Author Archives: Rob Jones

May 5 2015

Shoot Report – Wasp Archers – April 2015

WASP archers wood

WASP archers wood

Sorry been a bit slow in writing this shoot report, but here goes. A couple of Sundays back we headed north to just outside Derby for Wasp archers shoot. Having had twinges in my shoulders which had cut my practice short on Saturday I wasn’t feeling confident.
Many years ago we had visited their old ground but this shoot was at a new site and would be their first shoot there.
Though slightly cooler than previous days it was still bright and warm enough for a spring morning.
Unlike some grounds who struggle with parking Wasps have ample space, which was good as the event was well attended with 100 or so archers present.
Sharon chatting with Mark from Artemis

Sharon chatting with Mark from Artemis

Added to this ample parking they have a lovely little wood,  with a great mix of deciduous and conifer woodland, with  a small valley which allows for a good mix of down hill shots.

View of the woods

View of the woods

Though a small wood they make good use of the grounds.

First target

First target

The  course would be made up of 40 targets with a 50/50 split of 3d targets and paper faces. Unlike Highcross the week before, Wasps alternated the targets so you would shoot a paper face and then 3d target then paper and so on. Something I think worked really well.
We would do two loops round the wood.

Sharon shooting across hollow

Sharon shooting across hollow

I don’t think there was anything over 40 yards.
Of all the targets I think there was only one which could have done with an addition of a net behind. Not for safety reasons, simply because it was well laid and tricked you causing you to just overestimate the distance resulting in arrows disappearing into the pine needles. Having said this there were marshals there to help. Thanks guys.

3D Turkey target

3D Turkey target

They had one special target, a 3D owl on a tree stump. If you missed you ran the risk of hitting a paper face behind and what you scored on the paper would be deducted from your score. So there was a  chance of a -24 -14 -8 on one target, I’m not a fan of negative target scoring but it was far enough that you had to be unlucky to get negative points.

Shooting group

Shooting group

Joined by Ann Marie and Shelley, both from Black Sheep Archers shooting barebow.

Last target of the day

Last target of the day

It was a really relaxing and flowing day and would definitely go back
Sharon won ladies hunting tackle but no medals for me as missed third place by 8 pts and 50 behind first. Still feel like I have a long way to go to get to the level I feel I should be.

Apr 20 2015

Shoot report – Highcross – April 2015

3D deer shot at Highcross

3D deer shot at Highcross

So Sunday saw us heading south on the motorway to Highcross clubs ground. Though Sharon had shot Highcross once before, it had been at their old wood, so this would be a new venue for us both. It was nice to visit somewhere new as everything is completely unknown.
Fortunately the weather was good, with a slight chill in the air it did feel cooler that earlier in the week. The good weather did mean I was able to get quite a few photos.
Unlike other shoots where there are upwards of 150 archers, Highcross had some 60 archers which made for a relaxing and easy shoot.
Highcross have a lovely wood with a 36 target course set up with targets 1-18 paper faces and 19-36 3d targets. For the shoot they had been able to secure an extra part of woodland which was where they housed the 3D shots.
First target of theday

First target of the day

Personally I’m not sure if I liked the 50/50 split, the 3d targets were really nicely set, well placed and at sensible distances, which gave archers confidence. The paper faces in general weren’t too bad, but I think it would be far to say that some were stretched. In stretched I mean target face being too small for the distance, this was especially the case for the smaller faces. an example of such was our starting one the rabbit. By having them in two halves it could make people feel despondent if they shot the papers first.

Sharon on our second target

Sharon on our second target

Having said this the course was still fun to shoot. The course layers making extensive use of framed shots between trees.
Another framed shot

Another framed shot

Really liked the setting of the capercaillie in the trees, looked very natural. It was lovely to wander round a wood and to hear only the sound of other archers in the distance.

Shot through the tree

Shot through the tree at capercaillie

It was also lovely to see so many primroses in flower covering the ground throughout the woods. Could have been called a Primrose shoot.
Minefield of primroses

Minefield of primroses

 Another great shot was the flying duck, shown below.
The duck shot

The duck shot

Sharon did really well getting a pro kill 24 point shot, the only problem was when you hit it, the target would spin round.
The 3D duck with Sharon and my arrow in

The 3D duck with Sharon and my arrow in

Our group included Steve and Rae both shooting barebow, with Gerald joining us to walk round with Rae and his dog Two-Bob.
Sharon chatting to Steve

Sharon chatting to Steve

It was a very sociable and relaxed day overall and it was nice to hear positive comments form archers who had attended our shoot the week before.

Rae Shooting at 3D

Rae Shooting at 3D

The day flowed well with no hold ups, maybe because of the lower numbers or simply because it was a good course, along with good catering especially the selection of home made cakes.
Sharon won ladies hunting tackle and I somehow managed a first in American Flatbow.
Think it will be a shoot we will return to, though not sure when their next shoot is.
Thanks for reading
Apr 13 2015

Shoot Report – SVYF – April 2015

SVYF - archers waiting to go out on course

SVYF – archers waiting to go out on course

The weather stayed dry but the wind was ever so present.
SVYF is our club and this means this shoot report will be from the view of the organisers rather than competitors. You can read some earlier reports here Autumn 2014, Spring 2014.
Helping to run a shoot is a lot more tiring than shooting and it gives you a great insight into the work involved in setting courses.
The course this time comprised of 40 targets mostly 3Ds with a few paper faces. I’ve loaded some pictures on my Tumblr site (http://offthearrowshelf.tumblr.com/) already but here are a few more. Sorry there aren’t any action shots was a bit busy.
Predator prey shot

Predator prey shot

3D boar

3D boar

We delayed the start from 10 due to an accident on the motorway that delayed many archers’ arrival. As it was we only had 3 no shows, resulting in over 180 archers attending. It was great to catch up with so many fellow archers, friends and a few readers of this blog. It is always great to meet up with readers of this site so please if you do see us a t a shoot pop over and say hi. (Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for the shoulder)
Ever present tiger 3D

Ever present tiger 3D

The wood surrounds a couple of over grown ponds and is quite sheltered except on one side where the edge of the wood is exposed to open fields. Archers on this side would be battered by exceedingly strong winds, making the archery challenging to say the least. I think the compound archers suffered the most as their arrows were flicked off their rests.
Frog 3D between the trees

Frog 3D between the trees

Besides the high winds the only other problem which was partly under our control was the running repairs on bridges.
Can you spot the 3D Cobra

Can you spot the 3D Cobra

In SVYF we have over 13 bridges ranging from only a few feet in length to over 100 feet. We run regular checks on the bridges, replacing planks etc, but with over 180 archers trekking across them, plus organisers we had a few planks break. The only problem was they seemed to all go on one bridge, we had seven go on one bridge in the space of 20 minutes. Added to this was that target was 40 shot was across the bridge so we had our work cut out for us, cutting new planks, removing old ones and replacing them.
Bedded deer 3D

Bedded deer 3D

Overall the day seemed to run well, with archers enjoying themselves. Sadly not everyones day went as well due to delays on the course, we finally traced these delays to one group that were being very slow in shooting and scoring.
SVYF next shoot is in early October, hopefully it won’t be so windy.
Thanks for reading