Author Archives: Rob Jones

Mar 6 2013

Shoot Report – Pride Park

Pride Park

This shoot report covers our experiences of the Pride Park March shoot. This was the first trip to their new wood, which is only a stones throw from one of our old clubs Black Arrows wood.

So on Sunday we headed just north of Derby, about  an hour and 20 minutes drive for us. The weather was dry but not as sunny or warm as the previous day, which had been the first real sign of spring arriving. But as I said it was dry, though it did get cold in the afternoon, which was a shame.

The shoot would also be a test for Sharon’s new arrows or rather piles for her x7. We have been experimenting with the pile weight in her arrows and she had tried a few different ones out on Saturday. So Saturday evening was spent with me swapping out old points for new inserts and screw in points.

Our shooting group was made up of 5 people, Pride Park limit their group numbers to 5 and I think this is a good plan. There was a good flow with no hold ups. The only delay in the day was after the lunch break, by which point it was getting a bit cold as the wind had picked up. In fact there was a really relaxed atmosphere all day.

The course was a mix of paper faces, 3D targets and couple of hessian / fabric faces. We started in the small wood, with a downhill hessian target.

first target

Sharon at first target

It was good to see that targets, especially paper ones, had been put out at sensible distances making them hitable targets.

target 13 Close paper duck

target 13 Close paper duck

In fact there were a few larger faces put closer than normal that confused a lot of archers, resulting in them misjudging the distance.

Scott shooting target 15

Scott shooting target 15

The paper faces included my 3 least favourite, the ermine,  standing hare and red squirrel.

JVD Ermin target face

JVD Ermin target face

JVD Hare target face

JVD Hare target face

JVD Red Squirrel target face

JVD Red Squirrel target face

Why do I hate them? Well besides 2 of them being very small (ermine and squirrel have a 20mm inner scoring zone) the 3rd, the hare, is easy to miss if you lose your line and go slightly left or right, as it is quite tall but skinny.

For those interested I scored 20 on the ermine, 8 (3rd arrow) on the hare and 16 on the squirrel. so that is 2 first arrows and one 3rd, not too bad really.

It all it was a good day with Scott and Zack Ball, Norman joining Sharon and I to make up our group of 5.

Despite being very close to Black Arrows wood the grounds are very different. Black arrow is on a hillside and quite small whilst Pride Parks ground is made up of 2 woods with a connecting field / hedge row, with a small coppice that allows for steeper angles and downhill shots, the other wood is more open and flat allowing for longer shots.

As for how I got on, not great 604 on 36 targets, top score in my class was 654 I think. Sharon did well getting first place again in ladies Barebow. Guess the new arrows worked.

As always thanks for reading.

Mar 5 2013

Carrying your bow properly by PSE’s Al Quackenbush

Good sound advice on carrying bow

PSE Archery's avatarPSE Archery Blog

By Al Quackenbush

www.SoCalBowhunter.com

One thing I take note of is how people care for their gear and I try to learn from it. No one is perfect and I love it when I can get extra life out of my gear. I am sure that this of you who watch bow hunting shows on television have seen this. A bow hunter walking down a trail or skirting a ridge while carrying his bow by the string. Even I have been guilty of it on more than one occasion. Did you know that you can throw off the way your bow shoot because of that?

Imagine that you are running a ridge in pursuit of a giant mule deer buck. You have spent an entire year practicing, getting in shape, and focusing your efforts into this one moment. Your bow is bouncing up and down as you cradle it by…

View original post 475 more words

Feb 24 2013

Winter warming recipe for days shooting

Okay I know I am going slightly off topic here, but I thought I would share with you a soup recipe that  is an ideal winter warming soup when served with a couple of large slices of wholemeal bread.

It is excellent if you are out and about in the woods practising and need something warm. We keep it in a thermos flask and have it with a couple of slices of bread.

Since the recipe produces about 10-12 servings so we tend to freeze it in double portions and reheat it in the morning at home before we set off for the day.

How much does it cost and how many does it serve? We normally get about 10-12 portions from these amounts. Since all the ingredient are veg its pretty cheap and if you buy the pumpkin after Halloween it’s even cheaper. We grow a lot of the ingredients so this helps keep costs down.

 Ingredient list

  • 1 large size pumpkin
  • 2 onions
  • 4 -5 carrots
  • 1 Butter nut squash
  • 1 Swede
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 3 chilies red
  • Large piece of ginger
  • Cumin, Salt and pepper to taste.
The ingredients

The ingredients

Cut the pumpkin up and put pieces into a baking tray, sprinkle with cumin and a little oil, then slowly roast in oven for about an hour at about 200 degrees.

Roasted Pumpkin

Roasted Pumpkin

By baking it, the skin is much easier to peal off and it releases the sugar in the pumpkin. The skin should come away relatively easily using a sharp knife.

Skinning pumpkin

Skinning pumpkin

Whilst the pumpkin is in the oven it gives you time to  peel and dice all the vegetables.

Dice all the veg

Dice all the veg

Finely chop the chilli and ginger adding them to a little oil in large cooking pot.

Ginger and spices

Ginger and spices

Add cumin, black pepper and a little salt for seasoning and allow these to soften.

Soften spices in the pan

Soften spices in the pan

When they have softened Add the chopped vegetables to the large, read very large pot.

Make sure you use a large pot

Make sure you use a large pot

Leave this on a low heat for a few hours until all vegetables are cooked. Stir regularly to avoid it sticking to the pot and burning. You may need to add a little water to the pot so vegetables don’t burn.

A few hours later

A few hours later

Taste and add spice if needed.

Warning, it will get spicier once cooked, so don’t overdo things at this stage. Also I found after freezing it , it can taste the chilli a lot more.

Once all the vegetables have cooked you will want to leave it cool before you blend it. We run it for about 20-30 seconds in our blender so its not too thick but it’s up to you. If you want it to be smoother then blend it for a longer period of time.

Once blended

Once blended

We then serve it into a series of pots to freeze. It keeps for a couple of months this way and we can then reheat it when we want it for shoots down at the wood.

Finished soup ready for freezing

Finished soup ready for freezing

Thanks for reading and hope you find it useful and tasty 🙂