Archery Instinct: archery eye-candy

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Archery Eye-Candy 2

First up in, Segment 2, of our epic endeavor to cover all things gorgeous with a bow and arrow, we begin with Daniel.

She's hanging onto a Custom Recurve from Stewart Hybrid Bows. A quick search on the interwebs turns up bupkis. All I could find was a few messages in a forum thread and a defunct web address. It's a shame really, we really liked this video. The music was great and the model holding the hardware actually attempts to do things properly.

You can see a few more videos from Jeff Stewart, the man who posted this video over 2 years ago, on his youtube channel here.

In the description of the video Stewart explains, "I made this bow for Daniel last fall. It is Tiger wood, 40 lb at 28 inch draw. 40 pounds is still a bit much for her, she is pulling around 30 lb and 20 inches maybe. But she is driving nails with it!"

In one of the comments under this video, Jeff adds, "Its still a little to heavy for her to pull all the way but we are working on that! She scored a 143 in her first 3D tournament though." Way to go, Daniel! We'd love to see more videos.

Speaking of doing things properly, OMG!, this plucky brit is many things, including a quick learner. If you can make it through all the inane chatter at the beginning about a youtube school project, she actually makes remarkable improvement from her first through to her last shot of the day.'

Her name is Lex, and she is a serious youtuber. You can visit her youtube channel and become a fan here... if you like.

I find Lex's apathy rather unsettling, especially because she obviously has some natural abilities. Lex rattles off in the very beginning of this video,"in this video I am going to learn a new skill. A skill I probably shouldn't have, but now I do, and I can't undo it."

If you start poking about her youtube channel you won't discover much about her. In the about section of her TRYANNOSAURUSLEXXX youtube channel, she describes the content within as, "Dumb internet videos every Tuesday and Friday by Lex."

Finally, the video is called, Arrow to the butt prank, which does not sound funny to me. It was posted by the youtube handle, Just For Gags and if you watch it, I'm sure you'd agree; pretty damn funny.

I wonder how long it took the unknowing participants to miss the target. Perhaps they were helped to miss by crappy instruction, though it looks as though most who tried had reasonable form.

Just for Gags has over 4 million subscribers!

Blog post written by Edward Seaton

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Archery Trick Shots 1

I'm starting with perhaps the most startling Archery video that I have ever seen. My first impression of this video was, "holly smokes! I've been doin it wrong." Upon closer inspection however, I've come to realize that this was more gimmick than game-changer. The consensus now is that the featured archer in this video, a Mr. Lars Andersen, is fast, but not so effective.

Jim MacQuarrie of GeekDad.com writes, "No doubt there are literally hundreds of failed attempts that were cut out of the carefully-edited video. His gimmick is speed, not accuracy, and it’s obvious to anyone who actually knows anything about archery that his complete lack of any kind of consistent form is going to require camera tricks and a lot of luck, which is exactly what’s on display here. He may in fact be the fastest archer in the world; he just shouldn’t pretend to be accurate."

That is the problem with this sort of bravado; you never really can tell how honest and accurate they are being with all the swollen egos and head bobbing going on. What I am still confused about is why this Danish dude likes shooting at Human shaped targets. Is he preparing for war? If he is preparing for some epic battle, I'd like to recommend that he doesn't "fire" any of his arrows at real human beings as they would simply and most definitely cause considerable pain followed by anger, rage, and then a barrage of bullets... that will kill him.

Military historian and historical weapons expert , Mike Loades (pictured to the left on horseback) , lambasts this Danish machine gun, expressing serious doubt of claims in the video that his arrows would penetrate proper chain mail with only a 30 pound draw. "I do not think military archers used incredibly lightweight bows brought back to barely half-draw. I do not think they lollopped about or shot lifting their rear leg into the air with an effeminate skip or lifted up one leg and shot under it. Hanging upside down on a climbing frame to shoot is impressive but has little military application."

Mike goes on to say about Anderson's physical prowess, "I fear that parcours experts or gymnasts would scoff at the rather clumsy inelegance of his awkward physicality." You can read all of Mikes Loades comments on his fan facebook page.

Next up in Archery Instinct's first Trick Shot blog post is from BushcraftOz.com. On their youtube channel it reads; "I love everything to do with Australia and its natural environment. Bushcraft give me an outlet to learn useful and practical skills about the Australian environment while maintaining a respect and care for its continues prosperity." No bravado here, just straight shootin.

We also loved the names of these tricky shots including the, Smelly Cat, bug Splatter, and Rat in a tree.

Again, the best thing about this guy is that he seems legit and completely uninterested in puffing up his own chest. In the description of the video he writes, "This is not intended to make me look like a better archer than I am. Its meant to be a bit of a joke and fun and to maybe inspire the odd person to try archery. Play around, have a laugh and enjoy the bush at the same time. Some of these took many takes to get especially the damn Double Long Shot at the end!" Keep them coming from, BushcraftOz.com !

Finally, lets talk Howard Hill. It was a different time... men wore tights in the movies and women's brassieres looked like torpedoes; locked and loaded. There was much puffery, and prancing about, but all has been forgiven. Time heals all wounds and perhaps they'll be watching Lars Anderson, sixty years from now, but I'm not holding my breath.

Blog post written by Edward Seaton

Monday, January 26, 2015

Archery Eye-Candy 1

In this, the very first Archery Instinct Eye-candy segment we will be highlighting, Zombies, Chinese lessons, and finally a very beautiful Bow Review Video.

First up is this, unfortunately grainy, very handheld, almost unwatchable, shaky video of a Chinese bombshell having a lesson.

What does this video have to do with Instinctive shooting? Search yourselves, Gentlemen, and I'm sure this video will stir your more basic instincts. After you're done being "stirred" notice the Archery range they are shooting at. It is outdoors, yes, but looks like it is being run like an American bowling alley. We would love to see more ranges like this here in America… that was sincere, and not a sexual innuendo.

Next up in the AI Archery Eye-candy blog post is a Zombie apocalypse!

This short film, was produced and co-directed by, Grizzly Jim of Merlin's Archery Adventures. These guys win "best makeup" and "best effects" in our series. Some serious time was spent on this video. The writing, staging, props, makeup, direction and editing are all top-notch and the acting is up there too. Jim plays himself, and the leading role was carried by Howard Wilkins.

In the description of the video, Grizzly Jim explains that, "Please note that our star (Howard) had never shot a bow before we started filming... you'll be Pleased to know that he has well and truly got the bug now!" Not only did he catch the bug from these zombies, but he managed some decent form and shooting too. Nice work, Howard! This video was great even if you think Zombies are silly.

Last, but certainly not least is Hannah Gart of Karma Tales in California discussing the Samick Stingray.

Hannah is bringing a different sort of elegance to the sport of Archery. While most manufactures and publications want to focus on their "killing" abilities, Hannah is focused on form and esthetic. As a yoga instructor she is drawn to the mind and body focus that comes with Instinctive Archery.

In this video we see her, looking stunning (must be all the yoga) as she throws arrows at her coastal archery range in Sonoma County, California. It must be true what they say about California girls… and yoga.

Blog post written by Edward Seaton