Barebow
Barebow is shot with a bare riser and no sight, aimed by looking down the arrow or walking the string, and it is one of the fastest growing divisions.
A bow without a sight
A barebow is a recurve or, in some rules, a compound stripped of its sight, stabilisers and clicker. A small weight system inside the riser is allowed, but there is no sight to aim with, so the archer uses the arrow itself and the point of aim to line up the shot.
Because there is no sight to adjust, barebow rewards a deep understanding of trajectory and a very consistent anchor and release. It has grown quickly as archers look for a simpler, more instinctive challenge.
String-walking and gap aiming
The two main aiming methods are string-walking and gap shooting. In string-walking the archer hooks the string at a measured distance below the arrow for each range, which raises or lowers the arrow's launch angle while keeping the point on the target. In gap shooting the archer holds a known gap between the arrow point and the target centre.
Both methods depend on a repeatable anchor and a consistent tab crawl, and both make the arrow point the aiming reference. That is why barebow archers care about arrow and point weight as much as any sighted archer.
Where barebow is shot
World Archery runs barebow divisions in both target and field archery, and national bodies run barebow classes at most competitions. Field archery in particular suits barebow, because the varied and sometimes unmarked distances reward the string-walker's feel for trajectory.
A barebow setup has no sight to mount, but the rest and the plunger still have to suit the riser, so the mount and centre-shot questions still apply.
Set up a rest for barebow
Open the SightRestFit fit checkerRest mount fit by bowFind barebow plunger rest on eBayaffiliateRelated
Sources: World Archery: disciplines · Wikipedia: Barebow · Wikipedia: Instinctive_shooting