Field Archery is "hunting " without hurting.

Targets are usually animal or bird pictures (called "faces") that are pinned onto the foam butts. 3-D targets are realistic, full size models of animals or birds and are made of high-density foam.
Archers shoot from marked foot pegs (red, white and blue) at a series of faces arranged round a woodland course. The course can be up to 40 faces for a one-day shoot.
Foot pegs are positioned to give interesting shots at distances unknown to the archer. The archer's skill is being able to make an accurate shot by judging not only distance but trajectory. Targets are not always on level ground and are frequently partially obscured.


There is no handicap system in Field Archery.
There are, however, a number of different classes, depending on the equipment used. Longbow, American Flat Bow and Hunting Tackle all use wooden arrows and traditional type bows. Bare Bow and Bow Hunter use Recurve bows and metal arrows. There are several other classes as well.

Thanks to a grant and loan from the Isle of Man Sports Council we now have 18 3-D targets. These are full size replica animals and birds made of PU foam and painted to give a realistic look. They provide a different challenge to the flat faces of the normal picture targets but use the same scoring system.
   
Generally the first arrow (from the red peg) carries the maximum score. A hit with the first arrow means the archer does not shoot again at that target. If the first arrow misses then a second arrow is shot from the white peg. If that misses a final arrow is shot from the blue peg. There are a maximum of three arrows allowed for each target and the first scoring arrow counts.

Juniors shoot from a yellow foot peg that is positioned to give a realistic chance of hitting.

There are National Championships organised by the NFAS for both 3-D and standard faces.