Oct 10 2012

Shoot Report – March Hare October 2012

March Hare

Misty morning at March Hare

Been a while since I’ve written one of these reports, but then again been a while since I’ve been out shooting. Moving house kind of gets in the way a bit of going to shoots 😦 Well there are now a few less boxes and most things are getting sorted, slowly!! Just need to set up the range in the garden 😉 anyway back to the shoot report.

So this misty Sunday morning we packed the car and headed south to a new ground for us March Hare. The Autumn chill was in the air, with car showing only 3 degrees centigrade, but with no cloud cover it would soon burn off and we would enjoy a sunny early Autumn day. It had been a last minute decision to book on the shoot as we thought we were going to be entertaining house guests that weekend, but things didn’t work out.

March Hares ground is about 35-40 minutes drive from the house and is part of a disused airfield which makes it very flat. The ground cover is made up of a young broadleaf  woodland and mixed scrub. The one down side of the ground is that if you miss a target your arrow tends to travel along the ground a fair way disappearing in the long grass.

The club has great facilities with not only a members hut but full indoor toilets (a luxury compared with many shoots) along with plenty of parking space. I think the ground is shared with a shooting club too which could explain the quality and quantity of facilities.

March Hare club house

March Hare club house

One thing that is strange is the way they run registration. You present your NFAS card and pay, but you aren’t given a score card at that point. When they are doing the shoot brief at teh start of the days shooting, they call the peg and your name, which is when you go up and collect your score card with the other members of your group. Also no double scoring. The downside of this was it made for a late start and in turn a long day. Must say this confused me, (yes I am easily confused these days).

The shoot itself was twice round 20, with a mix of 3D and paper targets with about 60 archers present in a mix of classes including all except crossbow.

March Hare have what appears to be a huge ground and I think they could easily put on a 36 target course and they have the bosses as they are set up for EFAA shoots, but maybe the low numbers explained why it was twice round 20.

We we shooting with Keith and Marion, also from SVYF who were great company. Keith was trying out some new arrows (5 1/4 shields with a helical twisted fetching) appears to straighten faster but lose distance).

Normally a twice round 20 is pretty quick but this was very slow as we caught the group up in front on most targets.

As a shoot I think they could have made it more interesting. Thought some of the targets were stretched for the faces on them. We started on peg 4 which was a long 3D deer, felt like it was over 40-45 yards through trees and Marion lost one arrow on this target, just disappeared into the long grass, not a good start for her. When we shot this second time round I managed to put one of my arrows through a tree 😦 but in fairness I know others enjoyed it.

Managed a 24 on a 3D turkey

Managed a 24 on a 3D turkey

I think the problem I had with this shoot was that everything was flat and many of the shots felt stretched. They might not have been, but a few were, about a quarter of them by my guess. Not helped by the fact we couldn’t always make out scoring areas. I’ve never been a fan of flat ground or long shoots,preferring shots of 15-25 yards and through trees, framed etc. with use of dead ground. Guess this is because I’m used to shorter shots and shooting at a club on a hillside.

(Sorry just realised something. When I say the target is stretched I don’t mean the target face or image is stretched or distorted. I mean the distance to the target from the peg is longer than normally expected. So a target face that would normally be shot at 15-20 yards might be at 25-30 yards.)

I know March Hare is a strong EFAA club and in EFAA you shoot longer distances, so maybe that is just the clubs style. Sorry if this sounds a bit of a moan.

So how did I get on. Well I had a couple of good shots but not many.I didn’t shoot well and came in with only 548. Far too many blanks(5) (the lack of practise is definitely showing so really need to sort the range in the garden). I did come away with a first place though (largely due to very few AFB archers) Sharon got 570 and won again, very proud of her as always.

Would I go back? Maybe simply because it is so close. Also have a better idea of what to expect.

We should be working as marshals next weekend for the club shoot so are hoping for dry weather.

Thanks for reading.

Oct 5 2012

Equipment part 4 – Failure and damage – Arrows

Damage can occur

No matter how careful you are equipment will get damaged over time and it is very important that you take the time to check your archery equipment to ensure you can spot issues before they become dangerous.

I’m going to concentrate on arrows in this section and write another one on bows in a week or so.

If you are a coach it is worth showing students and other archers the type of damage that can occur to their equipment.

One piece of valuable advice I’ve seen on a couple of sites is never assume an arrow is safe, even if it is brand new. Likewise expensive arrows can also be damaged in transit or manufacture, so always check them each time you shoot or retrieve them.

Here is a close up of an unusual style of arrow break.

arrow damage

split shaft close up

Another photo of  the same arrow shaft, you can see how it has split down its length.

split shaft full length

split shaft full length

Below image shows what happens when a wooden arrow impacts a wall  and the pile is flattened. Notice how the wooden shaft has snapped and then been forced into itself.

Arrow Damage

Compression break of wooden arrow

Sometime you can spot damage before it becomes a critical failure, below is a close up shot of a wooden arrow shaft that is showing signs of failure. You can see vertical crack lines across the arrow shaft. This will eventually result in the arrow bending or breaking.

damage to wooden arrow

Damage to wooden arrow

It’s not just wooden arrows that can fail and become damaged.

The photograph below shows what can happen to aluminium arrows . The archer had managed to hit their own nock with another arrow (great grouping in the target). The nock has shattered and the metal arrow has peeled back like a banana. This is sometimes called a Robin Hood Shot.

A Robin Hood shot

A Robin Hood shot

Obviously this arrow is no longer usable, but there are times when you will not have such a critical failure or damage. When your aluminium arrow might be only slightly bent and it can be possible to straighten them but it takes time, a level or expertise and correct straightening jig. Below shows a “slightly” bent arrow, following contact with a tree.

Bent arrows

Bent arrows

Carbon arrows also need checking regularly as they can split or worse still shatter. I’ve seen a compound shooter at a championships, release their arrow and it shatter into a million pieces, showering her and those around with carbon splinters. Fortunately no one was hurt and even more amazingly the bow was undamaged!

I know some archers now wear a Kevlar glove on their bow arm to protect them from any possible arrow failures.

It is not only at the bow end problems can occur, there are times when you are drawing arrows that the arrow may break, so it’s always worth either wearing a glove or using an arrow puller to give a cleaner and stronger grip. I’ve had to patch up a few people over the years who have cut themselves when drawing arrows that have split.

Also be aware of carbon splinters in targets. this often happens when the arrow pile has been forced into the shaft following a hard impact and resulting in the carbon shards breaking off.

A good way to test you carbon arrows is to flex the arrow, if you hear cracking or see splintering then dispose of  them. Also be aware that if you use arrow wraps, cracks can appear under these and are not always noticed.

Here are a couple of good sites and articles on testing arrows, be warned though there are a couple of graphic scenes of what can happen when an arrow fails.

http://www.huntersfriend.com/arrow-safety-warning.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6nIbvrMTbE

Tip – if you have a carbon arrow splinter on a shoot or when practising, don’t drop it into your quiver as it will leave splinters in the quiver. Take some tape and tape over the splintered section, this will stop loose pieces breaking off and fulling your quiver with razor-sharp splinters ( I always carry a roll of micropore tape in my first aid kit that is ideal for this.) You can then drop it into your quiver and dispose of it when you get home.

As always thanks for reading and I hope you’ve found this of use.