There are many archers who enjoy the sport of archery without much concern for the score. However, as you improve, you may want to start recording and tracking your progress. A simple way to do this is to keep score.

Scoring a target is fairly easy, but there are many different ways to score a target depending on the competition format. Learning how to properly score your shooting is a great way to help you keep track of your progress and develop as an archer. Each format will use either their own target or their own unique way of scoring a target.

So what are the different ways that targets can be scored in archery? Let’s take a look at some of the most common archery tournament scoring formats that are used throughout the world today.

National Field Archery Association (NFAA) Scoring

NFAA Indoors

A target that is used indoors by the National Field Archery Association will have a white center circle surrounded by blue rings. This white circle in the center scores for 5 points with the outside circles running sequentially from 4 to 1 point. In the center of the white circle (bullseye), there is a smaller “X” ring. This is marked as an “X” and is used to break ties.

During an NFAA archery tournament, an archer will have the choice of a single or five spot target. Those who shoot tight groups will often choose the 5 spot to avoid arrow damage. Regardless of which target face is chosen, an archer will shoot 5 arrows per round for 12 rounds, totaling 60 arrows. This format is generally known as a 300 round because a perfect score equals 300 (5 x 5 x 12). Targets are set at 20 yards for adults and youth, while kids under twelve shoot 10 yards.

NFAA Outdoors

The National Field Archery Association also has an outdoor division called field archery. Field archery has three different formats within itself: Field, Hunter, and Animal. Each has its own distances, target faces, scoring, and rules to follow.

Field Rounds feature two 14-target halves for a total of 28 targets. Archers shoot 4 arrows per target scoring 5 for a bullseye, 4 in the next ring, and a 3 for the outer ring (560 is a perfect score). On the hunter side of the course, target faces change from white to an all-black target face where the bullseye is white. Take note that you shoot from the white stakes during a field round and the red stakes for the hunter round.

The third form of the NFAA’s field target rounds is called the “Animal” round. Again, archers will shoot a total of 28 targets for a full round. The rules and scoring for this round is slightly more complicated. If you’re interested in scoring an animal round, check out the NFAA animal scoring breakdown for full details.

USA Archery Scoring

When it comes to the USA Archery scoring system, they use a multicolored target. This is the most recognizable target with a gold center and red, black, blue, and white outer rings. All of these rings score from a high of 10 points all the way down to 1. The interesting thing about this target, however, is that the 10-ring will depend on the bow that the archer is shooting. The smallest center ring is 10 points for a compound bow, while the next largest ring is also 10 points for a recurve.

USA Archery competitors typically shoot three arrows per round for a total of 60 arrows in a competition. Of course, you can use this target without actually competing and use this scoring system to keep track of your own progress without a scoring sheet.

IBO 3D Scoring

While most archery ranges and competitions take place on level ground at standard distances, the IBO 3D competitions take place in the woods at unmarked distances. This proves to be more challenging because of the variety of distances, angles, and situations. 3-dimensional animal targets are used to represent actual animals and help hunters practice for bowhunting.

An IBO’s scoring rings are scored 11, 10, 8, and 5 points. The smallest circle will be worth 11 points, then 10, and finally 8 points. If an arrow hits anywhere on the target outside of the 8 rings then an archer will get 5 points. If you miss the entire target, however, you will receive zero points.

FITA Round Scoring

FITA stands for Fédération Internationale de Tir à l’Arc (FITA) which is the governing body of the sport. The actual competition consists of 144 arrows at 4 different distances. For men, these distances are 30, 50, 70, and 90 meters and for women 30, 50, 60, and 70. Most FITA targets are the same traditional yellow centered, red, blue, black, and white targets that you will see with other organizations as well. It is scored very simply, with the center being 10 points and every ring you go out it decreases by 1.

Vegas Shoot Scoring

The Vegas scoring system uses the same exact targets as the USA Archery competitions, but they score each of the rings differently. Instead of the smallest ring being a 10 ring, all of the archers use the “big” 10 ring. The smaller ring is scored as an X and is used for breaking any ties. During a Vegas shooting competition, an archer will use 30 arrows. Because they are usually using compound bows and have a larger 10 ring, a perfect score of 300 points is not uncommon.

Lancaster Archery Classic Scoring

Much like the Vegas Shoot, the Lancaster Archery Classic also uses the same target as USA Archery, but again with their own scoring system. In their tournament, the smallest ring counts for 11 points, so a perfect score during a Lancaster Archery Classic would be a total of 660 points. After that, every ring is scored pretty similar to those of the Vegas Shoot and FITA scoring system.

Choose Your Format & Improve Your Shot

As you can see, there are many different archery organizations and scoring formats out there. While many of them are very similar, each one has its own set of rules. Depending on your style of archery, you’ll find a format that you enjoy most.

No matter which format you choose, keeping track of your score will give you a clear indication of your progression as an archer. The best thing to do is find which format you prefer and learn as much as you can about that particular scoring system. Once you do, scoring your arrows becomes a simple task that helps you continue to improve as an archer.