Hi Steve,
Thanks for your positive feedback.
Archery as sport in the Netherlands is popular but it does not have a high profile like soccer (like the NFL in the USA).
Most archers shoot freestyle recurve or compound but "traditional archery" is coming up rapidly. People want to go back to the "roots" of archery, just a simple bow; go out, shoot and have fun.
As you could read in the Introduction of my web-site I always was interested in archery as a little kid. It faded away during schooltime (high school and engineering school) but I picked it up again in 1992 on a campsite during a holiday in France. Since then I joined a local archery club of which I am now the chairman for a few years.
In 2003 I also organised with some fellow archers an international FITA shoot in our area. It is still an annual event.
Two years ago I switched over to traditional shooting and once in a while I grab my Carbo Fast (Border) olympic freestyle bow only to make sure that I'm still able to hit the tens at 30 meters.
Two years ago I bought a Great Plains Palo Duro B-model recurve (47# @28"). I have been in Pampa Tx to visit Bill Foreman.
What I also observe is that more clubmembers are switching over to traditional shooting. We did some field rounds and 3-d animal rounds where I did quite well. (won 4 out of 6 in the bare bow league)
As for hunting in the Netherlands: It's illegal as in most European countries. But as alternative we have the 3-d animal rounds. These 3-d animal rounds are held throughout the year, almost every other week.
V-Archer
For those who are interested below is a copy of the introduction of my web-site.
For a long period of time I’m interested in bow building and wanted the experience to build one. Through various web-sites, forums etc. I gained information how to build a bow and the requirements needed.
My first goal was buying a vintage bow and refurbish it to gain experience and use it for traditional shooting. The first bow that I bought was a vintage Ben Pearson "Pinto" recurve bow from 1969. When pulling the bow, it appeared that the limbs showed some severe twist. Therefore I had to cut off both limbs and attach new limbs to the riser. The riser needed some adaptions to match the fitting to the riser. The bow was tillered properly and was finished off. (see “Bow building page” on my web-site) Before selling this refurbished Pinto to someone who really wanted this bow, I used it at some traditional shoots.
Since then I have bought several (vintage) bows through e-bay (USA & Germany), refurbished them and sold them again. Because these "refurbishing jobs" turned out well I will keep doing that, but only on request.
Somewhat later I started building bows using the experience I gained. First I made an old riser and matched some existing limbs and fitted them to the riser to a functional bow.
Because exotic woods are nice to work with and show beautiful patterns when applying lacquer or oil, I started to build Reflex/Deflex type bows using these exotic woods in the limbs.
The first R/D bow I built had a bamboo backing and an Ipe belly. The riser was made from Osage. The second one had an Ipe backing and an Osage belly with a laminated Osage riser. The third bow had a bamboo backing and Ipe belly but this time I used inland oak for the riser section.
After some time I started to use glass on my bows using a new designed bow form that has more reflex.
Making arrows also forms a part of this addictive hobby and can be seen on the “arrow building” page on my web-site.
Topic: V-Archer and archery in the Netherlands (Read 392 times)
