“It’s a golf course in the woods”, nature archery in the spotlight at Plœuc-L’Hermitage

The Costa Rican town hosted the French outdoor archery championship during the Ascension weekend. The opportunity to discover a sport unknown to the general public.

It is a confidential sport, but which does not lack interest. Nature archery had its French championship from Friday May 19 to Sunday May 21, in the Côtes-d’Armor.

On the day’s program for the participants, 21 targets spread over the high plateau of the Côte des Halles, in Plœuc-L’Hermitage.

Laurent Lemarrié is one of the favorites in the category of seniors aged 30 to 50. A native of Plœuc, he did not need to familiarize himself with the environment, he has been practicing nature archery since he was 11 years old.

If archery requires regularity, in kind, it requires adaptability: “You never shoot the same way. The distances are unknown, there is a slope, you can shoot downhill, uphill”explains Laurent Lemarrié.

It’s totally different from traditional shooting where you’re always static. You always have to estimate distances, judge, it really is a golf course in the woods.

Laurent Lemarrie

700 archers came from all over France to compete in different categories, ages and bows, throughout the weekend. On each pass, the shooter has 45 seconds to shoot his 2 arrows and score the most points.

To score points, the principle is simple: you have to aim at animal coats of arms of different sizes at a distance that can range from 5 meters to 40 meters.

The targets follow the shape of the animal and are therefore not perfectly circular. The closer the arrow is to a vital point, the more the archer will be rewarded.

Within this championship, 5 different categories of bows are represented, but the archers encountered swear only by the hunting bow.

“The hunting bow provides an instinctive, intuitive pleasure, like our ancestors! We just take pleasure with fairly simple wooden bows. Not always easy to master but quite simple”, laughs Lucas Gérôme

The nature archery remains rather unknown in France but has more and more licensees. There are more than 5,000 in Brittany.