Different Styles and Types of Archery

Archery is basically shooting arrows at a target from a certain distance. But not all archery competitions are the same because rules and targets can be different for each type.

Target archery - most popular type today. Archers shoot at stationary circular targets different distances distances. Competitions can be held indoors or outdoors and all kinds of bows are used. Distances are 18m and 25m for indoor and from 30m to 90m for outdoor competitions. Archers have limited time for shooting and they shoot 3 or 6 arrows. After that they all walk to the targets to score and retrieve their arrows.
Field archery - form of archery that is shot in nature on rough terrain. It consists of three rounds. Field rounds use targets with black bullseye, a white center ring, and black outer ring that are shot from the distance of 73m. Hunter rounds use targets that have black ring with white bullseye and are shot from uneven distances. Animal rounds use life-size 2D animal targets that are shot from uneven distances and are scored according the place where the target is hit and from which place it as hit.
3D archery - form of archery that uses life-size models of game (hence “3D”) and is popular with hunters because it recreates a hunting environment for competition.
Clout archery - similar to target archery but archers shoot longer distances and targets are on the ground. Target is in fact a flag stuck into the ground and archers try to shoot the arrow as close to it as they can. Around the flag are concentric circles that are used for scoring.
Crossbow archery - performed with crossbows. It has three disciplines: 30m Match-crossbow, 10m Match-crossbow and the most popular: Field-crossbow archery. Archers shoot outside or indoors and have three minutes to shoot three shots. Many crossbow archers make their own equipment for these competitions.

Flight archery - form of archery where the goal is reaching the greatest distance with an arrow. These competitions are usually held on large flat areas like airfields. Bows used for flight archery are not standard but specially designed and some of them quite unusual while the arrows are short.
Ski archery - biathlon combined of skiing and shooting from recurve bow instead of a gun. Athletes ski around a cross-country track and and shoot the targets from the two stances: kneeling and standing. Targets are 18m far and have 16cm in diameter. Skis must never be removed during competition but can be unfastened while kneeling as long as the foot is in the contact with the ski.
Popinjay (or Papingo) - a type of archery where archers try to dislodge wooden birds from the places where they stand. This variant originated from shooting birds on church steeples. Here, archers stand 3.7 m from the 27 m mast and shoot with blunt arrows into wooden birds and points are scored for each bird knocked off.
Roving marks - dates from the time of Henry VIII and is considered one of the oldest forms of archery competition. Marks are posts or flags placed on the field and archer first shoots at the first mark than from that mark to the next and so on.
Beursault - form of archery from northern France and Belgium. Two targets are placed facing each other at the distance of 50m. Archer shoots from one at the other then oposite.
Wand shoot - comes from an English archery tradition. Archers shoot at a vertical strip of wood “the wand” which is 180cm high and 75mm to 150mm wide and, of course, their goal is to hit it.