It's no secret that archery can quickly and easily become an obsession. Regardless of your style or pursuit, many of us have felt that drive and passion that can sometimes feel impossible to control. So, what exactly is it about archery that makes us feel this way?
Everyone would likely have their own answer, but in my estimation, there are six general reasons.
It's Better Than Golf
The title might make it sound like a ridiculous premise, but allow me to elaborate. One of the primary factors behind becoming enthralled with golf is that it has a very, very high skill floor and ceiling. This can cause an insatiable 'drive' - pun intended - to improve and improve.
The vast majority of us could play golf religiously for years and we would still never touch the heights of ability that a master possesses. Even still, those golfing masters are at the whim of the wind, weather, landscape, grass, dirt, humidity, and so many other facets we lack control over.
This means that, no matter how much you perfect your craft, you will still miss putts, double bogey, and overhit drives. The same can be said for archery, with one key difference; the skill floor is much, much lower.
You can experience so much joy, fulfillment, and success as an amateur target shooter or hunter because the threshold for enjoyment sits very low while the skill ceiling is - much like golf - untouchable. This allows you to enjoy your abilities and recreation, while striving to better yourself, no matter your skill.
Pick Your Direction
Archery has a very expanded scope when it comes to pursuit. This is especially true in comparison to many other single-person and team sports. You can have a fun, successful, and communal relationship with archery even if you only ever recreationally shoot in your back yard. The same can be said of those of us that strive for elite-tier tournament dominance.
Whether you archery hunt for whitetail a few times a year, participate in local 3D shoots, coach NASP at your local high school, build arrows and bow setups for friends and family, participate in the Pro divisions at the Lancaster Archery Classic, or dive into the wildest of environments for extreme backcountry hunts, archery has you covered all along the way.
There is truly no real limit to what you can pursue, where you wish to pursue it, or how many people you wish to pursue it with. No other sport can say that. Nothing even comes close.
The True Comradery
Watch any number of collective archery videos on the internet, or go attend a 3D or TAC shoot, and a few things will become abundantly clear. Not only do most of those people truly enjoy archery, but more importantly they find fulfillment, purpose, and community with the people around them - not just in the bow itself.
"What do you like most about this event?" is a question our very own PJ Reilly is known to ask tournament shooters when he is reporting in the field. What is the most popular response? "It's the people."
The comradery, friendships, community, and passion that so many encounter while shooting archery with others is truly astounding. I have seen and heard of lifelong friendships that were formed because of a mutual interest in this sport - regardless of where the people live in the world - and I am certain that those connections have led to marriage on more than a few occasions.
Your Own Personality
Spanning across fields, continents, careers, and interests, one thing remains steadfast; personality. Showcasing your personality can manifest in a multitude of ways: your clothes, car, house, sports team, diet, etc. Regardless of the state of your life or where you find yourself, in each and every one of us lives the desire to make that which is ours, unmistakably ours.
Within archery, this appears in many ways. We want our bow and bow accessories to represent who we are and how we shoot. This can be shown in many ways: riser color, accessory color, accessory choice, bow size, arrow design, etc. If you shoot a bow and have put any level of effort into your system - as in you don't shoot an RTH setup with standard pre-fletched arrows - then your personality is going to come through.
Fortunately for many of us, archery companies are making this easier with each passing year. Bows are being offered in more colors than ever. More and more arrows and vanes are coming to the market. Your accessory choice is far deeper and more widespread than many even realize. Your archery setup is truly your oyster, as part of the old saying goes.
Author's note: This is your gentle reminder to cover your hard bow case in stickers that describe who you are - that's what bow cases are ultimately for, after all.
A Tinkerer's Dream
On top of the personalization purely for aesthetic purposes, there is another aspect to the range of gear available to us - performance. Each piece of gear, each accessory chosen to help you shoot, has the ability to wholly change how your setup works and performs. This is truly what makes the archery industry a tinkerer's paradise.
Every little change, every small adjustment, every different angle, it all affects how you draw, hold, and shoot. Because we know that our environments are largely not within our control, these micro-adjustments (the near endless number of them) allow us to fight against those uncontrollable forces as much as we possibly can.
Adjust the 3rd axis on your sight, move your rear stabilizer up three degrees, add two extra ounces to your front bar, and make your top cam a little faster than the bottom - these little changes can make all the difference, and they also act as the perfect segue to the final part of this article.
Chasing Perfection
If there is one thing that we can say for certain, it is that none of us are perfect. Consequently, no bow and arrow setup we will ever build will be perfect, either. We will never hold exactly the same, we will never breathe exactly the same, we will never release the shot exactly the same - but we can certainly try.
Even though perfection is truly impossible to achieve, the concept of perfection ensures that we will always have something to strive towards. Much like I stated above, we have endless tinkering available to us that allows us to mitigate the unknown and the uncontrollable as much as we possibly can. Your bow, and your shot, can always be more balanced, more consistent, and closer to perfection than it was prior.
Though perfection does not exist in the sense laid out above, it can exist in areas where we choose how to define it. A 660 score at the Lancaster Archery Classic indoor tournament is commonly referred to as a 'perfect 660.' Maybe not every shot was perfect, but you did achieve the maximum score possible, and that is a 'perfection' to strive towards.
Much in the same way, you might be on your dream hunt out in the Western United States and have a shot at the largest elk you've ever seen. When you harvest that animal, and take its antlers and meat back home, your stories will almost certainly involve the 'perfect scenario,' the 'perfect wind,' and the 'perfect shot.'
Maybe none of those things are definitionally perfect. But in that moment, and in our stories, they might as well be.
Final Thoughts
After reading these six points, I hope you have come to understand why exactly it is you find yourself laying awake at night thinking about heading to the range the following morning - or why you developed that habit in the first place.
Maybe you don't find yourself becoming 'obsessed' with archery in any of the ways I laid out above. Maybe you enjoy shooting with some friends on the weekends or taking your bow out every November. Everyone funnels their passion and heart into different areas of life, and that's okay. You can enjoy archery without becoming obsessed. We wouldn't have it any other way.
However, for those of us who do think about our next adventure more than anything else, who find our minds consumed with our next arrow build, here's to you.
Maybe we love archery because we found something we were missing in this sport. Maybe we found something that speaks to us, something that we truly understand and enjoy. Maybe, just maybe, we become obsessed for all the reasons laid out above, and more.
