Yep, there’s even archery slang! Nowadays everything has it’s own language, you may encounter some of these terms whilst watching competitive archery or down the local archery club. This is a list of what they are and what (we think) they mean!
|
Term |
Meaning |
|---|---|
| Almost | An arrow that lands in the gold of a target face but not in the inner gold ring. |
| Blackberry | An arrow striking the black scoring area of a target face. |
| Blueberry | An arrow striking the blue scoring area of a target face. |
| Bullet | Some archers call their arrows or bolts bullets |
| Cherry | An arrow in the inner red scoring area of a target face. |
| Chunk | A bad shot. |
| Fat Shafter | Refers to a large diameter arrow used in target archery to maximise the archers chance of hitting a higher scoring ring. |
| Gunch | Has many slang uses, normally a bad shot |
| Kiss-Out | When an arrow is deflected into a lower scoring zone by another arrow embedded in the target from a previous shot. |
| Line Cutter | Same as Fat Shafting |
| Petticoat | An arrow striking the non scoring area (usually white) of a target |
| Peeker | The act of aiming, anchoring then dropping the bow and anchor to look at the target again. |
| Pluck | An incorrect string release where the hand does not follow-through correctly behind the neck. |
| Prince’s Reckoning | The act of getting your arrows called and scored, comes from the olden days of archery when a prince was involved in scoring. |
| Rig | Refers to an archer’s setup, bow, arrows, sight, etc. |
| Robin Hood | When you shoot one arrow and it splits and arrow already embedded in the target. |
| Sheet | An arrow hitting the scoring white area of a target face. |
| Sticks | Arrows |
| Struggle Stick | Someone who is struggling to draw their bow because the draw weight is too high. |
| Trad | Slang for traditional archery |
| Tomato | An arrow in the outer red scoring area of a target face. |
| Wart | An arrow on a target that strikes the line dividing a target zone but is mostly off the line. |
| William Tell | Shooting an apple of someone’s head. |
If you’ve anything to add, please let us know in the comments below!
bouncer = arrow hits target and bounces to ground
Foam is home = used in 3d archery , hitting the foam target , no matter the points.
minnowing = arrow moves side to side in flight
porpoising = arrow moves up and down in flight
shot gun splatter = your arrows are all over the target
groupey / grouping = you arrows hit the same area, and you can wrap your thumb and fingers around , is a good group
Snap shooter = doesn’t aim , releases quick, used alot by trick shot or speed shooters
Point On – Aiming with the tip of the arrow. Used in Gap Shooting.
POLR Shot (Path of Least Resistance)= take the shot that gives you , the easiest option to target area. Used in 3d archery
String walking / String walking = Used by Bare Bow Archers. Fingers move up and Down the Bow String according to Target Distance
Archers Tattoo / String Slap = Bad form , causing the String to slap against your forearm in shooting, leaving a painful bruise.