Archery set recommendations

[SebKelly]

Hello all, my son is 5 and a half and I'd like to get him an archery set. Does anyone have any recommendations? We are able to use fields on a farm so we can get arrows with points rather than suckers. I remember being given an archery set for christmas as a kid which was just too strong and tough to pull and it put me off forever basically so I don't want to repeat that mistake. But my sone is physical and won't want something that is patently not the real thing either. All and any recommendations gratefully received!

Hi, belated field archer here - I started my kids at around the same age or a bit younger.

If I were you, I'd see if there is a specialist archery retailer near you and go there. Your son will need a bow that's suited to his needs - if he's strong and physical, he may be stronger than an average 5 year old. At the same time you don't want to overbow him and cause injuries later on. It also helps if he can try the bow - lots of archery shops have indoor ranges for the purpose and they will be able to assess how long his arrows need to be (this matters).

If it turns out he really loves the sport, find a club so he can get some coaching - ideally a field archery club, it's so much more fun than target.

For that age you are looking at something like a 36 inch bow with no more than a 10lb draw. You do need to be careful to make sure it's not too much to avoid injury and that the correct form and safety procedures are followed from the very second they pick up a bow. You need a proper shooting line and an adult in charge supervising at all times. It's much much harder to adapt to safety protocols if they join a club later on and are not used to following the rules. I would also strongly suggest some form of instance and following the the requirements to the letter. A 10lb bow can still cause damage and needs to be treated exactly the same as a 35lb bow.

Is a wonderful hobby, there are 5 archers in my family and we have membership to a beautiful club with a full time outdoor rage in the countryside. It's lovely and relaxing. But boy does it get expensive 😂

If you want something really simple decathalon do a bow and arrow set with suckers.

Sets like that are useless. Far better to invest in something decent that will teach skills.

Yep. Apologies. Didn't read the post properly about the not wanting suckers. I was trying to suggest a cheaper alternative in case the OP didn't want to spend too much

Thanks @pointythings this all looks like excellent advice which I will follow. I'm new to archery myself and had to look up field archery but I can see now that would definitely suit my son much better than indoor targets. I did give Quicks Archery a call and have been thinking about getting this Rolan Snake 40 for starters - but your post prompted me to take a look for local retailers and there are some so I'll call around.

@WitchyBits likewise that really makes sense about embedding safe practice protocols right at the start, thanks for that.

@Geneticsbunny Thanks for the thought - as you caught, given the outdoor space available to us - and my son's desire for the 'real thing' - we'll go for some points on em!