I have been teaching people to shoot a bow since 1982, and the lesson I open with has not changed. Stand square. Settle your shoulders. Draw to the same anchor every time. The arrow goes where the body sends it, and the body will not lie to you. Linda will tell you I say the same three sentences in the kitchen if she stands wrong reaching for a high shelf. Some habits do not turn off.
Archery is one of the better sports a person can pick up at sixty or seventy. It is quiet. It is patient. It does not pound your knees the way bird hunting in heavy cover will. You can shoot a half hour in the yard, set the bow down, and feel worked without feeling beat up. That matters more every year.
The thwack, and why it happens
The old article this one replaces talked about the sting on the inside of your forearm when the string catches you on release. We called it a slap when I came up. It hurts, and it leaves a mark, and every archer I have ever taught has caught one. It is almost always a posture problem, not a gear problem. Your bow arm is rotated wrong, elbow turned in toward the string instead of down and out of the way. Rotate the elbow joint until the soft inside of the arm faces the sky a little, and the string passes clean.
An armguard takes care of the rest, and you should wear one anyway. So should your grandkids. I have never met an instructor who let a new shooter onto a line without one.
Recurve or compound, at our age
This is the question I get most often from folks in my Saturday class. Both bows are good. They ask different things of you.
A recurve holds you to honest form. There is no mechanism hiding mistakes. You feel the full draw weight the whole time the string is back, which means you cannot pick a draw weight that flatters your ego. Most older recurve shooters I know are pulling somewhere between thirty and forty pounds, and that is plenty for target work and for keeping the shoulder happy. Recurve is what the Olympics use, and it is what I would put in the hands of a grandchild starting out.
A compound has cams at the limb tips that give you a let-off, usually 75 to 90 percent. You feel the peak weight only for a second as you pull through. At full draw you are holding 10 to 15 pounds even on a 60-pound bow. For an arthritic shoulder, or for a longer hold while you wait on a deer in a stand, that let-off is a real gift. If you intend to hunt, compound is the practical choice. If you intend to shoot targets in the yard and at the club, either works. I keep one of each in the basement.
A sensible starter setup
- A bow that draws comfortably for ten arrows in a row, not just one. If the tenth shot is wobbly, the bow is too heavy.
- Arrows matched to your draw length and bow weight. The pro shop will spine-chart this for you. Do not buy arrows off a website without that conversation.
- An armguard and a finger tab, or a release aid for compound shooters. The mechanical release takes a lot of finger pinch out of the equation, which our hands appreciate.
- A quiver you can reach without twisting your back.
- A target backstop you trust. Bag targets stop arrows clean and last for years if you keep them out of the weather.
That is it for starting out. You do not need a stabilizer, a fancy sight, or three releases. Buy plain, shoot a lot, and add things one at a time as you find a reason.
Where to shoot, where to learn
USA Archery runs an Adult Achievement Program now alongside the youth JOAD program, with star pins for hitting score thresholds on a regular scoring round. It is a nice low-key way to mark progress. The National Field Archery Association has senior divisions in their tournament structure: Senior at 50, Silver Senior at 60, Master Senior at 70. Plenty of company at every age.
The National Senior Games has held an archery competition for years. The 2025 games ran the archery event at Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines, with both recurve and compound shooters on the line. If competition appeals to you, your state senior games is the doorway in. If it does not, the local club still wants you on Tuesday mornings.
I would steer a new shooter toward a club with a Level 2 or Level 3 certified instructor for the first month. An hour with someone watching your draw is worth ten hours alone in the yard with bad form baking in.
Form, in plain language
- Stance. Feet shoulder width, perpendicular to the target. Weight even between your feet.
- Bow hand. The grip rests on the meaty pad below your thumb. Fingers relaxed. A loose hand is a quiet hand.
- Draw. Pull with the back, not the arm. If you can feel the muscle between your shoulder blade and spine working, you are doing it right.
- Anchor. The same place on your face every time. Index finger to the corner of the mouth is a common one for recurve. Compound shooters anchor with the release at the jawline.
- Release. Let it happen. A clean release feels like the string left on its own.
- Follow-through. Hold the position one beat after the arrow flies. That last second tells you everything about the shot.
The body part of it
Archery does ask something of your shoulders and your back. The good news is it gives back as much as it takes. A few minutes of shoulder rolls and band pull-aparts before you shoot will save you a lot of soreness the next morning. If your rotator cuff has been talking to you, drop the draw weight five pounds. Nobody at the line is going to ask what your bow pulls. They are going to ask where you grouped.
The history is real, the costume is optional
People have shot bows for as long as people have hunted. The Egyptians, the Comanche, the longbowmen at Agincourt, the Wisconsin deer hunter in November. Some folks dress for the renaissance fair and shoot longbows in linen tunics. That is fine. It is not the sport, it is a flavor of the sport. The thing under all of it is the same: a stick, a string, an arrow, and you.
The takeaway
If you are sixty or seventy and thinking about picking up a bow, go ahead and pick up a bow. Find a certified instructor for the first few sessions. Buy modest gear that matches your real strength, not the strength you had at forty. Shoot two or three times a week instead of one long session. Wear the armguard. Stand square. Pull with the back. The thwacks fade. The standing still part stays.