Shooting My Bow

Last year when I returned from America, I brought with me a [new] take-down recurve bow that fits nicely in my backpack.  I spent too much time setting up foam fishing floats on the beach for target practice - and watching them blow away while aiming - before finding two plywood-size sheets of 4" foam (on the beach, of course) and setting up a shooting range in the forest.  Now I have a super setup, hidden and protected from the elements.

[I'm aiming for that 4" black dot out there.  At this distance I usually get 4/5 of my arrows within 3" of it - not as accurate as I want to be but I'm getting better every day]

Why am I practicing with a bow here?  For goats, but also to be prepared to partake in more bow-hunting back in the U.S. someday.  I have hunted with a compound bow before, but am really intrigued by the more traditional (non-mechanical) recurve.  Of the notable differences between the two, the most obvious is that traditionals don't employ mechanics to make the pull-back and holding of the string easier.  Also, traditional bows [usually] don't employ sights - aiming is done by instinct.  My bow is a 60# bow, which is on the upper end of most recurves.

[For three days in a row this past week I took my dinner to the beach for a little target practice and sunset watching while eating.  It was so nice and reminded me I need to eat more meals away from the internet]

So when I taught Mariko to shoot the bow today it was quite amusing.  A strong man will have trouble with a 60# bow until he masters the motion of the pull-back, so a petite girl doesn't stand a chance.  Mariko could only pull the string back far enough that, upon release, the arrow would lob about 4 meters before bouncing on the ground.  If she had target practiced at me I could have caught the arrow before it reached me.  But it was still really fun - for her to learn and me to teach.