Being outdoors is only the beginning.

Author Mark aims to take a shot 

I've always liked outdoor pursuits, hiking, camping and outdoor sports, so when my daughter decided to take up archery, I felt a slight tingle inside.

She bought a compound bow, but it wasn't one she could draw, so I bought it from her, and she bought something slightly less powerful. We shot for a short while in the back garden, but to be honest, it soon lost its appeal. A few years later, she was furloughed from work, so out came the bow again, this time in her boyfriend's field behind his house; I joined her when I was able and was hooked again, but something was missing. I "needed"; that's man speak for "wanted" a better bow, so I bought myself a PSE Uprising, a ready-to-shoot package. It comes with the basics to get you shooting, but I knew nothing about bow timing, centre shot, or cam lean. The list of things needed to have a bow shoot accurately is endless. With that said, I realised I wasn't too bad of a shot, so I started researching what makes you better at archery. I'm like a sponge when learning something new, absorbing as much knowledge as possible.

A chance encounter on Facebook introduced me to a guy called Alex George, a keen archer who was seriously thinking of starting his own archery club. His back garden was huge, so our Sunday shoot started to happen there instead. At this point, I first shot a 3D target; amongst the trees were foam deer, pigs, owls, and a plethora of other animals. Boy, I was hooked; this is my vocation. Alex then started Hybrid Archery on a small scale at first, but there was genuine interest from the surrounding community. New shooters, people who had bows who hadn't shot in years and those who came just to shoot closer to home. I met a new branch of people I never knew existed: a community of archers.

With Alex's help, I learnt to shoot correctly; my bow arm was wrong, my release hand was wrong, and how I used a peep sight was wrong! Heck, I'm surprised I ever hit anything. I replaced my index release with an Ultraview hinge release, and then things got technical. Shot process was on my mind 24 hours a day, and I was mentally drawing back a bow even when I never had one in my hand. I worked tirelessly on my form; it's the key to success. I'm in no way the best shooter, but I'm better than I ever thought I'd be. The thing with archery is you don't need an opponent; you are the person you're trying to beat! It's one step at a time, and improvements will come. As Hybrid grew, so did my passion for the sport. I started to improve my shooting, but I needed to learn a new skill, bow maintenance, something people overlook; I wanted to know how to make it work better and get the most out of the equipment I had. I learnt how to make arrows, a rabbit hole with many twists and turns. Spine selection, vane selection, points, inserts, all of it is this confusing tangle of information, so I set out to unravel it all. I spent an entire winter shooting different configurations of arrows, and now I've settled on something that really works with my set-up. I learnt how to make strings, something I never thought I'd be able to do. I borrowed Alex's tools and made a few sets, and I still have them on my Urising, cables too. I upgraded my add-on equipment, sight, rest and stabiliser. I soon understood that archery isn't just about shooting a pointy stick at a target; it's a mind-blowing sport that takes time, dedication, understanding and bottomless pockets, depending on how far you're prepared to go.

A couple of years passed, and I now needed a new bow. I was improving, and I was outgrowing my equipment. I stayed with PSE, but it was a 2020 PSE Drive NXT this time. I had acquired the skills to set this up, peep installed, rest put on, sight put on, and then paper tuned. The cams needed shimming, so I delved into the unknown and did that. There was a bow I could be proud of; it worked, and it did it beautifully. My sight is a single-pin slider, and I have a drop-away rest; I'll upgrade to better-quality versions, but at the moment, they'll suffice.

I entered my first competition at Hybrid Archery, a 3D shoot I won, just. I was so pleased; a bow I built and tuned helped me to achieve something special.

The appeal of 3D archery is being outside, winter and summer; that's where I want to be. At the range is a 10-foot-tall tower to shoot from; I stood on it recently and spied movement in the long grass about 30 yards from me. It was a muntjac deer, and it didn't see me; it walked to the base of the tower, then around it and off into the fields. I stood still the whole time and just watched it from above. That was a special moment, one that I'll never forget.

I've met some characters in this sport! People from all walks of life shoot at Hybrid. There's no snobbery, nobody cares what equipment you use, and everyone is there for the atmosphere.

I've recently coached a new shooter. I gave up my time to help someone else improve; that's the spirit lacking in today's society, but archery brings out the good in people.

There's this annoying thing with archery: you never quite reach perfection. There is always room for improvement; it sounds cliché but true. I'll never stop improving, and I'm hooked.

As the title suggests, being outdoors is only the beginning; whether it's camping, hiking, fishing or any other outdoor activity, do it with like-minded friends, and the experience is heightened 10-fold.