FAQ

Muttley Crew Archers

Frequently Asked Questions

What does membership cost?

Monthly fees:

Adult £10.00.  Under 16’s £5.00. 
Family £20.00 for up to 2 adults & 2 children.

The club’ s monthly fee is paid by direct debit/standing order only.

You also need to pay an annual fee of £20 direct to NFAS to cover card and insurance.

Field can be the cheapest form of archery – there is a lot of second hand kit exchanged and plenty of free help with repairs and maintenance. Competition, insurance, shooting and membership fees are generally much cheaper than other forms of organised archery.

As there are many styles, it is possible to compete at the highest level with very economical gear. Nonetheless many people also shoot setups which are eye-wateringly expensive.

Yes, especially for those under 12 years of age.

Close fitting casual clothing is preferred.  Loose baggy tops are best avoided, along with chains, bracelets and dangly earings. Long hair may be best in a pony tail or secured under a brimless hat.

When shooting outdoors in woodland, shorts are best avoided to prevent nettling, cuts and bites. It is important to check the local weather forecasts and ensure you bring adequate waterproof clothing. As the environment is part of the challenge, field archers shoot in all weathers, year round.

A local clothing manufacturer can supply members with tops and other clothing in Muttley Crew colours, but there is no obligation to buy or wear them.

 

Your own equipment can be brought along for a safety and suitability inspection by the coach.

We prefer you to use our training bows on beginners courses initially.

Yes – but we ask for that to be limited to 2 parents or 1 friend, this is for safety reasons and to avoid distraction during the sessions

Absolutely! Courses are laid out with different pegs (simpler shots) to include the youngest shooters.

To ensure safety, children must compete with an adult shoot guardian alongside them – usually a parent or relative. The shoot guardian must be a trained archer and NFAS member.

We don’t charge any shoot or range fees to members – shoot as often as you like for free!

Your monthly membership enables you to shoot in the woods and at either of our outdoor walk backs as often as you like in daylight. All members are keyholders for our private course.

Indoor evening training sessions 3 times a week are also free to members.

Limited types of recurve crossbows can be shot in NFAS competitions – bolt speeds, lengths and weights are restricted. If you have a compound crossbow (with cams/wheels), self-cocking or repeating crossbow, it cannot be used in NFAS competition.

You will still need to be signed off as a competent archer and trained on recurve and other traditional bows before you can shoot with an appropriate crossbow at Muttley.

Not all clubs allow competition entrants as landowners such as The Forestry Commission do not allow crossbows to be shot on their properties.

Because we shoot at unmarked distances, our outdoor targets are typically fixed and the shooting line of archers move away (walk back) from them to practice shooting at many and random ranges. The ability to gauge distance is an important skill in field archery. 

When shooting indoors we have a more standard fixed shooting line of archers, but set out multiple lanes of targets at random distances. As with target archery shooting across lanes is strictly forbidden and the usual range safety procedures apply for collection of arrows etc.

We don’t recommend you buy any bow until you have completed a training course and shot a variety of bow types, weights and styles.

Our members have hundreds of bows between them and unlike many target clubs, we have a ‘try my bow’ culture and more often than not, members are likely to own the bows you are considering.

As part of sign-off we measure your drawlength and advise you on suitable bows for your build.