights have this feature!

But their function is quite a remarkable one: they prevent your bow from swaying here and there.

And end up keeping it at a perfect vertical.

This is very important and can determine the path of your arrow throw.

A right path would result in a direct hit, mostly.

Types Of Bow Sights And Their Cool Techs & Specs

1. Fixed Pin Bow Sights

These babies are the most widely used bow sights out there.

Not only are they easy to attach, but easy to use as well.

Perfect for a beginner!

However, you’ll probably have to mingle around a bit to achieve the yardage that you’re comfortable with shooting at.

2. The open Ring Bow Sight

Another good option for beginners.

They run best with recurve bows and are relatively less expensive than other bow sights in the market.

3. Pin-Sights With Added Moveability

Unlike its counterpart (the fixed pin bow sight), this one possesses only one pin.

And another distinctive feature of it is its adjustability.

They can adapt to various distances and ranges and are often used in tournaments.

You might want to reserve this one once you’ve ventured out of the beginner category.

4. Peep Sights

Yes, the name is self-explanatory!

This bow sight allows you to peep through a tiny aperture.

And through that aperture, you can initiate a perfect alignment between your bowstring and the bow sight.

This will result in more accurate target hits.

5. Pendulum Bow Sights

You can think of them as a modified version of a moveable pin sight.

This is ideal for outdoor archery and hunting, especially if you’re used to hunting amidst trees.

The downward angle at which your bow is supposed to shoot will gain superior accuracy.

It works in a pretty cool manner; the pendulum will swing up as soon as your bow angle reaches a drop!

6. Target Bow Sights

Not only are target bow sights expensive, but they also require greater dexterity to be put into action while operating it.

That being said, target bow sights are the most accurate bow sights out there.

This could make for a perfect gift for a professional archer.

These target bow sights are often used in conjunction with lasers for spectacular accuracy!

7. Red Dot And Holographic Bow Sights

These are relatively new innovations, but remarkable ones nonetheless.

They incorporate state of the art technology to give you mind-blowing features that will make your archery experience refined!

In general, red dot bow sights work on the principle of reflection.

They reflect light right back at your bow sight for you to attain maximum accuracy while shooting.

Holographic bow sights, on the other hand, are elevated to another level.

They optimize a reticle display on the bow sight for near-perfect accuracy!

Technology has surely crept into everything, including archery equipment.

Additional Archery Facts

We do know that archery dates back to ancient times, but we’re sure you didn’t know that it dated back to the Stone Age!

Archery was put into practical use by the Egyptians, after which it gained widespread fame!

When archery made its first debut into the land of the United States of America, people adopted to use it while riding horseback!

Archery, in the Bronze Age, was used for both hunting and warfare.

Archery was probably the most useful weapon during the Persian, Korean and Japanese wars.

Archery indirectly gave birth to firearms because the man felt the need to incorporate a larger fire range and penetration ability into its weapons.
Archery is the national game in the country of Bhutan.

In Japan, traditional archery practices are termed as ‘Kyudo.’

Archery translates to ‘bows and arrows’ and originated from the Latin word ‘Arcus.’

A world-famous sports tournament, known as The Olympics, used live pigeons as targets during the game in 1900!

Robin Hood isn’t just a movie; it is also a terminology in archery that is used when one archer splits another archer’s arrow during a competition or tournament!

This is our last fact for this article, and we think it’s pretty cool: you’re often required to have your name carved onto the arrows you’ll be shooting at your competition or tournament!

Final Thoughts

As we reach our conclusion for all this article, we would like to impart a few words of wisdom and motivation regarding this ancient sport.

Archery, like all sports, is a game based on the implementation of highly refined skills and cognitive abilities.

It involves the use of musculoskeletal and neurosensory systems in our bodies that have very much to do with our brains.

Thus, inclining towards this sport as either a passion or a hobby will surely do you good.

Amongst a large number of sports, this is probably the only one that evolved off of a hunting technique.

That being said, archery competitions or plain hunting ventures will indulge you in a pure thrill.

The sort that gives you chills running down your spine!