Bow and arrow Bow and arrow The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles (arrows). "Archery" is the art, practice or skill of using bows to shoot arrows. A person who shoots arrows with a bow is called a "bowman" or an "archer". Someone who makes bows is known as a "bowyer", one who makes arrows is a "fletcher", and one who manufactures metal arrowheads is an "arrowsmith". The use of bows and arrows by humans for hunting predates recorded history and was common to many prehistoric cultures. They were important weapons
History of archery his Unlawful Games Act 1541. The advent of firearms eventually rendered bows obsolete in warfare. Despite the high social status, ongoing utility, and widespread pleasure of archery, almost every culture that gained access to even early firearms used them widely, to the relative neglect of archery. In Ireland, Geoffrey Keating (c. 1569 - c. 1644) mentions archery as having been practiced "down to a recent period within our own memory." Early firearms were inferior in rate of fire (a Tudor English author expects eight shots from the English longbow in the time needed for a "ready shooter" to give five