Tag Archives: unmarked distance

Mar 12 2026

Distance judgement and using a rangefinder in archery

By far one of the most common questions I’m asked by new and sometimes experienced archers is concerning distance judgement and how to improve accuracy at varying distances in their shooting. Many will start shooting at a target of 15 to 20 yards and when presented with longer shots struggle. Over the years I’ve found many experienced archers all have a distance they struggle to shoot accurately.

How far is this shot?

As an introduction to the concept of distances and my use of rangefinder as a supportive tool I’d like you to watch the following video, showing 2 different distances to the same 3D target. One is from the Red peg (where an adult shoots their first arrow and normally furthest distance from the target). The other is from the Blue peg, the peg from which an adult would shoot their third arrow (last arrow) and is normally the closest peg to the target. In the video you will see a couple of other coloured pegs (yellow and orange) these are junior pegs.

Can you estimate how far these shots are? I know it’s harder to do from a video than in real life, but take a guess.

How did you get on? Did you manage to judge the distances?

Speaking to other archers I know several instinctive shooters, who past a certain distance, swap to some form of gapping as they don’t feel comfortable with their distance judgement past 40 yards.

To clarify before I go any further. I shoot the vast majority of my time under the NFAS organisation. Unlike other societies NFAS is entirely unmarked distances which means not only do you have to have good form and tuned equipment, but you also have to have an ability to read the ground, in order to judge the distance to your target.

When competing you can’t use a range finder of any description, as everything is shot on unmarked distances. Though you can use binoculars if you wish so long as there is no range finding facility inbuilt obviously.

This means if you want to score well, you need not only be able to shoot well, but also have a method to judge distances. Whether, consciously via gapping or subconsciously via instinctive / intuitive 

In this article I am not going to be covering gap shooting techniques or instinctive shooting (you can check out some of the material I’ve produced on this another time)

In this I’m going to talk about the use of a rangefinder as a tool for both course laying and improving your ability to judge distances. Even though I am an instinctive shooter I frequently use a rangefinder to develop my distance judgement.

You don’t need to be at an archery club to develop this skill in fact you probably do this every day when driving or cycling, as you are having to judge the distance to the vehicle in front of you to ensure you have time to react, brake, overtake etc.

Here is one useful technique to try out. It requires you to carry your rangefinder with you when out walking your dog or on the way to work. You can pick a tree or lamppost in the distance, making a mental note as to how far you think it is and then check the actual distance using your rangefinder. You will be surprised how quickly you will begin to be more and more accurate in your estimations.

An alternative to this technique is to pick a point in the distance but rather than try to estimate the distance, you immediately range it. You then know the distance and try to work out why it is that distance. The advantage with this method is your brain will know what it is straight away so you aren’t trying to correct a misread distance.

How rangefinders help coaching archers

For years I have carried a rangefinder when coaching. As an instinctive shooter I find it hard to consciously judge distances or rather put a number to that distance, e.g. 23 yards. I tend to think its between 23 to 25 yards. So, I carry the rangefinder as a useful tool for more precision.

If I can give a student a definitive distance, they can either select their sight pin or identify their gap distance.

Course laying use.

When I go about setting a course it’s usually with a couple of club members. One of us will spot a shot line and another will move to a potential target location. I can then take a range measurement to that location.

You may wonder why I bother doing this, so allow me to explain

  1. It means we can log the distances for each shot on the course to check the balance of short, medium or long shots.
  2. It means we have an accurate record of the distance as a shot may look closer or further than it actually is thanks to the use of dead ground or vegetation.
  3. If anyone at our shoot queries or challenges distances we can provide a definitive and accurate response.

I’m sure there are other course layers who do this. I know some don’t and prefer to rely on their own judgement. I prefer to use the rangefinder to make sure the distance is accurate and I have a record of it.

How can you develop distance judgement?

Technique 1 – half, then double

One technique I explain in the video is to pick what you think is a  mid-point to the target. How far is that? Lets same 10 yards. Then double that distance estimation, so in this case 20 yards. Take another look at the target. Does 20 yards sound right? Do you think it is further or closer?

If you have a rangefinder you can then range it and see how close you are.

The downside I have found with this technique is if you misjudge the initial mid point by a couple of yards,  then when you double the distance you double the mistake.

Technique 2 – 10/20/30

A second technique is when presented with a target, you first judge  what you feel is 10 yards to the target, then judge what another 10 yards towards the target would be, taking you to 20 yards in total. You then have to decided if you have reached your target, gone past the target or is it further? If further then ask yourself is it another 10 yards or less?

This technique can work pretty well on most targets, but can fall down if judging across large open ground or water.

The thing to remember is neither technique works 100% unless you practice it.

Do you use a rangefinder? If so let me know your thoughts. If you are interested in learning more about the rangefinder I use you can check out my review.

As always thanks for reading, supporting and following me. Take care and remember to enjoy your archery.

Bison target face
Dec 11 2022

New NFAS Target Faces review

The number of different target faces for field archery courses is quite simply astounding, probably numbering in the hundreds when you consider the different suppliers. I’m not talking about the round ones of different sizes and colours, but those depicting animal targets. So the JVD, Merlin, Delta etc. Over the last 12 months the National Field Archery Society, here in the UK has designed and produced a series of its own target faces to fit their needs.

These new faces were designed from the outset to be suitable for the NFAS championships and available for clubs to buy. The results of all this hard work being a collection of 80 custom faces, across 4 size groups giving organisers 20 target faces in each size group to choose from.

These faces can be printed on either paper or a plastic like mesh, (more on the mesh later) depending on the clubs requirements. The target faces have been designed with individual scoring zones ideal for NFAS competitions covering wound, kill and inner kill.

Explanation of Scoring zones

It’s worth noting NFAS made the decision when creating these faces that they wanted to make the scorings zones in some ways generous whilst still being challenging. The result was a series of target faces where the wound lines are running round the edge of the animal, thereby making the possibility of scoring a wound significantly easier than with other faces, This means not only the head and body area scores but also the legs, something very different to many other target faces currently on the market. Having said this the kill and especially the inner kill is small, making it challenging to get an inner kill,

At this point it might be worth explaining how the most common NFAS field course round – The Big Game round is scored. Everything is shot over unmarked distances and no range finding equipment is allowed. The goal for all archers is to go round and hit the target with their first arrow. Something I have never achieved. Courses are usually 36 or 40 targets set at distances from 5 yards to 70 plus yards. Yes, I did say 5 yards. Courses are set mostly in woodland and unlike other societies who insist on clear shooting lanes NFAS course layers will use all the vegetation and terrain to disguise the distances and make for a challenging shot.

The shooting distances are the same for all genders, the only difference being the age of the archer. younger archers shoot from junior pegs. This means you could have a compound archer shooting from the same peg as a longbow or Olympic recurve.

When you hit, what you score is dependent on which arrow you first hit with. Therefore if you hit the target with

  • First arrow wound is 16 points a kill 20 points inner kill 24 points, if you miss you go again.
  • Second arrow wound is 10 points a kill 14 points inner kill 14 points, if you miss you go again.
  • Third arrow wound is 4 points a kill 8 points inner kill 8 points. If you miss with your third attempt then you blank the target and move on.
    The inner kill area only bestowing a bonus score on the first shot, after that point it scores the same as the kill zone.

On a personal note I would like to see the faces organised in a northern / southern hemisphere . This simple is because I prefer seeing target faces in woodlands I could imagine being present historically in the country. So wolves, bears, deer, etc I’m not a fan of a lion, zebra or hippo. This is an entirely personal point of view.

The faces can be bought from the NFAS website https://nfas.net/

To give you an idea of the cost a group 1 target, printed on the mesh is £9.76 and a group 2 is £8.66 (this is at December 2022)

The testing of the mesh

Over the past few months the field Archery club (Briar Rose Field Archers) I belong to have had some of these new NFAS target faces out in our woodland course, as well as using them for the open competition a few months ago.

The bison shown below has been out since our clubs open shoot and lasted really well. The target is on a 1300 mm x 1300 mm boss so you can get an idea of size.

Bison target face
Bison target face

To give you an idea of what the target looks like from the shooting peg, I’ve taken the photo below. On the day of the shoot we had to fit a catching net at the back of the target due to so many people misjudging the distances. It is actually under 40 yard shot.

Bison target from shooting pegs
Bison target from shooting pegs

These target faces are printed not on paper but a plastic mess, which according to NFAS website can last several months or even a couple of years. It has certainly lasted a couple of months so far.

Image of the ostrich target face
Image of the ostrich target face

There has been a few discussions about the line colours being a little hard to see at a distance or the contrast being a little unclear on some faces.

The mesh has proved to be a lot more resistant to the wet weather we’ve been experiencing. Unlike some printed faces these mesh ones don’t seem to be eaten by slugs and snails. A big problem with some of the old JVD faces which when they get wet seem to disappear due to slugs and snails almost overnight.

I’m reviewing the mess faces here, but you can order them printed on paper if you rather. Below you can see a closeup of the target face, showing the holes in the mesh. This highlights the only drawback with the target face we’ve found. Our experience has shown that the weave closes up pretty well for most arrows but some wooden arrows where the pile can sometimes snag when the arrow is drawn out. This can create a slightly larger hole, which is visible in the photo below. It;s not for all wooden arrows just those where there is almost a groove behind the pile, so not quite flush to the shaft.

close up of target face
Close up of target face

I’ve recorded a couple YouTube videos available on my channel, showing a couple of the target faces we have been using at the wood.

One tip I’d like to offer anyone considering using these faces, is covering the target bosses with black fabric. This may sound a little strange, but consider this. Many target bosses are made up of layered foam, sometimes of different colours. By wrapping or covering the bosses you don’t see the different colours and said bosses are less visually intrusive in the woods. It also means when holes are made in the target face the brightly coloured foam is not visible. To keep costs down we use the weed suppressing material available online or from garden centres.

So are they worth the money?

At a time where every penny counts this is of vital importance for many clubs and individuals alike. I don’t think the mesh is worth it for small target faces (group 4) as I think they would be shot out too quickly. For our club where paper faces are likely to be eaten by slugs and snails, before they are shot out. Then yes there is a benefit. If you are looking for a target faces that is weather resistant and look good then they work well. I’ll freely admit that I was a bit skeptical originally largely due to the costs and concerns on how long they last but they have lasted well and still going.

It’s also nice to see some new faces, with very friendly wound lines. It might encourage more clubs to use paper faces. I think the 24 are small and could do with being a little larger. I don’t know if NFAS are going to add more faces over time, but that I think would be great idea.

Thanks for reading.