Probably the most accomplished archer in the modern era, perhaps of all time, is Howard Hill. He shot very heavy bows, hunted just about every large land mammal in the world, and he won every archery competition he entered. But even Howard Hill could miss. He once shot at an elk almost 200 yards away and missed the first two shots. Okay, it was 200 yards, but still, he did miss. Even Byron Ferguson, the modern trick shooter, misses occasionally.
Accuracy is based on the consistency of the archer’s form and release and having arrows that are exactly the same and matched to the bow and to the archer. Several properties of an arrow affect its accuracy—stiffness (called spine), weight, and the points, nocks, and fletchings.
If any one of those characteristics are different, the arrow will shoot differently. Prior to the modern era, it was impossible to perfectly match arrows. Wood just doesn’t grow that consistently.
Consequently, each arrow would fly just a little bit differently than the others.
The stiffness of the arrow also must be matched to the power or draw weight of the bow. A bow drawing at 30# will not be able to shoot an arrow intended for a bow drawing at 80# very well at all. And if the guy drawing the 80# bow tries to shoot an arrow meant for a 30# bow, he might have the arrow shatter when he releases the string. If it does, it may fill his hand and arm with wooden splinters.
The stability of the archer’s arm, the smoothness and consistency of the release, and the pressure of the thumb of the hand gripping the bow also contribute to accuracy. The very best archers spend hours perfecting their form before they even try to shoot at a target.
But even with perfect form, the kind of accuracy described in books and shown on film is simply impossible—especially if an archer is using wooden arrows and traditional gear. Saxton Pope noted how inconsistent Ishi’s shots were when shooting at targets, and he attributed it to the varying weights and spine of Ishi’s arrows.
A squirrel’s eye is less than a quarter inch in diameter. Yet Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games, using a bow she made herself and arrows she made without the benefit of a spine tester and a scale to measure the spine and weight of the arrow could never have achieved the kind of accuracy attributed to her. She might have been able to hit a squirrel every time and maybe even in the head most of the time with a lot of luck and skill—but in the eye every time? No way. The author had Peeta say that Katniss could hit a squirrel in the eye every time to establish Katniss’s competence with a bow, but it was way overdone.
Hawkeye, in the Avengers, is even more offensive. Not only is he clearly shooting a very lightweight bow which could not possibly cast an arrow at the ranges he is shooting that would kill anyone, but his arrows can steer themselves and change directions completely. He can even hit moving targets without looking at them.
He also appears to use at least three different releases, and his arrows do not follow a normal flight trajectory. No projectile, not even bullets or missiles, flies completely flat. There is always an arch to the trajectory. And, let’s be honest, in a fight against an automatic or semiautomatic firearm, an archer wielding a bow is going to be seriously outgunned. Are these exaggerations fun? Sure, but they aren’t accurate.