Archery hits the bullseye as a fun, pandemic-friendly hobby, Missouri Department of Conservation naturalist Sam Stewart said.
"It's kind of the most perfect social distancing sport or art you can do," he said. "You're standing relatively far away from someone but still enjoying having them around."
On Tuesday, Stewart hosted "Summer Surprises," a weekly virtual program hosted by Runge Conservation Nature Center in Jefferson City. During each half-hour program, a naturalist leads a family-friendly talk about a surprise topic related to the outdoors. Though Runge is hosting a handful of in-person classes now, these virtual programs take the place of some events that would typically be hosted at the center. People who live outside Jefferson City are welcome to join.
"(This year) has been really strange; we've had to adapt as we've gone," Stewart said. "One of the good things that's come out of this is that we've seen a lot more people enjoying the outdoors, whether that be hunting hiking, birding or kayaking."
The surge in outdoor hobbies included archery - Stewart said he has talked to the owner at a local bow shop, who told him this has been one of their busiest years ever for classes and sales. Stewart's topic Tuesday was "Archery through the Ages." He described the use of bow and arrow as one of the "oldest art forms."
"A very long time ago, before they had bows (and) arrows, people used something else spears," he said. "The only propelling force that had was the energy you put behind it as a person. It went as fast as you can throw it."
The need to hurl projectiles harder, faster and with increased accuracy drove innovation. First came the atlatl, a wooden lever of sorts that acts as an extension for the arm and allows a spear to be hurled further than an arm can alone.
Then, thousands of years later, the bow and arrow was developed; they were first widely used in ancient Egypt around 3,000 BCE. The technology slowly spread through the world, improving and evolving as it went. Early crossbows were developed in the first millennium CE.
In the United Kingdom, the longbow became the ranged weapon of choice by around 1250 CE. Longbows are a simple length of wood with a single bend and a grip in the middle.
"Instead of throwing (an arrow) we're using string to propel it even faster," Stewart said.
When an archer draws back on a bow, potential energy is stored in its limbs; when the archer releases the string, that potential energy is converted to kinetic energy when the limbs spring back and hurtle the string and arrow forward.
"(Old arrows) have the same components that modern arrows have; they have a long straight shaft, they have fletchings that are often made of feathers so they can compress as they run along the sides of the bow, they have a nocking point in the back, and sometimes they have index fletching," Stewart said.
Arrows usually have three fletches - those fins at the back that stabilize it in flight - and one is typically a different color; that one, the index fletch, faces outward when the arrow is placed against the string.
The long bow's development was a massive war technology advancement, Stewart said.
"There was a rule in England that every man had to practice shooting a longbow on Sundays and that rule was never repealed, as far as I know," Stewart said. "Though I don't think the English practice longbow every Sunday anymore."
The next big innovation Stewart highlighted was the recurve bow. Instead of being a single arc, a recurve curves back the opposite direction at the tips. When not drawn, the string rests against the distal parts of the bow.
"This adds so much momentum, so much energy to the arrow for the amount of draw weight the bow has," he said. "When you draw, you put energy into limbs. With a recurve bow, you spend less energy for more in return."
Modern recurve bows are made of layers of wood and polymer pressed together, Stewart said.
In the mid-1960s, compound bows entered the scene. A Billings, Missouri, resident named Holless Wilbur Allen developed the first and they rapidly gained in popularity. Compound bows have wheels called cams at the tips of the limbs. When the bowstring is drawn, these cams pull on cables and pulleys which bend the limbs.
"This adds a whole lot of power," Stewart said.
This system has a couple of advantages, Stewart said.
Thanks to the shape of the cams, at full draw, the archer experiences "let-off" - the string actually becomes about 80 percent easier to hold in place. This is particularly beneficial to hunters, who can hold the string back longer and wait to line up a perfect shot. Another benefit to Runge is that the draw weight of a compound bow can be adjusted, so the same bow can be used for everyone from children to muscular adults.
Modern crossbows have seen dramatic improvements, too. A crossbow features a horizontally-oriented bow positioned at the end of a rifle-like stock, along the length of which the bowstring is drawn; a trigger system releases the string. Instead of classic arrows, they fire shorter, stockier bolts. Modern crossbows use cams and can be modified with elaborate sights and range-finding systems.
If any of that sounds interesting, the Missouri Department of Conservation has programs where beginning archers can learn to shoot and intermediate archers can improve their skills.
"We'll teach you how to make a great shot on an animal, and harvest your own deer and turkey," Stewart said. "'Until it gets too cold to be outside, we'll be outside shooting archery."
Runge's next in-person archery program is scheduled at 6 p.m. Sept. 16. Participants must be at least 8 years old. Register at mdc-event-web.s3licensing.com/Event/EventDetails/174125. The next Summer Surprises virtual program is at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Sign up for that program or the many other Runge activities at mdc.mo.gov/events-s3?field_event_activity_location_tid=Runge%20Conservation%20Nature%20Center.