Brady Miller is an expert archer with 16 years of experience and bowhunting records in 3 continents. You can read his analysis of the archery on previous seasons of "Game of Thrones"here.
You would think with a budget of $4-6 million per episode, “Game of Thrones” would have hired a consultant to get the archery scenes right, but nearly every scene with someone holding a bow contains something wrong.
Here are the mistakes I noticed in the last season alone.
1. Too Close a Shave: Episode 1
The scene: In the first episode, the red-haired wildling Ygritte is making arrows and cutting the fletchings to trim them to the proper width. Tormund approaches and accuses her of sparing Jon Stark’s life: “I’ve seen you slip a shaft through a rabbit's eye at 200 yards. If that boy’s still walking, it’s ‘cause you let him go.”
The mistake: On a recurve bow, the one Yrigette uses, there’s no way to hit a pea-size target at 200 yards. Even today’s highly skilled target compound bow archer would find that nearly impossible.
2. Bow, Meet Face. Face, Bow: Episode 1
The scene: Soon after, Styr -- aka the scary veined-face cannibal guy -- and a group of Thenn approach. Ygritte draws her bow back on Styr and aims at his throat. 
The mistake: This supposedly expert archer is holding her bow a foot from her face, which is a huge no-no in archery. She also wraps four fingers tight around the string and wraps her pointer finger around the arrow shaft, which is something only very novice archers do.
Ygritte does this several times throughout the season.
In episode 3, we see this again from a distance. 
During the battle at Castle Black in episode 9, Ygritte draws back and releases an arrow with her draw hand away from her face. Again, the four fingers. 
3. The Overdraw: Episode 9
The scene: When Ygritte comes face to face with Jon Snow again, she's at full draw on him, but hesitates.
There are two mistakes here: She’s overdrawing the bow AND holding it away from her face.
4. You're Going to Need a Bigger Bow: Episode 3
The scene: The Meereen army launches arrows from the castle, but they fall 20 yards short of Daenerys and her soldiers. 
The mistake: That estimated distance is about 200 yards. The chances that a professional army doesn’t have stronger bows that can shoot farther than that are slim.
5. Half Draw is Exhausting: Episode 5
The scene: Lord Petyr Baelish and Sansa Stark are walking to the Bloody Gate. An archer on top of the rock ledge above the path is at half draw through the entire scene, keeping them carefully in his sight.
The mistake: Holding a draw causes fatigue, and believe me, he’d start to shake from holding it that long. If he did shoot, the arrow would have left/right issues and likely miss.
6. The Wall Lean: Episode 9
The scene: An archer leans against a wall while he takes a shot. 
The mistake: Leaning on a wall does not do anything to increase accuracy. If anything, it lessens it. And then there is the problem of a wall behind you. You can’t pull back and properly release if your elbow is jammed up against a wall.
7. The Over-Lean: Episode 9
The scene: Archers launch flaming arrows from atop the wall of Castle Black. 
The mistake: Both a recurve and a longbow are meant to be held with a slight lean to keep the arrow on the rest. But this archer on the right must have watched too many videos on how to act cool while shooting a bow. He has tipped it over so far that it looks like he might slap his chin with the string on release. It also appears that his thumb or pointer finger is wrapped around the arrow -- the beginner’s mistake.
8. Wrong Side of the Bow, Mag: Episode 9
The scene: A soldier attempts to shoot an arrow up The Wall and comes up way short. So one of the giants, Mag the Mighty (the guy who rode on the mammoth) approaches with a very large bow.
The mistake: Mag the Mighty is a right-handed archer, but he shoots the arrow on the wrong side of the bow. It’s a classic Hollywood mistake, but I was expecting more from Game of Thrones.
On top of that, he has his drawn hand a few inches from his face which is not good form. On his second shot (below), he fixes it by anchoring his bow arm on his face.
However, the arrow is still on the wrong side of the bow.
NOW: Read Miller's critique of the archery in seasons 1-3 of "Game of Thrones" on goHunt
SEE ALSO: The "Game of Thrones" finale leaves out a huge storyline from the books