How Far Away Are Archery Targets?

There are many distances at which an archer could place a target when competing or practicing. The distance away from the target depends on the experience of the archer and the type of competition. Depending on the person, the target could be placed as close as five yards away from the archer or as far as 77 yards away.

Since field archery is supposed to simulate hunting situations, the target distances are changed throughout the competition in order to simulate many different situations.

Archery Target Distance

So how far away are archers from the target? These are the target distances for various archery disciplines:

• Olympic Archery Distance (Recurve): 77 yards (70 meters)
• Olympic Archery Distance (Compound Bows): 54 yards (50 meters)
• Outdoor Field Archery Distance (NFAA): 7 to 80 yards (6 to 73 meters)
• Outdoor Target Archery Distance (WA): 33 to 98 yards (30 to 90 meters)
• Indoor Target Archery Distance (WA): 20 or 27 yards (18 or 25 meters)
• Indoor Target Archery Distance (GNAS): 20 yards (18 meters) 
• Beginner Archery Distance: 5 to 77 yards from target

For beginner archers, as well as young children, the suggested distance for the target is approximately five yards away from the archer. When competing in indoor competitions, the recommended target distance for beginners is 20 yards away but competitors can also place the target as far as 32 yards away from them. These distances seem very far when thinking about it, but these distances are nothing compared to the distances that are used by Olympic and expert level archers.