Archery is a sport that uses a bow drawn by hand and held to shoot arrows. Historically, archery has been used in hunting and battles. Among the things an archer uses is a recurve bow which has tips that curve away from the archer when the bow is unstrung. It is different from other bows because the string touches sections of the limbs of recurve bows when the bow is strung.

A recurve bow has more energy than its equivalent straight-limbed bow. This means the former has a greater amount of cast to the arrow. Archers prefer short recurve bows in places where long weapons can be awkward like in forests, or while riding on horses.