Out of Pod Experience

When i saw this, ive been always watching in every movie and tv show how they handle their arrows.
Everyone has been using bows and arrows the "wrong" way. Still waiting for a show/movie that shoots an arrow from the right side.

shocking

movies don't show accurate usage things of the past

The English longbowmen had their arrows lined up in a row in front of them, according to tradition, at least. They were specialized experts, able pull the equivalent of a huge spring, hold it steady, and accurately hit moving targets with it at long distances. (Targets a couple of football fields away). Even at that distance, their wooden arrows penetrated the highly expensive hand-forged plate armor of France's richest knights.

But that would be the kind of tail-end of the evolution of archery, and pretty specialized. Mr. Lars's version makes sense for earlier times. Mounted Huns, early samurai archers using bows as their primary weapon from horseback-- it makes sense that they'd be using that kind of very quick draw and shoot technique he shows.

It is a great video I can only wonder how many hours where spent practicing to get that good lol.

Talking about putting arrows on the ground in front of you, you are right in associating that with the long bow. You're also right in saying that archery was different depending on location and time...

The long bow and similar styles came about later on around the medieval era and can be thought of as either the snipers of the time or kind of like artillery vs infantry. You've all seen this in the movies with rows of archers stood in ranks and it's quite probable that arrows were loaded on the left side in these cases as speed was not so much of an issue. The thing about loading the arrow on the left means that you don't need to stick your thumb out to support the arrow shaft meaning you have a tighter grip on the bow and can pull a heavier weight (better range).

On the other hand, loading on the right can dramatically decrease the loading time as seen in the video and is ideal for skirmishing.

Talking about armour you mentioned about chainmail. Chainmail was only really effective against slashing trauma and was designed to cause glancing blows. Unfortunately for many, arrows were still a bit problem. You can see examples of some swords that were designed to counter chainmail such as the rapier which was great at getting between the links of the chainmail and into the meaty bits. The best thing they had to protect against arrows during the medieval era was plate mail but this used a lot of iron (an expensive commodity at the time) so could only really be afforded by nobility. For most the only real option was don't stand in the way of an oncoming arrow!

We have another article looking at armour in England during the period of the War of the Roses. Take a look if you're interested:

https://www.edu-gaming.com/game-based-learning-library/reality/history/armour-of-the-war-of-the-roses

I haven't fired historical bows but modern ones you don't want to hold the bow.
You make a Y with your palm then wear a strap from your wrist between your middle fingers and around the bow so you don't drop it.

My hero of that video is using the bow like a quick-fire short-range sidearm. Which was the way plains Indian bison hunters used them. I'd guess horse archers around the ancient world did the same. Get close and thwack the target hard.

Archery is a lot harder than it looks, really. I did kyudo in Japan, and it was much like setting your body up to be a precision launching machine. Very similar to what golfers try to do-- perfect stance, perfect pendulum motion so the ball flies straight and far. Kyudo has an additional aspect of working on mind perfection and emotional well-being... but that's another topic. The point is, archery isn't as easy as it looks. It's not just aim and launch. A new archer can be surprised about the spectacularly horrible results.

This might be one reason why: Straight-as-an-arrow arrows actually fly in waveforms. Put a sudden energy on a linear object, the energy moves in rebounding waves. Could be a guitar string, could be a skyscraper, could be an arrow. That thing doesn't fly as straight as an arrow, it swims a wiggly arc, with aero forces involved also.

I have no shared experience of that to empathise.

First time I shot a bow it was a 20 lbs recurve from 20 meters. A guy called Steven was coaching me. I had been left alone with him and his girl friend.
I wandered up to the target to pull my arrows and he yelled at me to stop. I was confused and stopped but didn't know what to do. Then he starts yelling for his girlfriend, "Kelly! Kelly! Come look at this!" (She was buy the pick up truck of theirs 100 or so meters away at the other end of the range.)
She walks down slowly.
My arrows are not even in the scoring area of the target, I am still puzzled and getting a bit embarrassed, I just want to pull out my arrows, go up to the club house and call my mum to get out of there as quick as I can.
Steven, "Look at that grouping!"
Kelly, "How many rounds?"
Steven, "Their first"
Kelly, "Really?!"
I am thinking, "What are these freaking weirdos jabbering about? Is this some sort of prank? Why are they staring at the arrows with such fascination?"

Turns out I am a natural and had put my arrows into a 1 inch diameter grouping. All I had to do with the rounds after that was get my sights sorted out and I was planting mostly bull's eye after bull's eye until I got tired from the unsual strain on my muscles.

Pretty useless skill.
I haven't fired a bow in almost a decade, my eye sight is going down the drain fast and it doesn't transfer to other things. I am worse than useless with a rifle or hand gun. Was told it is because with a bow you fire with your body but with guns it is more hand eye and I lack the fine motor neuron ability for such fine adjustments.