The latest podcast is up and in it I offer something a bit different. Rather than a written shoot report I have recorded an audio one for Paget De Vesey recent NFAS open
Don’t worry there are still plenty of photos from the day.
The trip to Thornbury would prove to be an early start for us. The drive on a good Sunday is well over an hour. Unfortunately, we were aware of several patches of road works on the motorway. In addition to the estimated travel time, Thornbury had promoted an early start to the shooting of 9.30 am. Ironically they had to delay the start of the competition for some late attendees to arrive.
If you are interested you can read a shoot report from an earlier visit to this club. The good news was we enjoyed good weather for an early spring day with only a slight chill in the air.
The course would consist of 40 3D targets, (to be more accurate there were 42 targets out. I’ll get to that later in the write-up). We would be joined by Mark shooting traditional bowhunter. Mark would prove to be a great sport and companion throughout the day.
Thornbury is another club that set out wasp pegs, but not on every shot. They also have all compound classes shoot from these wasp pegs, not just sighted ones. I would rather see wasp pegs on all shots if they are to be used, even if they are next to the red peg.
Those of you who have shot at Thornbury or read one of my previous posts will know the course has a tall tower shot which is probably one of their signature shots. This time, adults would shoot at a large grizzly 3D and Juniors at a 3D turkey at the tower’s base. I enjoy that shot, simply for the opportunity to shoot something like that. The only downside is I shot all three arrows as I couldn’t see where my arrows had landed. The sound of the impact made us think I was hitting the boss behind. I was in with my first. Guess I need to go to Specsavers for new glasses.
There were some nicely placed targets, designed to catch you out. Maybe it is me not shooting as much but I did feel that some of the targets were a long way for the red peg and maybe moving some of the junior pegs forward would also help. I wonder whether clubs are having to increase the distance to offer a challenge to the compound classes. I don’t know. It could equally be me not being used to shooting as much as I used to.
There were several shots requiring you to up your game and focus, such as the standing bear 3D between tree trunks, there was a clever use of a large legless 3D dear or elk making it look like a bedded deer.
Another particularly challenging shot, at first sight, was the standing hare 3D through a hollow tree trunk. I know a couple of people I spoke to commented on some of the 3ds being quartered, making them a greater challenge.
The woodland the club occupies is a mix of open woodland allowing for longer shots to quite dense areas making for darker shots, through the undergrowth. There was only one area where I mentioned to the marshals I thought was a bit tight on space and I think this might have been due to a recent tree fall.
The day flowed quite well in the morning especially, though there was a bit of confusion at food stops. The organisers had decided to allow jumping.
Here is a quick definition of jumping for those who have not heard the term before. Normally when you get to food stops, you check to see who is in the group in front of you and wait for them to have their food. Following them out after you’ve given them time to clear the next target. This also gives you time to eat and rest, the group behind you waiting for you to have your break and so on. You note when the group in front of you goes off to the next peg and leave them time to shoot it, score and clear that before you set off. The group behind you doing the same.
Jumping is when a group behind you doesn’t want to wait for you when you stop and instead goes straight to the next peg. Hence the term, as they jump past you. The advantage is that faster archers can jump past slower groups. The disadvantage is if archers at the end of the shoot are helping by bringing in the targets, you could have 3D targets removed before everyone has shot them. Another disadvantage is you can have archers finishing earlier because they have jumped several times and then want to walk off the course while several other groups of archers are still shooting. Since Thornbury had said there was nothing to bring in they were allowing archers to jump. This made it a little confusing when at food stops as you weren’t sure who was in front of you.
Overall, it wasn’t a big problem just a little confusing for those who have been jumped.
It was great to catch up with some archers I haven’t seen for a while, especially Patrick who was marshalling on the day. Patrick and I have known each other since doing our coaching course over 10 years ago. Speaking of marshals, I have to say how friendly they all were, chatting and walking with us as we went around the course. They really seemed to make an effort to help archers enjoy themselves.
As I mentioned the organisers had designed a special shot as part of the course, which was in fact 3 shots. You had 1 minute from standing on the 1st peg to take a shot, then walk to the next peg identify where the 3d target was, and shoot it. You then move on to find the 3rd and final peg, identifying the target and shoot it. The third target was very cleverly set, hanging upside down under a fallen log across the stream, back the way you’d walked. So not that obvious to spot or gauge, being in shadow.
I wasn’t sure about this or how well it would work when initially explained at the start of the shoot. As it was it would be one of our last shots of the day.
I felt it worked very well, offering a different form of challenge with cleverly placed 3D targets. The distance between pegs worked well as did the selection of targets. Well done, Thornbury course layers on introducing something different.
I shot better than I was expecting, with this being partly down to my current mindset or outlook when it comes to archery. I know I haven’t been shooting often and went with no expectations of doing well. I blanked one target on the course but I worked at not letting that get to me. Reminding myself that I hadn’t been shooting much and should not expect to hit things. I was feeling tired for the last 6 or 7 shots, as it was a long day.
I was able to try out my new hoodie I picked up from Northern Movement stand at the Outdoor Expo show at the NEC the day before. It was very comfortable to shoot in, large enough as to not offer any restrictions to movement, but fitted enough to keep you warm.
In summary, it was an enjoyable day but a long day. We were all glad to get home.
Thanks for reading.
So, I’m slowly getting back into the hang of writing these shoot reports. I hope you are enjoying reading them. It’s been a very long time since I wrote one for Centaura, looking at my past write up I had to go back to 2018.
Considering the crazy weather we had been having in the preceding week or so running up to the shoot, with rain, snow followed by a rapid thaw the Sunday morning weather was pretty good for an early spring day. Bright, with it not getting cold until about 4 pm.
The club is situated in a small woodland not far from Derby, so just under an hour travel for us despite the motorway being slow. The course would be a twice round 21, being a mix of paper and 3D targets. Normally a twice rounds course are 18 or 20 so, 21 was a little unusual. We would be shooting with Roger and Julie for the first time in what seems like years, both shooting bowhunter.
There was a good turnout on the day with many pegs having 4 or more archers but I know they had some no-shows, which is always a shame for clubs.
Unfortunately part way around the first half I had to escort our son off the course due to him being taken ill. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the marshals who helped on the day to escort me and my son off the course. (He’s feeling much better now after spending the afternoon wrapped in a blanket in the car with his Mam. Thanks). This would mean Sharon and I each effectively shot half the course or once round, rather than twice round.
Centaura club is housed in a small site, with little space to accommodate all the cars, meaning once you are parked up you are there for the day.
The progress around the course slowed in the afternoon with periods of delays and waiting around. I’m uncertain of the cause. It could be due to numbers per peg, I know there were some new archers there. I’m sure if I could identify what causes events to slow then every club would be beating the way to my door for the secret.
There were some downhill shots at very steep angles. Think shooting off a cliff near straight down, the type of shot you don’t often have the opportunity to shoot. This is thanks to the nature of the terrain as I think the site was once a quarry.
An example of such a shot is the near vertical shot down onto a bedded ram 3D where you shoot all your arrows from the top of the cliff. The marshals collect your arrows, using a rope and pully to hoist your arrows back to you so you can continue along the ridge line to the next shot.
The flip side of this is the number of steps as you climb and descend multiple stairs. It proves to be a good workout for your legs.
Personally, I feel there were a couple of shots on the course that could have worked with a slightly larger target for the distance, like the 3D beaver and 3D badger, but these were in the minority.
Having not been out shooting at many competitions it was great to have the opportunity to meet up with some readers of this site and listeners to the podcast. If you do see me at a shoot pop over and have a chat.
One thing I liked to see was the map at the central gathering point, showing the woodland and the locations of the targets. It’s good for archers to have a rough orientation of the wood but I am sure it would prove invaluable to any emergency services who might be called in an incident.
I decided to shoot the 38lb recurve in hunting tackle class (that is a non compound bow, with wooden arrows, feather fletchings and no sights). I ended up not shooting the full course but I did feel fatigued. The upside was I managed to shoot it with some degree of accuracy and consistency. It is still a long way to go but small steps in the right direction.
If you visit Centaura clubs’ Facebook page you will be able to see a gallery of photos from the day. I’ve chosen one for my new profile picture.
Thanks for reading.
My Archery Experiences 