The world IBO are coming in a couple of weeks. Do you think that the old ones, Howard Hill, Ben Pearson, and the rest could compete with their old equipment against the todays shooter with his new equipment. The oldies agains the young wippersnappers, who got the edge.  :confused:

i loked at howard hills stats, ive also watched byron ferguson shoot. and to be honest with ya , i really think that some of the greats wouldnt even compete because they have already done it all. its like asking how would bruce lee do in competition against todays mixed martial arts copetitions.now in my personal opinion i think todays shooters would have gotten smoked by howard hill. just sayin  

When I look back at some of the old books, like "Target Archery" by Elmer, I'm amazed at the skill of the English target shooters of the bygone era. The best of them could shoot golds routinely, at 60 yards, with 40# self bows and wood arrows. I don't know anyone who is capable of that today. Hill and his contemporaries shot game at ranges that amaze me, too. How many of us could kill an elk on the second shot at 140 yards?

We've gotten soft and complacent by limiting ourselves to short-range shooting. The long range stuff is where you find out what you and your equipment can really do. I shoot some at 60-70 yards to test my own form and ability. Mostly it sucks by comparison with the archers of the past!    

The older archers didn't restrict themselves to short yardage competition; they didn't realize that they couldn't possibly be accurate past twenty-five yards.

I'm not impressed by our "new" so-called champions.
I'm sure they could do well, but most shoot 3D nowadays with restricted range...probably not more than thirty or forty yards.  Back when the field round was king, folks competed at distances to 80 yards, and 112 arrows per round...sometimes two rounds per day.

In their prime, they could kick a few of today's arses rather easily, because we believe we have restrictions.  We don't, we just think we do, and that makes it easier to focus on short shots at 3D, rather than 14 different targets, at varied distances, and a need to be accurate over numerous shots per target.

If you start feeling you're pretty good, then go find yourself a field course, with field targets, under field rules...then post a score.  You will be humbled, I'm sure.  I can't tell you how good it feels when you pop your first 4 for 20 on a 65 yard face.  You should try it once in awhile, then ask the question again.