If you are interested in archery equipment from places like Wilcox Bait Tackle, teaching your children the sport of archery, or are working at a summer camp where archery is offered, you may wonder how to take your archery lessons beyond simple target practice. Target practice on a dedicated range is a great way to teach your apprentice archers the basics, including safety and proper technique. However, after a few rounds on the range, your students may want to try less staged, more rugged target practice. They may want to role-play their favorite heroes from popular movies, or they may simply desire a greater challenge. A field archery course can be the perfect solution for boredom at the range. 

Creating a field archery course requires advanced planning and a higher level of safety-management. Below are five steps to safely get your field archery course up and running. 

1. Map your course at least a week in advance.  A traditional field archery course blends orienteering with archery. Your students will usually be given a map or coordinates for each target and will have to locate the target before they can practice shooting. You should map out your course at least a week in advance. While mapping your course, you can assess where you will place the targets and where the archers will shoot from, making sure to place targets where the area around and behind them is relatively clear. This will make it easier to locate arrows that miss the target and notice any potential hazards before shooting.  Once you have created a map, you should give it to anyone who may be in the area. This includes your camp director, if you are setting up a range at a camp, or your neighbors if you are creating a field course around your house.   
2. Warn others when the field course is active.  You should let others know to avoid the generally area of the field course or be aware that there could be arrows throughout the day. At a camp, an announcement during morning mealtime may suffice. If the property is open to use by others, you may want to post a warning at the head of the trail or somewhere else highly visible.   
3. Divide your archers into small, responsible groups.  Since only one archer can shoot at a time during field archery, you should divide participants into groups smaller than four. This prevents children from getting distracted while each of them take their turn shooting. Each group should have an adult or older, responsible teenager with them. Alternatively, you can post an adult at each of the targets if the children are old enough to complete the orienteering tasks on their own.   
4. Teach your archers to give adequate warning before firing.  While you are still on the range, you should teach your participants to yell a warning, such as, "firing," before they shoot. They should then wait at least ten seconds before they draw their bow and begin shooting. This will give adequate time for anyone in the line of fire to make themselves known.   
5. Ensure your course is only used under supervision.  Since field archery is slightly higher risk than range archery, it is important that children are supervised while they are on the course. When the course is not open, you should remove the targets or lock the archery equipment in a shed so it cannot be used without supervision. 

Field archery is a great way to take the sport of archery to the next level. It also increases the amount of aerobic exercise participants get while they are practicing archery. If you think your young archers are ready to try more realistic shooting, why not set up a field course for them this summer?