As far back as I can remember, I was always eager to grab my bow and arrows and head out the the forest to do some roving. This "roving" is walking along through the fields and forests and picking out things to shoot like a clump of leaves, a small dead bush, or maybe an old rotten stump. In your mind, you might imagine that you are big game hunting in Africa or Alaska. A bush might become an impala, a kudu, or maybe an elk or a grizzly bear. When there are a lot of stumps to shoot you can let your imagination run wild and enjoy quite an interesting bowhunting adventure. Because so much roving is done shooting at stumps many archers refer to roving as "stumping" or "stump shooting."


Before you head out to your local fields and forest with your bow and arrows in hand, let's consider a few things. Remember always that you may not be the only one out there. Often there are other people who are simply out for a walk in nature. If they see someone out there with a bow and arrow, they may look at that as a dangerous piece of sporting equipment - they may become fearful, uncertain, and uncomfortable. Yes! You read that correctly! It is up to you to put their mind at ease. Be a good representative of instinctive archery. Be friendly, be safe, and always be ready to describe what you are doing out there to anyone who asks.

In Germany, according to current case law and the legal definitions, a bow and arrow is classified as sporting goods equipment. You have the right to practice shooting your bow and arrows on public lands as long as you are careful and not grossly negligent or willfully endangering any other people. In this regard, instinctive archers have the same legal regulations as do other sports such as football. Of course, as a person out shooting your bow, you are not allowed to violate any other laws either, especially laws that apply to hunting and walking in the forest with a weapon! As an example, here are two important regulations!

• You have in some countries only a limited right to be in the forest after dark so you may be stopped and questioned by authorities. Be prepared to answer their questions with a smile.
• Property damage. (trees, bushes) You are not allowed to damage any live trees or bushes.

If you want to find out more information and regulations for safety before you go for your first walk in the woods with a bow and arrow, it is a good idea to check in with your local nature conservation authority or whoever the administrative authority (city or district) is for the area that you wish to go roving.

A VERY important consideration!

Under no circumstances may hunting tips (broadheads) or similar tips suitable for hunting be carried. If you are carrying arrows with broadheads your bow and arrows will no longer be considered sports equipment. They will now be considered bowhunting equipment and this is not allowed, massive difficulties can arise. The confiscation of bows and arrows would probably be the least that would happen. You may face fines and even worse!

My early years in instinctive archery was filled with this roving. As teenagers we went often to the forest with our bows and arrows to playfully satisfy our urge for freedom and adventure in the roving forest!

We carried out many fictional hunts for rhizomes, tufts of moss, small mouse holes, large tree stumps, branches lying on the ground and many similar targets!

If you are going to go out and try roving for yourself make sure that you NEVER shot at live trees, otherwise you will be guilty of property damage!

Take your shots from all sorts of physical positions. Take shots from a kneeling position, from a wide legged lunge stance, take shots between two branches that are very close together, and take shots that are situated steeply uphill and steeply downhill! It's an enjoyable challenge for sure!


By shooting in all these different situations and positions you will learn archery in its real, original and true form!
To hone your instinctive shooting skills, shoot under an assortment of natural conditions!

Imagine yourself in the forest surrounded by nature, walking along amidst the trees, branches, obstacles and various challenging shooting positions!

Throughout all my years of shooting traditional bows I have experienced a large part of my instinctive archery in the forest shooting at natural targets while imagining great bowhunting adventures. If I were to say that I "learned" instinctive archery here it wouldn't be quite right, the more precise word to use would be that this is how I "experienced" instinctive archery in its finest form!

I highly recommend to everyone interested in traditional archery to go out into nature and go roving!

Here are a few tips that I would like to pass along to you!

• As you walk through nature, open your awareness, allow your senses to open and fully enjoy the scenery, the smells, the sounds, and all the other sensory treats available for you to experience there!
• Always be open and friendly with people you may encounter out there. They may be quite interested in having a conversation with you. Whether they are a bit unsettled and seem to want to start a confrontation, be sure to put their mind at ease with your stories of how much fun it is to shoot stick bows in the forest. Even though a person in the forest with a bow and arrow is an unusual sight - they might be encouraged to give it a try! You might even ask them if they would like to give it a try. Who knows, maybe they will get their own bow and arrow and enjoy roving themselves as well!
• Be extremely careful - Make sure not to damage any property (living trees etc.)
• Respect any legislation! (In Germany, Austria, Switzerland and a few other countries, hunting with bows and arrows is strictly prohibited)

Here I would like to end this blog post about roving with longbows and recurve bows with a quote from Ron LaClair, father of the Shrew Bows!

"When we are out shooting bows like this, bows that are simple stick and strings, we are turning back the clock and shooting archery the way our forefathers did!"
Ron LaClair

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Thank you
Henry M Bodnik