OFFICERS

The Captain of Archers
The Captain of Archers is responsible for the day to day matters concerning archery in Acre. The Captain oversees all archery in the kingdom and handles matters pertaining to safety and interpretation of the rules and regulations of archery. The Captain is also responsible for the appointment of the other officers and any assistants, or deputies, he feels necessary.

 

Archery Quartermaster
The archery quartermaster maintains a record of all equipment owned by the kingdom archers. The Quartermaster also stores any donated equipment that is not currently in use by a kingdom archer.

 

Secretary
The secretary is responsible for maintaining all scores submitted from Royal Rounds. The secretary is also responsible for keeping a list of the kingdom's archers and the forms they are qualified in, called the Roster. Lastly the secretary keeps a copy of any articles or letters pertaining to archery that have appeared in "The White Hart" during his/her tenure.

Territorial Lieutenants
Territorial Lieutenants are elected by their respective territories, but must also be approved by the Captain. Lieutenants are responsible for keeping a record of all archers in their territories and the forms they are qualified in.

A Lieutenant is also charged with training anyone in the Kingdom who is interested in archery and helping them begin the acquisition of their own equipment. Finally, the lieutenant is responsible for organizing local practices, meetings and competitions.

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Note on all Office Posts: All post officers may select one assistant, if needed, to act as an official deputy. The current Captain of Archers must approve the candidate as a deputy. The officer may remove the deputy as they see fit. Their primary duty of the deputy is to assist in carrying out the duties of the post.

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QUALIFICATIONS

In order to qualify in one of the three archery forms, an archer must show competence with the weapon, familiarity with safety regulations and the ability to inspect the necessary equipment. These skills must be demonstrated to two lieutenants, or a single Lieutenant and the Captain. Qualification must be attained in each archery form individually. The three archery forms are Recurve, Longbow and Crossbow.

Suspension of qualification can be placed upon an individual who shows continual, or gross negligence to either line regulations or equipment maintenance. Suspension can only be bestowed by the Captain with the agreement of one lieutenant for a period not to exceed six months. The Captain with the agreement of the Constable or Crown can also place revocation of qualification upon an archer.

*Some notes of the Inspection of Archery Equipment*

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Each archer is to be responsible for the inspection and maintenance of their equipment. The archer's first priority must be that their equipment is safe and poses no possible threat to themselves or others.

• Bows: The bow should be examined for any signs of deterioration of it's materials. Items to look for include fraying, cracking, loose string knocks, splits in the laminations of any kind on the bow's limbs or riser.

• String: The bow string should be examined for any fraying in the string or it's binding and for a loose knocking point.

• Arrows: Each arrow should be examined that could possibly effect it's flight or it's integrity. Items to look for include cracked shafts, gouged shafts, loose or cracked knocks, loose or improperly mounted points (cracked points or ones with too much shaft exposed), loose and/or improperly mounted fletching and fletching made of restricted materials (i.e. plastic vanes).

EQUIPMENT REGULATIONS

Bow
Compound bows are never allowed. Mechanical sights are banned from longbows and recurves, but limbs may be marked and sights be used upon crossbows of medieval design. Crossbows of modern design are not allowed, and the judgment of design is to be made by the Captain of Archers. No stabilizers, clickers or modern mechanical string devices maybe used with longbows or recurves. Bow straps are allowed, and archers may shoot off the self or off a flipper rest.

Arrows & Bolts
Shafts shall be of natural wood. Fletching shall be of natural feathers, plastic vanes are not allowed. Nocks may be of any material. Broad heads and other sharpened edged points are not allowed.

Strings
Strings may be made of Dacron, Kevlar or other materials used for modern bowstrings. No gut, string or other organic materials shall be allowed. (Silencers may be used. Peep sights mounted upon the string may not be used. A nock set point may be used as can be a crimp on brass nocking point. Either Flemish or modern may be used.)

Procedures for Running a Shoot

• The Officer in Charge will order all archers to the line. The highest ranking officer has the right to marshal the line yet reserves the right to delegate the honor to a lower ranking officer or an experienced qualified archer.

• The Officer in Charge will verify that there is no one on the range. He will signify this by the declaration of the phrase "CLEAR DOWNRANGE".

• The Officer in Charge will state the range and the number of arrows to be shot.

• The Officer in Charge will issue the command to commence shooting.

• For untimed shoots, the archer may spend as much time as they wish to shoot.

• For timed shoots, the Officer in Charge shall follow the following procedure:

• The Officer in Charge shall state the range and the time allotted for the shoot.

• Archers are allowed to start with a single arrow nocked and drawn.

• When the archers are ready, the Officer in Charge shall count down in seconds from five to one, ending with the command "Shoot" or "Loose"

• If an arrow is released before the command to shoot or after the command to hold is called, and that arrow strikes the target, the highest scoring arrow for the round shall not be counted. Arrows in flight when the hold is called shall be counted.

• When all archers are finished, the Officer in Charge will issue the command, "Bows Down".

• After checking to make certain all archers have disarmed, the officer in charge shall give the command "Retrieve Arrows".

SCORING

The judgment of the Officer in Charge as to the point value of a shot is final.

In the event of a pass through, if it can be ascertained where the arrow struck the target, it will be accorded the witness value. If it is during a royal round and it can not be witnessed, it will be accorded a value of three points.

Scores for each archer shall include the following:

• Archer's full medieval name.

• Archer's full mundane name.

• Scores at each range.

• Speed round score, including the number of arrows (Excluding early or late arrows).

• Total score for the shoot.

• Type of bow used.

• Royal Rounds

Royal Rounds are an ongoing annual tourney. Participants are required to shoot in garb and conduct themselves in a sportsmen type manner. All Royal Rounds must be sanctioned by the Captain of Archers beforehand. Currently there are two classes of royal round, the bowmen round open to those shooting with long and/or recurve bows) and the crossbowmen round (open only to archers using the crossbow). Both classes archers may shoot at the same target in the same royal round, but the scores shall only be compared with other archers of the similar class. As such it is possible to have two winners for a single royal round, if both classes are competing simultaneously.

A royal round shall consist of one end of six arrows shot at each of the following distances: twenty yards, thirty yards & forty yards, and a final thirty second speed shoot at twenty yards range. All ends of a given royal round shall be shot consecutively and in the above sequence.

Targets shall be medieval 60 cm round. These targets have three concentric circles of varying color. The these targets shall consist of a outer white ring of 60 cm valued at 2 points, the middle green ring of 24 cm valued at 4 points and yellow center of 6 cm. valued at 8 points. Arrows striking the boarder dividing two scoring rings shall be counted as if within the higher of the two rings.

All Royal Rounds must be witnessed by two lieutenants, or the Captain, Constable or Crown. No restriction is placed on the number of royal rounds shot on any given day, but only one score per day may be submitted for each archer. (The archer chooses which score is submitted.) Two lieutenants, the Captain, Constable or Crown must witness Royal Rounds.

Scores shall be signed, dated and sent to the Archer Secretary by the witnessing officers. The Archer Secretary cannot act a witness in a royal round.