For those of you who are new to Field Archery, this guide is designed to take some of the mystery out of the course and help you understand what is happening from target to target.

At first glance, Field Archery can seem complicated. There are different target sizes,
distances measured in both yards and feet, several shooting positions, different coloured
markers and terms such as Walk-Up and Fan to get used to.

The reality is much simpler once you are out on the course.

One of the great attractions of Field Archery is that the shot is constantly changing.
Instead of standing on one shooting line and repeating the same distance, you move around
the course and encounter a succession of different challenges.

Within the traditional IFAA field programme, three of the rounds you will hear about most
often are Field, Hunter and Marked Animal. Each uses its own target faces,
distances and shooting format.

In this article we are concentrating on the IFAA Field Round.

What Is an IFAA Field Round?

An IFAA Field Round is shot over marked distances, which means the shooting
distance is known and displayed at the target.

The basic building block of the round is a 14-target Standard Unit.

A complete marked-distance Field Round consists of two Standard Units.
This can be achieved using two 14-target units or by shooting the same 14-target unit twice,
giving a total of 28 targets.

At each target you normally shoot four arrows, so a complete Field Round
consists of 112 scoring arrows.

For Seniors, Veterans, Adults and Young Adults, the shortest shot is
20 feet and the longest reaches an impressive 80 yards.

That enormous variation in distance is one of the things that gives the Field Round its
character. One target may reward fine close-range precision; the next can demand confidence
and consistency at considerable distance.

The IFAA Field Target Face

IFAA Field faces are the familiar black-and-white targets.

They have three scoring areas:

Scoring Area	Points
Black centre spot	5
White inner ring	4
Black outer ring	3

There is an important difference here from some other field archery organisations:

There is no X-ring used for scoring or tie-breaking in the standard IFAA Field Round.

The centre black spot is simply worth 5 points.

With four arrows being shot, the maximum score on a normal target is therefore
20 points.

A perfect 14-target Standard Unit scores 280, while a perfect
28-target Field Round scores 560.

Four Different Target Sizes

Four Field face sizes are used:

Target Face	Diameter of 5 Spot	Diameter of 4 Scoring Area
20cm	4cm	12cm
35cm	7cm	21cm
50cm	10cm	30cm
65cm	13cm	39cm

The larger the shooting distance, the larger the target generally becomes.

For the standard Senior, Veteran, Adult and Young Adult Field Round, the broad relationship
between distance and target size is easy to remember.

• From 20 to 35 feet, the course uses the 20cm face.
• From 15 to 30 yards, it uses the 35cm face.
• From 35 to 50 yards, it uses the 50cm face.
• From 55 to 80 yards, it uses the 65cm face.

Of course, a larger face does not necessarily make the shot easier. A 65cm target can look
surprisingly small when you are standing 80 yards away!

Where Do You Shoot From?

Every target has one or more shooting markers.

The distance is clearly displayed, so unlike an unmarked round, there is no need to estimate
how far away the target is.

Most targets are straightforward single-position shots. You shoot all four
arrows from the designated shooting position.

Other targets introduce movement or changing angles.

These are where the Walk-Up and Fan come in.

What Is a Walk-Up?

A Walk-Up has several shooting markers at different distances.

You always begin at the longest distance.

Shoot one arrow, move forwards to the next marker, shoot another, and continue until all four
arrows have been shot.

The Adult Field Round contains three Walk-Up sequences:

Target	Distances	Face
Long Walk-Up	80, 70, 60, 50 yards	65cm
Medium Walk-Up	45, 40, 35, 30 yards	50cm
Short Walk-Up	35, 30, 25, 20 feet	20cm

Every arrow requires a slightly different adjustment.

For a sighted archer that may mean changing the sight setting each time. For an unsighted
archer it can mean adapting the gap, picture or shooting reference with every step forward.

It is a simple idea, but it is a very effective test of consistency.

What Is a Fan?

The Field Round also contains a 35-yard Fan using 50cm faces.

A Fan differs from a Walk-Up because all four markers are the
same distance from the target.

Instead of moving towards the target, you move sideways.

This gives you four slightly different angles while keeping the distance at 35 yards.

Under the IFAA procedure, two archers can begin at markers 1 and 3 and move
to the marker on their right after each arrow.

The important target-face rule is:

Arrows shot from markers 1 and 2 go into the left target face, while arrows
shot from markers 3 and 4 go into the right target face.

So on the Fan, you do not shoot all four arrows into one target face.

You finish with two arrows in the left face and two in the right.

That is an important distinction because on most other 50cm targets all four arrows are
placed into the same face.

Shooting at Multiple Target Faces

At the shorter distances you will often see several target faces mounted on the same butt.

This is mainly done to spread the arrows around the target and reduce damage to both arrows
and target faces.

Where four 35cm faces are used, they are normally arranged two above and two below.

The first pair of archers shoots the lower pair, while the following pair
shoots the upper pair.

The archer shooting from the left shoots the left face, and the archer on the right shoots the right face.

For a normal 35cm target, all four arrows are shot into that one allocated face.

The same principle applies to 50cm and 65cm faces when multiple faces are provided, apart
from the special 35-yard Fan rule explained above.

And it is worth checking before you shoot.

An arrow fired into the wrong face loses its score, and you do not get to shoot another
arrow to replace it.

The 20cm Target — An Important IFAA Detail

The smallest Field face is the 20cm face, used on the short
35, 30, 25 and 20-foot Walk-Up.

This is the closest target sequence on the Adult course, but that certainly does not make
it a free 20 points.

At IFAA-sanctioned tournaments, butts requiring 20cm faces use a minimum of
16 faces arranged four across by four down.

IFAA issued an important clarification in June 2026 about how the four small targets
allocated to an archer are to be shot.

The correct outdoor shooting sequence is a Z pattern:

• First arrow — top left
• Second arrow — top right
• Third arrow — bottom left
• Fourth arrow — bottom right

So the older practice of simply shooting a vertical column from top to bottom or bottom
to top should not be described as the current IFAA rule.

If an arrow is shot into the wrong target in the sequence, that arrow does not count.

A Note About the Name “Bunny”

You may hear archers use informal names such as Bunny for the small,
close-range Field target.

That terminology is common in some clubs and archery traditions, but it is
not the terminology used in the IFAA Book of Rules.

For an article intended to explain IFAA shooting accurately, it is clearer to call it the
20cm Walk-Up.

The official distances are:

35 feet, 30 feet, 25 feet and 20 feet.

Changing Shooting Order and Position

A normal group will commonly contain four archers, shooting in pairs.

Once the shooting order has been established, it is retained during the round until the
prescribed rotation.

In a 28-target Field Round, when the second Standard Unit begins, the shooting order changes.

The pair that shot first during the first half now shoots last, and the pair that shot last
shoots first.

The shooting sides also change.

Archers who had been shooting from the right move to the
left, and archers who had been shooting from the left move to the right.

This also changes the target faces used where upper and lower pairs of faces are provided,
because the first shooting pair normally uses the lower pair of faces.

It is a good system: over the complete competition, nobody gets permanently stuck with one
shooting position.

IFAA Age Divisions

One area where terminology matters is the younger age groups.

IFAA does not use “Youth” as the name of the 13–16 age division.
The correct IFAA divisions are:

Division	Age
Cub	Under 13
Junior	13–16
Young Adult	17–20
Adult	21–54
Veteran	55+
Senior	65+

Veteran and Senior participation has additional IFAA provisions concerning the archer’s
choice of age division, but for understanding the Field course, the important point is
knowing which set of distances applies.

Young Adults shoot the same Field distances as Adults.

Juniors use reduced distances where specified.

Cubs have their own substantially shorter set of distances.

Marker Colours in the IFAA Field Round

Marker colours are also specific to the IFAA Field Round.

• White markers are used for Senior, Veteran, Adult and Young Adult Field distances.
• Where Juniors shoot a shortened distance instead of the Adult position on the 65cm targets, their markers are blue.
• If a course is being used for multiple rounds, these Junior markers may be coloured white and blue.
• Black markers are used for Cubs.

This is another area where it is important not to mix the Field and Hunter rules:
Hunter Round Adult markers are red, but Field Round Adult markers are white.

How Far Do Juniors Shoot?

Juniors shoot the Adult distances on most of the Field course.

The main differences occur on the longer 65cm targets.

• Instead of the Adult 80–70–60–50-yard Walk-Up, the Junior distance is 50 yards.
• The Adult 65-yard target becomes 50 yards for Juniors.
• The Adult 60-yard target becomes 45 yards.
• The Adult 55-yard target becomes 40 yards.

For the remaining 50cm, 35cm and 20cm Field targets, Juniors shoot the Adult distances.

This means the maximum Junior Field distance is 50 yards.

How Far Do Cubs Shoot?

Cubs shoot from black markers and have a maximum distance of 30 yards.

Their version of the 14-target Field unit is deliberately shortened while preserving the
variety of the round.

The Cub distances corresponding to the standard Field unit are:

Face	Cub Distance
65cm	30, 25, 20, 15-yard Walk-Up
65cm	30 yards
65cm	25 yards
65cm	20 yards
50cm	20 yards
50cm Fan	20 yards
50cm	20 yards
50cm	15 yards
50cm	Four positions at 15 yards
35cm	10 yards
35cm	10 yards
35cm	10 yards
35cm	10 yards
20cm	20 feet

The exact marker positions are laid out on the course, so there is no need for a Cub archer
to memorise them all before shooting.

The Adult and Young Adult 14-Target Field Unit at a Glance

Here is the complete IFAA Standard Field Unit for Seniors, Veterans, Adults and Young Adults:

Target Face	Shooting Positions
65cm	80, 70, 60, 50-yard Walk-Up
65cm	65 yards
65cm	60 yards
65cm	55 yards
50cm	45, 40, 35, 30-yard Walk-Up
50cm	35-yard Fan — four positions
50cm	50 yards
50cm	45 yards
50cm	40 yards
35cm	30 yards
35cm	25 yards
35cm	20 yards
35cm	15 yards
20cm	35, 30, 25, 20-foot Walk-Up

That is the entire 14-target Standard Unit.

Shoot it twice, and you have completed a full 28-target IFAA Field Round.

Scoring an Arrow on the Line

There is one more useful scoring detail for newcomers.

On an IFAA Field face, where there is no dividing line between scoring zones, the arrow must
cut into the higher scoring area to receive the higher value.

Simply being close to the edge is not enough.

This is one of those small rules that becomes much more interesting when everybody in the
group is staring at a borderline arrow and hoping it has just caught the higher score!

What Happens If You Shoot the Wrong Marker or Target?

Field Archery rewards concentration as much as accuracy.

If you shoot from the wrong marker, or shoot at the
wrong target face, the score for that arrow is lost.

You cannot simply shoot another one.

That is why it is worth developing a simple routine before every target:

• Check the sign.
• Check the distance.
• Check your marker.
• Check your target face.
• Then shoot.

It only takes a few seconds, and it can save a very frustrating mistake.

Why Field Archery Is Such a Good Challenge

Reading all of this in one sitting can make Field Archery sound far more complicated than
it actually feels when you are doing it.

Once you are on the course, everything becomes much more natural.

You arrive at a target, read the indicator board, find your shooting marker, confirm which
face you are shooting and take your four arrows.

Then you move on to something different.

That constant variety is what makes the Field Round so enjoyable.

You might begin with a comfortable 20-yard shot, find yourself trying to hold everything
together at 60 yards a few targets later, then be faced with a Fan, a Walk-Up or four tiny
20cm targets at close range.

No two parts of the course feel quite the same.

Field Archery tests accuracy, of course, but it also tests:

consistency, concentration, adaptability and the ability to reproduce a good shot at
constantly changing distances.

And if you are new, you do not have to arrive knowing every rule and every distance by heart.

The course tells you where to shoot from, and experienced archers will help you understand
the shooting order and target allocation.

After a few targets, what initially seemed complicated usually starts to feel logical.

Then you can concentrate on the part that really matters:

Putting four good arrows into the middle.