I have been a rifle hunter all my life, but the longbow has always held a strong appeal. I even own one, but I need a few pointers to get started.

I am not at all ashamed to profess my absolute, most abject ignorance in the matter, and since I see a few names that I trust on this board (from the rifle BBS), I would greatly cherish your advice.

1) Obviously, I need to learn how to shoot before I even remotely contemplate hunting with my longbow. What equipment (besides the bow, the correct-length arrows and an optional quiver) do I need?

2) Speaking of gloves, which should I use that are ideal for the longbow?

3) Are there different ways to grip the bow-string ~ other than the traditional, 3-fingertip grip of the more traditional competitive archery?

4) What are the most popular aiming techniques with the longbow?

5) What exactly is gap shooting?

6) Can I use my Nikon 800 Rangefinder for bow-shooting or are there more specialized tools for this art?

7) What all are the intricacies about draw, pull-weight, stack, etc? How do I read them from the handwritten data on my bow (which may as well be written in Chinese)?

8) Any other advice, besides the golden practice, practice, practice?

Thank y'all for your help and time.

Tom

Greetings from Blue Ridge Country

Edited by - .333 Nitro Express on 12/30/2002 15:58:21