Once the weapon of choice for everyone from Native Americans to Turkish armies, the bow is one of the oldest hunting (and fighting) tools on Earth.
When most people think of archery a few images come to mind. -- the feathers on the end of an arrow sticking out of the bulls eye at the center of a target. They think of native americans bringing down wild game in the forest, carrying a hand carved wooden bow held in a taut curve by a narrow strip of leather.
But flight shooting is different, the archer aims upward at a 45° angle which provides the arrow maxium distance by taking advantage of the arc of flight. The skill of accuracy is replaced by pure strength -- muscle power to pull the bow string back and release it smoothly.
Lovely Archer, April Moon, set 13 world records in the field of flight shooting, where the object is to fire an arrow as far as possible. Six of these record she still holds.
On September 13, 1981 at Ivanpah Dry Lake in California, using an 80# recurve bow, April Moon fired an arrow an amazing 1,039 yards 1 foot, 1 inch. That is over half a mile or over 10 football fields end to end.
