Gear & Guides

Field Guides

How-to, form fixes and the wider world of archery & bowhunting.

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Three carbon arrows at sunset, the top one with a glowing green lighted nock and two with clear standard nocks, a target face behind them

Do Lighted Nocks Affect Accuracy? The Math

FOC, speed and 20–60 yd impact for 27 hunting builds, set beside a published field test, plus a five-step order for tuning with lighted nocks.

Bowhunter at full draw on a mountain ridge at sunset beside a bag target and a trail map, under the title Where to Practice Archery

Where to Practice Archery: 6 Spots, Real Rules

Shop lanes, clubs, state ranges, public land and your yard, plus how far a missed arrow flies on our trajectory model.

Title card reading Sight Tape Calculator beside a compound bow sight housing with green, yellow and red pins, mountains at sunrise behind

Sight Tape Calculator: Two Marks In, a True-Scale Tape Out

Two or more shot marks, your speed and peep height in; a 1:1 printable tape, a yard-by-yard table and a bad-mark check out.

Title card reading Three Finger vs Thumb Ring: three leather-tipped fingers hooking a bowstring beside a thumb ring drawing a wooden arrow

Thumb Ring vs Three-Finger Release

178 vs 196 fps from the same 55# bow, string pinch by bow length, and a speed & pinch calculator.

Archer at full draw with a compound bow beside a height ruler, under the title Bow Draw Length by Height

Bow Draw Length by Height: Height ÷ 2.5 vs Wingspan

6,068 measured bodies, a corrected height chart, ape index fixes and a dynamic calculator.

Illustration titled FOC vs Penetration with an arrow in flight and a broadhead striking a target block

FOC vs Penetration: Is It the FOC or Just the Weight?

Heavy heads bury deeper. 280 modeled arrows split the credit between weight, FOC and the broadhead.

An Easton spine chart, a spine tester with a hanging weight and a Gold Tip arrow selection chart side by side on workbenches

Why Arrow Spine Charts Disagree

Easton vs Gold Tip vs a formula for the same bow, and the six assumptions behind a 372-to-600 spread.

Illustrated title card reading Easton XX75 Spine Chart, with aluminum arrows crossing in front of target faces

Easton XX75 Aluminum Spine Chart

Every published XX75 size with spine, GPI and diameter, the draw weight each fits, and tools to identify and match shafts.

Split illustration comparing momentum (p = m times v) with kinetic energy (K = one half m v squared) in archery

Momentum vs Kinetic Energy in Archery

Why the arrow with 4% more energy carries 19% less momentum, with animated impact diagrams and free calculators.

A first-person view down a forest shooting lane racing toward a sunlit clearing

Can You Catch an Arrow at 200 MPH?

Reaction time vs. arrow flight time, kinetic energy on bare skin, and a free interactive catch test.

A compound bow drawn at a target, seen from behind the shooter

How to Aim a Bow Without Sights

Gap shooting, string walking and instinctive aiming, with point-on by anchor and a gap chart for your bow.

A tear through paper left by an arrow, showing nock-high flight

How to Paper Tune a Bow

Easton’s tear chart and fixes, the paper distance that shows the most, and a tear reader for your setup.

A crossbow resting on a fallen log in bare winter woods

How to Carry a Bow in the Woods

Sling, pack, side or ready carry for each stretch of the hunt, with the elbow-load math and a haul-line routine.

Schematic diagram comparing a compound bow's IBO speed rating to its axle-to-axle length, with string angle geometry highlighted

IBO vs ATA in Compound Bows

Why advertised IBO speed runs 60–80 fps hot, and how axle-to-axle length actually changes string angle at full draw.

A camo compound bow mounted on a wall with arrows fanned above it

How to Hang a Bow on the Wall

Display it safely without stressing the limbs.

Three arrows grouped in the gold of a target face beside a recurve riser

Types of Archery

Every discipline from indoor target to clout, with rulebook distances and where to start.

'Am I Legal?' equipment audit panel showing ASA, NFAA/Vegas and IBO marked legal and USA Archery marked illegal for an oversized stabilizer

Am I Legal? ASA, NFAA, IBO & USA Archery Checker

Check your bow against ASA, NFAA, IBO and USA Archery rules instantly.

A compound bow archer at full draw with the arrow already in flight toward the target

Are Bows and Arrows Legal?

Federal law, backyard rules, felony status and hunting age, state by state.

A red deer stag standing alert in a forest clearing

Minimum Draw Weight by State

Every state’s actual legal draw weight, broadhead rule and crossbow status, cited to the code.

A hunter silhouetted at sunset carrying a pack and antlers

Draw Weight & Kinetic Energy for Deer

What actually kills — the energy, momentum and FOC math behind a legal minimum.

An archer aiming a bow down a narrow indoor corridor toward targets

Can You Use a Bow for Home Defense?

Axle-to-axle width, setup time and real noise numbers, checked against a hallway.

How-tos we've actually tested, not repeated

Most technique advice online gets copied from guide to guide without anyone checking it against a bow in hand. These are written from actually shooting the method — paper tuning a bow, aiming without sights, carrying a rig safely through the woods — and adjusted where the common advice didn't hold up in practice.

Some guides here are pure technique: tuning, aiming, storage. Others are broader context for the sport itself — the different disciplines of archery, why people hunt. Pick a starting point from the cards below, or use the search bar to jump straight to a specific fix.