Jul 23 2015

Shoot report – Liberty archers – July 2015

Liberty 2015

Liberty shoots have a reputation for being a fun shoot to attend as the club always put a lot of effort into making sure it’s fun. This shoot was their annual two day event with a party bbq on the Saturday night. We had decided to camp again this year with a few of the SVYF members and booked the Friday and Monday off work. So early Friday morning we packed the car for the three hour drive to Liberty arriving just before 11 am so plenty of time to pitch the tent and settle in.

Liberty Archers campsite

The camp site was already very busy with caravans and tents popping up along the access road, with some having arrived the previous day.

Liberty SVYF camp chats

Friday night meal was the traditional fish and chips from the local chip shop washed down with a couple of bottles of cider whilst sat chatting.
You can read a shoot report from last year’s event here.

One really nice tradition that Liberty Archers do is when a member leaves (they have several members that are associated with the armed forces and are transferred to other bases or countries) the archer shoots an arrow into the leavers tree.

The leavers Tree

Saturday night party
This years theme was a Night at the movies which resulted in some fantastic costumes on show for the Saturday night party. Including a full Sister Act quior, Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Beetlejuice and Marilyn Monroe not to forget the jedi knights, Snow White and Mr and Mrs Shrek wondering round. Sharon was as always magnificent going to town on a Maleficent costume.
Sharon, Jane and Jill were sponsored to shoot the Sunday course in full fancy dress costumes so we had Marilyn Monroe Beetlejuice and Maleficent wondering round the woods.

The charity team (from left to right Jane, Jill and Sharon)

Felt sorry for any cars driving past the site as they caught glimpses of these characters. At least one motorcycle pillion took a double look. The charity to benefit is the British heart foundation and to dare over £135 has been raised. A just giving page has been set up too here is the link.

The course
All 42 targets on the courses had a film theme from Star Wars to Citizen Kane with some requiring audience participation such as the Monty Python shot at a vampire rabbit where your fellow archers were to use coconut cups to make the sound of horse hooves as you were shooting.

As course sites go Liberty is very flat and covered in open woodland of silver birch and oaks. Thankfully this year the weather wasn’t as hot as last year which made it a more cumfortable couple day in woods.

Tegan and Sam

Shooting group on both days would include Sharon and myself along with fellow Svyf members Sam and Tegan. On Saturday we were joined by Simon but he didn’t shoot Sunday.

I didn’t shoot well on Saturday and it was obvious in my score of 600 points fare lower than I wanted and in the number of second arrows I took. I seemed to be going over the top of everything.

Sharon shooting a bedded deer

One thing with Liberty is the ground swallows arrows as it’s quite sandy and grassy so we spent a lot of time searching for arrows. There is still one of mine somewhere out there.

Sams luckiest shot of weekend

Robo Deer made an appearance though with a new paint job.

Robo Deer with paint job on Sunday

The course is a full 42 targets with 3d targets of all shapes and sizes from mosquitos made up to be giant butterflies to a Magnificent Seven shot which was a herd of deer 3ds in the field. This changed to the seven samurai on the Sunday.

SVYF on the next peg

One target that was really tough for lighter poundage bows was based on the psycho movie, where you had to shoot through a taught shower curtain to hit a 3D bear. The curtain caused the lighter bows to either fail to penetrate the plastic sheet or deflect when their fletching made contact.
I wasn’t looking forward to Sunday following my awful shooting on Saturday.It wasn’t helped by my sinuses playing up, thankfully Sue had some nasal spray that helped clear my head.Matters didn’t improve when on my first target I sailed over the top with first arrow only to have second shatter into multiple pieces when it clipped a tree.

Another Liberty shot between trees

For some reason my head slowly started to work as the day progressed but any chance on placing was long gone due to poor shooting on Saturday but at least I wasn’t feeling a complete failure.

Sam shooting the singing in the rain themed target

Sharon shooting on Sunday in costume

There were a couple of shots on Sunday that I thought could have been improved with better peg location as shorter archers found them near impossible to see due to undergrowth but in all it was a good course.

Hard shot through the trees

Sharon proving she can shoot in costume

Sharon came away with first in ladies hunting tackle so she now has an Oscar to fit in the trophy cabinet.

Thanks for reading.

Jul 7 2015

Shoot Report – Hawk Archers – July 2015

Hawks parking

Hi all, it seems like ages since I wrote a shoot report so here goes.

Last Sunday saw us heading to South Wales for Hawk Archers shoot (here are links to the 2 shoot reports 2014, 2013 if you fancy a read)
I am amazed that not more people make the journey to this shoot, as it is one of the best set, challenging courses on the NFAS circuit. It offers the archers the opportunity to shoot in beautiful woodland and shots seldom seen elsewhere on the circuit, like 20-40 yard up or downhill targets. This little hidden gem of a course in the Welsh country side is well worth tracking down.

Hawk – uphill 3D deer

At Hawk’s grounds they have ample parking spaces in a field a short stroll from administration and unlike some grounds the field was bone dry so you weren’t slipping and sliding trying to park up.

first target of the day – hessian

On Sunday we would be joined by Scott and Lisa-Marie from Druids to shoot round Hawks course.

Shoot group

So our group would be three flatbow and Sharon on hunting tackle. We had a great laugh and despite a brief shower just before lunch an otherwise dry and warm day.

3D Deer in the sun

Considering there were I think 5 people who set this 36 target course it was an amazing achievement. Sadly the club recently lost one of its members to cancer and for this reason they ran a collection in aid of the Sue Ryder fund. The course was comprised of 36 targets, mostly 3d targets with a few paper and hessian targets.

3D Bedded antelope

One great shot was the double predator prey, where you had to hit both predators before you could take a shot at the prey. I managed only two of the predators so never got to try my hand at the deer.

Sharon studying a shot between the trees

Speaking to a couple of archers at other shoots and I mention I’m going to Hawk Archers their response has been “tough shoot or stretched targets.” I feel this is a little unfair, Hawk is a great course to test you and your archery skills. They have well set targets that will have you reaching for your second arrow because you misjudged the distance or misread the ground and not because the target is stretched. The other thing is the atmosphere at the shoot is always relaxed and friendly.
I think Sundays course was one of the best courses I’ve shot there and great fun. Despite Sharon feeling she shot badly she came away with a first place in ladies Hunting Tackle with a very respectable 492, by some miracle I managed 546 which got me a first place in American flat bow.

Thanks for reading.

Jul 1 2015

Road trip USA

Golden Gate bridge

Okay so a few of you will know Sharon and I undertook a road trip to the USA in June. I Whilst there we tried to find a few archery shops, as everyone we spoke to said we should have a look at the range of bows and associated archery gear available across the pond.
So the trip itself was in four parts with us staying for 3 nights in each location

San Francisco
Lake Tahoe
Yosemite National park
New York

This was our first trip to the USA having wanted to go for a number of years but never quite getting there.
Sadly we were unsuccessful in our primary quest of checking out lots off archery shops. The store we visited in San Francisco was closed for some reason, one of the one’s we’d hoped to get to on route to Lake Tahoe was closed on Tuesdays which resulted in us successfully finding only one store. Whilst their selection was great so far as compound bows and targets were concerned they had very few traditional style bows.
So we didn’t come home with any archery goodies but quite a few photos of our trip.
I then decided on a second mission , which I hoped would be more successful. This was to find a drinkable US produced apple cider. Those of you who follow me on instagram and tumblr will have seen the mixed results.
So in the great tradition of sharing, here are a load of holiday photos showing what we did do.

One of the highlights of the trip had to be seeing whales breaching outside San Francisco harbour, even if it was from a fair distance away it was still amazing to see.

Sharon at Golden Gate

San Francisco is a nice place to visit for a few days to recover from the jet lag.

Lake Tahoe was our next destination and we picked up a rental car in San Francisco to head there via the archery shop that was open. As we left San Francisco we saw how the drought is changing the landscape with brown fields of grass surrounding San Francisco, gradually giving way as we climbed higher to woodlands and forests.

View of Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe would prove a very good location to spend our wedding anniversary with some very pleasant walks along the shore line and into the surrounding countryside which offer fantastic views of the lake.

Hiking near Lake Tahoe

We were lucky with the weather, with it being mostly dry and warm. Except for Yosemite where we were caught in thunderstorms on the hill decent from Upper Yosemite falls.

Yosemite Falls, seen from the valley floor

If you are walking in Yosemite make sure you have plenty of water as it is quite dehydrating.

The route for the walk

That hike took us just over 6 hours in total up and down but offered fantastic views from the top before thunderstorms rolled in.

Hike up to Yosemite Upper falls – half way

The views of the valley from the top of Yosemite falls was amazing.

View form the top

Note sure which was the best quote from Sharon at Yosemite, whether it was about the life like 3d poses of the deer or that the bear was closer than you would shoot it if it was a 3D target on a field course.

Yosemite valley deer in early morning

Walking round Yosemite was great especially if you got there early as you avoided the busy parts and trails. There is more wildlife about and the light for photographs is amazing early in the day.

Sun in the trees at Yosemite Park

We left Yosemite at 5 am to make the long drive to San Francisco airport to catch our plane to New York.

New York skyline reflection

To coin a phrase, New York City was on our bucket list and was nice to visit but it is a big city and we really aren’t into big cities. If you do visit check out the Highline which is an old rail track converted into a green and leafy walk and is a good distraction from the busy streets, with a decent coffee stall (blue bottle) at the meatpacker end.

New York Highline walk

The 9/11 Memorial is very moving as are the talks by survivors of the attack.

We would definitely go back to Yosemite as the views hiking and whole scale of the place was amazing. Lake Tahoe is another location we would return too, maybe for a ski trip.
Thanks for reading.

My Archery Experiences

Field archery experiences, shoot reports, equipment & book reviews, tips and advice from a UK archer and coach.

Monthly Archives: Jul 2015

Shoot Report – Hawk Archers – July 2015

Road trip USA

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