Hey guys, this is NUSensei.
Many people who watch this channel are first-timers
who are trying to get into archery
and are looking for the easiest way to experience the sport.
One of the major problems which many people experience
is the lack of clubs and coaching in their area.
Because of this, one of the most frequent questions asked by beginners is
can I teach myself archery?
The short answer is yes.
Archery is a set of skills, and many skills can be self-taught.
For example, playing an instrument, doing art or craft
or doing home handiwork.
Archery is like many sports in that you practice rote skills and techniques
until you get it right.
However, archery isn't as intuitive as it might seem.
While some people are able to pick up a bow and get it right almost immediately
there are a few things that must be pointed out to you.
For the most part, people can't pick up a bow and get things right
without any kind of training.
It may seem easy enough to get the arrow to fly of the string
but doing so with any degree of accuracy is not as obvious as it looks.
I really want to emphasise that I'm referring to the average person.
There are people out there who do have the natural talent
or the feel for archery.
They can pick up a bow.
They can figure out the most efficient and effective techniques
and they can confidently send arrows downrange.
We do occasionally get those people coming to our club
trying it out and finding that they really like archery.
However, we also get hundreds of people
who don't have the grasp of the fundamentals
and they have to be taught the basics from scratch.
And this involves a lot of repetition and, sometimes, frustration.
With that in mind, archery isn't something you should blindly rush into.
There people who do this.
People who go, okay, I want to do archery.
I'm going to go on Ebay
or Amazon and buy a bow.
Buying a compound bow or a Samick Sage
and then by arrows off 3Rivers or Ebay
and then start shooting right away.
There are things you should know before you do that.
Things like how to hold the bow, how to draw correctly,
safety rules, no dry firing.
Bows aren't toys.
You can hurt yourself and you can hurt other people
if you have no idea what you are doing.
Fortunately, we do live in a time where information is more widely available.
Through books and, especially nowadays, the videos and the internet.
This is where you, as a self-starting self-taught archer,
will probably acquire most of your information
by looking at other archers online, watching videos and copying their technique.
And this is fine.
A lot of backyard casual shooters have decent form
through practicing by themselves and occasionally looking at somebody else.
With enough practice and commitment, you will develop enough accuracy
and consistency to go out and hunt, if that's your thing.
But there are problems that make the self-taught process more difficult.
Some things do require expert knowledge.
This is most evident in getting your equipment in working order
from buying to tuning.
Very rarely does a bow come straight from the shop perfectly set up
for you to shoot.
Especially if you're doing a blind buy from Ebay.
If you're buying from an archery store, they will usually walk it through with you
and they will set it up for you to shoot.
So that's not as much of a problem if you're getting professional help.
But otherwise, there are still lots of things which you simply don't know.
And a lot of things, while you can find information online
or through asking people on online forums,
some things are just really confusing at you need someone
to explain to you in person.
More importantly though, you need someone to tell you
if you're doing something wrong.
If you don't know what wrong is
you may be training with chronic form problems
which will lead to poor shooting and possibly injury.
I've come across many self-taught archers who are so bad
they are dangerous.
And I use the word self-taught quite liberally.
There is a difference between being self-taught
and simply not knowing what you are doing.
This is more common, in my experience, when coming across compound shooters.
Because compound bows are very easy to buy
very easy to use
and they come in excessively powerful draw weights.
If you go on YouTube and see archery accidents
most of these accidents are from people who using compound bows
which are way overpowered and they don;t know what they're doing.
Just to sidetrack a bit.
These people are the hardest to work with
and in my opinion, potentially the most dangerous.
I know not everyone likes clubs.
They're elitist, there's a bad atmosphere or cliques and attitudes
or they don't like being told what to do.
And that's fair.
But there are things in archery that can be harmful.
We do try to help people.
But often this comes with a lot of resistance from people
who are too stuck in their self-taught ways.
that they're unwilling to accept feedback and criticism.
And they're physically unable or mentally unwilling to make any changes.
You get people who go
I've been shooting since I was a five year old kid with my dad
and they have their overpowered 80lb compound bow
they're sky-drawing
they're yanking it back
they're dislocating their shoulders
it's nasty to see
we can tell it's dangerous
but it's really card to get you to change
if you've been learning the wrong thing for your whole life.
Anyway, going back to the question: can you teach yourself archery?
The answer is yes you can.
It's not easy, but you can.
However, you have to be realistic in your expectations.
If all you want to do is to fling arrows at a big target in your backyard
then that's actually not too hard.
You can achieve that without knowing a lot of professional expert skills.
However, if you want to gain competition or hunting levels
of accuracy and consistency
then you will be in for a much harder learning curve
and that's what you have to appreciate.
You have to recognise what you are doing right as well as what you are doing wrong.
And that's how you learn.
So, yes, you can teach yourself archery.
For most people, it may not be a choice.
You have to teach yourself archery.
It is more than possible.
It can be very fun.
But it can also be very frustrating if you don't know
or have access to expert knowledge.
My advice is, the more guidance you have
and that can be through books or videos or coaching and clubs
or even another experienced shooter
the more guidance you have, the easier your pathway in archery will be.
Anyway, this is NUSensei.
Thanks for watching.
Hope you found this helpful.
And I'll see you next time.