Target Archery Scoring

targetfaceTarget Faces

All outdoor and most indoor target archery rounds are shot on the standard five-colour faces which come in four different sizes; 122 cm, 80 cm, 60 cm and 40 cm diameter. Each colour is divided into two zones of equal radial width and the central zone is further divided into two more zones, the inner of which has a cross, the ‘pinhole’, marked at it’s centre. Inner zones always attract the higher scores. Most of the zones are bounded by a black ring which, for scoring purposes, is considered part of the higher scoring zone. The exceptions are the outer blue, which does not have a ring around it and the inner black which has a white ring around it.

5-Zone Scoring

All Outdoor imperial rounds (ie those where the distances are measured in yards) are shot on the full-size 122 cm face and use 5-zone scoring. The zones are scored as follows:

1 3 5 7 9 7 5 3 1

10-Zone Scoring (Outdoor)

All Outdoor metric rounds (ie those where the distances are measured in metres) are shot on either the full-size 122 cm face or the 80 cm face and use 10-zone scoring. The zones are scored as follows:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 X 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The inner 10 ring is written down as ‘X’ and scores 10, the same as the outer 10. The number of Xs is used for tie-breaks.

10-Zone Scoring (Indoor)

Indoor rounds shot on the standard 5-colour faces use 10-zone scoring, similar to outdoor rounds, but Xs are not marked and compound bows only score 10 for the inner 10 ring.

For compound bows:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 10 9 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For all other bows:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Scoring your arrows

When scoring, the correct procedure for calling your arrows is:

  • Do not collect arrows from behind the target until all arrows have been scored
  • Do not touch the target face or your arrows until all arrows have been scored. If you do you may be forced to lose the higher score for any disputed arrow.
  • Point to the nocks of your arrows (without touching) as you call them so that other archers can see which arrows you are calling.
  • Call the highest scoring arrows first and call them in groups of three eg 9 9 7 (pause) 7 5 3.
  • If an arrow value is disputed and this is not resolved by the archers shooting on that boss, a judge or field captain must be called to adjudicate before any arrows are pulled.