The Primal Thrill of Archery Hunting
Chuck Holloway

Imagine, for a moment, if you will, the native American Indian, creeping soundlessly through the forest. His quarry may be the great white-tailed deer or the humble rabbit; his only weapon, the curved bow at his side. Surrounded only by the hushed noise of the forest around him, he fits an arrow to his string, aims, fires. His family will eat tonight.

While this romantic image may be more a product of Hollywood and popular literature than reality, nevertheless, modern archery hunting allows us a taste of that old romance today. In the same vein as the Rennaisance Faire and the SCA (Society of Creative Anachronisms), archery hunting allows us to connect with our past in a way we can touch and see and smell.

Archery hunting is a skill, no doubt about that. But it's more than that; no one who had ever participated in it would deny that. Little surprise, then, that archery hunting clubs are springing up in rural areas all over the country.

So what exactly *is* the lure of archery? The first lure, for me, is the silence. Without the noise of rifles, it's easier to feel akin to Nature herself. Hunting becomes more relaxing as the focus shifts to the bow, the aim, the shot. Second, of course, although it seems hardly worth mentioning, it's the "in" thing; as Renn Faire and the SCA are proving, we are drawn to the ancient, the mysterious, the past.

More than that, however, the last and most poignant reason is that archery hunting allows us to be someone other than who we really are. The businessman or career woman can become the Indian or the homesteader. Stress fades as we let our minds drift away from work-related concerns and focus instead on getting our aim just right. This is the joy, the great beauty of archery; we cease to be ourselves, and instead become different people in a different time and place.

Chuck Holloway is and avid archery fanatic with 18 years of hunting experience. He is a lifetime member of the North American Hunting Club and an active member of the NRA. Chuck has a strong passion for the outdoors and enjoys capturing the details of the hunt in his journals.