Toronto Archer SPLITS a String with an Arrow

Local Toronto archer Charles Moffat's shot that split in string in two, and snagged a bullseye.

If you've seen Charles Moffat shoot then you know the local archery instructor doesn't always take his own skills seriously. He has a very relaxed way of shooting and spends a lot of his time shooting at moving targets, shooting at multiple different distances, and challenging himself to hit tiny moving objects.

Like the photo below of him hitting the centre of a plastic bottle cap dangling from a string.

Moffat's practice of performing trick shots has him doing shots while standing on one foot, kneeling, sitting down, shooting at moving objects, shooting at TINY moving objects, shooting while he is walking, shooting at different distances/angles and so forth. The archer admits he needs more challenges, but apparently he has not interest in competing.

"Competitions are all about egos," says Moffat. "I have no interest in competing. My goals are all about perfecting my skills regardless of what I am doing or what style of bow I am using."

To his credit Moffat shoots almost every style of archery you can imagine, except Olympic. Why is that?

"I got lessons in Olympic archery when I was living in South Korea, but I found it be quite boring," says Moffat.

For those of you who don't know, South Korea leads the world in Olympic archery. According to Moffat he was more interested in learning traditional Korean archery using a hwarang bow, which he has used several times in the past.

Shooting at a stationary target 70 meters away does seem pretty boring when you compare it to Charles Moffat's practice of shooting moving targets - like the moving rabbit target below from a cold and windy Easter Sunday.

Moffat's skills at archery have also been featured in a variety of television clips ranging from the CBC, CityTV, The Sports Network (TSN) and doing a series of trick shots for Rice Krispies. In 2015 Moffat was named "Athlete of the Week" by CityTV for his outstanding contributions to Toronto's archery community.

On the teaching side Moffat has also taught various television / theatre actors, and while his day job is that of a personal trainer he admits teaching archery is something he enjoys a lot more.

"If someone had told me ten years ago I would be teaching archery I would have laughed at them. At the time archery was just a hobby for me," says Moffat.

However according to Moffat's students his skill at archery is equally matched with his skill at teaching archery. He is the most sought after archery instructor in the GTA and booking archery lessons with him has been to be done months in advance. See archery lessons in Toronto on Moffat's personal training website CardioTrek.ca if you want to book lessons with him.

Currently Moffat is reportedly working on his second book about archery (his first book on the subject of archery is a book of zen poetry on the topic of zen archery - called "Dreaming of Zen Archery"). Moffat does most of his writing during the off-season for archery, but you can usually spot him at the Toronto Archery Range as he is also a fan of practicing during the winter.

Charles Moffat crouching beside rabbit tracks.