Archery Ambush by Larry Elmore

Fantasy artist Larry Elmore is fond of using archery in many of his drawings and paintings.

Although to be fair he also depicts swords and spears quite a bit too. The above piece depicts female archer shooting not one but two enemies in the back with arrows during what is presumably an ambush.

Awesome Archery Tattoo

Eastmans' Hunting Journals UnderWater Archery Video

Spearguns operate on the same principles as hunting bows, so why shouldn’t you be able to use a compound bow underwater?

The folks at Eastmans’ Hunting Journals decided to test that idea in their recent video. The underwater archer in the video even demonstrates some reasonable accuracy by popping balloons with arrows at short distances. Obviously the accuracy would be hurt a lot at longer distances, but it is theoretically possible to hit a longer distance target underwater - provided you can still see it.

Bows are not designed to be fully submerged or fired underwater, but that doesn't mean you cannot still do it anyway. While  doing this could potentially damage a wooden bow, using a compound bow means that you are highly unlikely to damage the bow since it doesn't rust and there is no wood that could become soggy and rot.

The biggest difference is that the arrows "swim" a lot slower than they normally fly due to the water resistance. But hey, at least there is no wind to mess up your shot, right? Just water currents if any.

Battle Sports Archery Tag and Indoor Archery Range

Back in July Battle Sports in North York opened an indoor archery range / archery tag arena. On the weekends it mostly functions as an archery tag arena, but on Sunday mornings and on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights it functions as an indoor archery range for people who just want to practice shooting.

This is a BIG DEAL because it means Battle Sports is the first open to the public archery range in Toronto that charges a fee ($15 if you have your own equipment, $25 if you want to rent equipment).

So if you are new to archery and just want to try it, $25.

If you are an old pro but want the comfort of an indoor range when it is raining or cold outside and you have your own equipment, $15.

Battle Sports also sells equipment, so if you don't have any of your own but are looking to buy you can get some cheap deals by purchasing via them. (They buy all their equipment in bulk, so it ends up being cheaper that way.)

Battle Sports also offers a more unique archery tag experience, including plastic throwing axes and ninja stars in the mix. They also have more obstacles for people to hide behind, which are movable so teams can fortify their position as they see fit.

Price wise Battle Sports offers very competitive prices compared to other archery tag locations - $19.99 with the discount code "VIP", so with HST the total is $22.59. Compare that to other archery tag locations that are charging $24.80 or $24.99 and the total with tax is either $28.02 to $28.24.

Below is a selection of photographs from Battle Sports' archery tag facility. For more info or to book an archery tag event visit BattleSports.ca.

If you have not tried archery tag yet, then you should definitely try it. It is truly addictive.

Battle Sports also offers group archery lessons, for up to 20 people at once.

Move over Backyard Axe Throwing Leage (BATL), Battle Sports has people throwing axes at people. Thankfully they are just plastic.

Notes

There are other locations in Toronto / GTA that also offer archery tag, but they are comparatively less quality. Battle Sports is the best location from what we have determined.

"Archery Tag" the trademarked franchise company is apparently going to be shutting down several locations as well because of violations of their contract. Battle Sports however is independently operated and not part of the franchise, and thus will not be effected by any shut down of competitors. According to rumour "Archery District" is going to be one of the first place to be shut down, which is funny because they were also the first archery tag location in the GTA.

Archery Niagara is looking for a Few Good Archers

Archery Niagara is looking for a few good archers - and it doesn't matter whether you are an old pro or a complete beginner. If you live in the Niagara region and are into archery please join by visiting http://www.meetup.com/Archery-Niagara/

Hang out with your fellow archers, bowhunters, bowyers and toxophilites in the Niagara region of Ontario.