Calgary Archery Centre

Have been here a few times with my husband and 13y old daughter and niece. Like that anyone can have fun here — our family ranges from my daughter who was learning on the junior/​kid targets (shorter distance) up to my husband who has his own equipment and hunts. Clean facility with friendly helpful staff who get you started. Rentals or a good selection of equipment and accessories. Only thing is I am not ready to commit to purchasing equipment for myself and would like if the compound bows that are available were nicer and were not set at such a low draw weight. But recurve bows that are standard rental are nice enough. Try it for something different tO dO — for the cost a reasonable date night or outing with friends. They will show you basic skills and safety.

What a cool and unusual way to spend an evening. For $ 20/​person we received bow rentals and all the archery we wanted. We arrived at 7:30 and shot for two hours straight until they closed at 9:30. Two hours of «shoot at the targets — retrieve the arrows was ore than enough for our beginner group.
They give you some quick pointers to get you on your way, and are there’s a few experts around willing to help you with your form, if you’re interested in improving.
Not having shot a bow since summer camp and boy scouts, I was practically starting completely fresh. With a bit of their guidance I was able to at least hit the target I was aiming for somewhat consistently. I event got it in the middle «bulls-​eye» colour a couple times. It was fun to see myself improve over the course of our visit.
The crowd of regulars is quite friendly, (inviting us out for drinks afterward) and as diverse as it gets when it comes to bow sports. They’ve got everything from the ultra modern high tech composite bow hunters, complete with team jerseys and scopes, to guys with fur and leather quivers, robin hood hats, and medieval long bows. It seems there’s several sub genres within the archery world, but all seem quite friendly, helpful, and supportive of us clueless newbies out for a fun evening to explore their sport.

I’d first came here as a young teen and it has always been the same people working — whether that is a good or bad thing is for you to decide.
The issue for some seems to be that the people working here are time-​worn characters with vastly different personalities, and as a result can be intimidating.
Some are very pleasant and come from a background of business and professionalism and can provide excellent and well-​spoken customer service; some from competitive marksmanship and others yet (likely the one mentioned in a previous review for barking about breaking ‘his’ arrows) from deep in the bush hunting grizzlies with obsidian arrowheads, cedar shafts a long bow — for us city slickers, the wildness and potential gravity of the sport can be very intimidating.
That being said; there is no more magical experience to be had than ‘sucking it up’, walking into the metaphorical «bear’s den» and experiencing the satisfaction of learning an art embedded in your DNA from tens of thousands of years of ancestral exposure.
Some of the different personalities this place holds can be more intimidating than others, but trust me, now with 10 years of returning here periodically I can say: they are ALL harmless and want nothing more than to keep you safe and do everything they can to help you evolve to that point where you’ve found the primal feeling of competency with the bow. If you’ve never felt it, find it here.
Items of note:
— The cost to value ratio is very good. It’s even better if you walk in committed and buy your starter bow (the lane fee is then waved and they will help you test to find your style & preference). The bows stocked in store are competitively priced and ordering anything unique has just been MSRP + GST.
— There is a secondary 20-​yard range upstairs. If you’re new, ask if it’s available! People up there will generally be new shooters — even if they have fancy bows, they likely have just purchased them recently. The hardcore hunters will usually practice downstairs where they can shoot 30, 40 or 3D.
— Look around the lanes when you first step up. Note there are arrows in the rafters, stuck above the light fixtures, all sorts of «heroic» fails. Be safe, but definitely don’t be embarassed! Even the most experienced shooters can make very dangerous blunders. Try to relax and be aware of everything going on around you, then try to relax some more.
— Archers tend to be very friendly. It can be awkward to stand next to someone for long periods of time without saying anything, so don’t be nervous if your lane-​neighbor starts talking to you. They’re not crazy people, it’s just a habit forced by the sport. Feel free to adopt it early

The lane fee + rental fee makes this place a good location to shoot at paper/​foam targets. The bows for rental are really good quality and the instructor we had was very nice and showed us the ropes since we were sort of new to the sport.
Everything was going okay until the owner (Not too sure, he said that the arrows were his) yelled at one of us for ‘putting the bow to high, ruining his arrows’ when attempting to shoot the farther targets. Tried to let him know it was our first time, so we thought that was the way to aim (if we want to get a far/​high target)… He later then told one of us to go to the other side and shoot the closer targets, banning one of us from shooting the farther targets. He didn’t seem to listen/​care when one of us tried to explain, and I was pretty frightened myself when he raised his voice like that. I felt like he was treating one of us like a father scolding a child.
This made me really angry… he yelled at one of us and made a huge commotion in front of everyone. We understand that it is his equipment, however we are new so if you want something done your way to prevent something, please kindly inform us of how to do it… not just yell at us and tell us to go to another spot.
I also got bored after an hour or so of shooting at the same targets. There are 3D targets all over the place, but you have to pay extra…
Felt a bit lost here after our instructor left the area though, but I noticed a lot of people wouldn’t stay for long either.
I think this is the only indoor archery place in Calgary, if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Ill try to keep this short and sweet, The only reason I come here is for the 30 – 40 yard range, I find the service to be AWFUL if you’re not part of there little clique, they take there time getting you any service what so ever, and the service you do get is poor
My uncle went there just for a basic tune up cause his bow was sitting in the closet for a couple years and after two weeks they still didn’t even look at it so he left, took it to JIM BOWS and had it finished within 15 minutes of walking through the door
JIM BOWS by far is the best place to go if you’re just going for some light practice, and if you’re brand new to the sport he will take the time to make sure you know what you’re doing and feel comfortable. I wouldn’t send my worst enemy to calgary archery center and I hope whoever is reading this takes this into consideration;