Tag Archives: 3d course

Oct 15 2012

Shoot Report – the other side

Frosty morning

Frosty morning

Slightly different shoot report this week as although we attended a shoot on Sunday it was not as a competing archer but as a marshal.

This was the first SVYF shoot we would not be shooting but marshalling  shame as we thought it was a great course.

We’d spent all Saturday putting in the 3d targets and checking target bosses, clearing paths and low branches.

Sunday morning saw a ground frost and had me scraping the ice off the car before 8 am, by the time we reached the wood it was -1 centigrade.

Something very beautiful about a frosty Autumn morning with the sun slowly burning off the mist as it rises in the sky. We were very lucky with the weather earlier in the week it had looked like we’d have a wet weekend.

Cob webs on frosty morning

Cob webs on frosty morning

The course was a mix of 3d and paper faces about a 70/30 split. The 40 target course is split in two, with one group laying 1-20 & other group doing 21-40, with us helping out lay 21-40. We had about 170 archers and 30-40 helpers.

Gathering of archers

Gathering of archers

Thanks to the early Autumn light through the trees some of the 3d targets were in partial shadow making distance judgements that little bit harder. Was interesting to see how different styles shot the course from sighted compound to longbows.

3D boar target

3D boar target

I spent sometime talking to a few archers about how far they thought one shot was a slightly downhill shot at a 3D boar. I was interested in the different distances they thought the target was. As someone who doesn’t use a sight or gap shoots, I had paced the target distance at 31 paces (about 29 yards) and archers were guessing everything from 28 yards to 36 yards.

example of shot

Turkey 3D shot

There was a difference to previous shoots I’ve been involved with simply in the sheer number of marshals and helpers, making it less stressful and a bit easier.

Think I must have walked our part of the course at least 4-5 times over the day.Feedback was really positive, with only a couple of things to change for future shoots. Was a long day but worth it.

If you ever have an opportunity to help run or lay a course then take it. You learn a lot and realise just how much work is involved in putting on a shoot.

We must be mad as we’re helping on another shoot at end of month.

Thanks for reading.

Jun 28 2012

Shoot Report – Long Eaton Field archery – June 2012

Start of Shoot

LEFA announcements

The solstice shoot is famous for being both themed and fun, with this years theme being Robin Hood. Some how appropriate for an archery shoot. Little touches like the wanted posters offering 100 gold pieces for the outlaw were dotted round the wood added to the scene.
The course laying team had worked hard to overcome  problems resulting from the terrible wet weather that hit a couple of days prior to the shoot which had resulted in sections flooded, along with treebranches down across paths.
3D Fox though the trees

3D Fox though the trees

The tracks were very slippery as one person said Torvell and Dean would have found it a challenge.

The course was made up of 40 3D targets with a couple of predator prey shots that were very nicely set.

Another 3D target

3D deer

The course was very well laid with great use of available cover and framing of targets.

Predator Prey Shot
For those not familiar with predator prey targets let me explain. Predator prey shots are ones where you have a predator target positioned to look like its attacking a prey. Here it is a mountain lion against ram.

Close up of Predator PreyWith your first arrow you target the prey, if you are successful in hitting the predator you can then have a bonus arrow at the prey. If you miss the predator with your first arrow you then target the prey with your second arrow, but even if hit the predator with your second arrow, you now don’t get to shoot at the prey.

I’ve said it before that i don’t like lunch breaks when shooting as i tend to go off the boil but on some grounds it is a necessity and lefa is one. Whilst talking food and got to say top marks to all the catering staff for great food, throughout the day. The other thing it did make for was a great atmosphere.

So how did I do? 1 Blank in the afternoon that upset my head and meant that I messed up the next few shots 😦

The only one I blanked on the day. Taken from red peg

The only one I blanked on the day. Taken from red peg

Need to sort this out for my own piece of mind.
I came away with 560 and a 3rd, should have broken 600 on a 40 course.  Score card here.
Score cardSharon shot really well and won ladies Barebow with 682 points
Full results can be found here
Thanks for reading
Jun 6 2012

Shoot report – NFAS 3D Championships 2012

Announcements on B course - Pride Park - Saturday
Pride Park – Saturday

Home and after a hot bath along with some sleep and then some more sleep, we are nearly unpacked following a weekend long archery competition.  It was the annual NFAS 3D championships and it proved to be a really great weekend, despite the best efforts of the British weather to drown us all. For those of you reading this and don’t know the 3D champs are one of 3 championships the NFAS run throughout the year. It is normally well attended with over 700 archers,this year there were a few less though, probably due to the economic climate.

Sorry but having re-read this, it is really long post

We’d decided to camp for the weekend rather than driving up each day, so headed to just outside Osmaston Park, near Ashbourne in Derbyshire on Friday night to pitch tent and meet up with everyone. We joined up with the Artemis guys in their marquee and had  some food and a few drinks. Thanks guys.

This year there were 4 courses in total A&B for wooden arrows, X&Y course for metal / carbon arrows. By splitting it in this way courses can be tailored to suit class.

Before I go any further can I say a big  thanks to Hanson club who provided the catering at Admin and Y course, it was great to have hot food and not just burgers, but steaks, cakes, and fantastic apple pie. They started at 7:30 am and went on until gone 7 pm. Thank you so much.

Over the course of the weekend archers shoot 2 courses 1 on Saturday and 1 Sunday. Each course consists of 40 3D targets of varying sizes shot over a range of unmarked distances and elevations. The 2 courses I shoot were, course A laid by Cheshire Oak and Course B was done by Pride Park.
Think A course was fortunate enough to have the better terrain to work with as the problem B course had been a large fenced off area which was off-limits. This limited long shots so they worked on using dead ground and foliage to trick archers and frame shots.
One of the hardest shots is shown here. Wendy is taking her second go at it, but you can just make out the brown bear in the trees. I was really happy to just hit this one
Brown bear in trees B course - Pride Park - Saturday

Brown bear in the trees

I went up to a few target and thought this was easy and then needed a second arrow or third.

long elk on B course Pride Park - only

Long elk this was the only target I blanked all weekend

The course was designed so you passed catering twice so you could grab some food. After our first break the target below was what greeted us, a velociraptor 3D at an angle. I later found out it was over 50 yards away, so I was really happy when I got it with the first arrow. Below you can see Mark about to shoot it with his longbow.

B course - Pride Park - Saturday

First shot after lunch

The only problem with the venue was the sheer distance from the camp site to the courses. Archers once they had finished had to walk over a mile to get back to Admin to hand cards in. Made for a couple of long days as you had to register by 9:30 and walking out at 10 am,  Sharon didn’t get back to Admin until nearly 7 pm both days

The walk back on Saturday - not in the rain

The walk back on Saturday – not in the rain thankfully

Sunday was wet, very very wet, quite a few people retired due to the weather and this is why there are no photos of Sunday, wanted to try to keep phone dry. I would have liked to shoot the Cheshire oak course in the dry as Sunday resembled a monsoon at times. Glad I took a large brolly.

I lost quite  a few arrows in the rhododendron bushes which was a bit of a pain but really enjoyed the 2 days. I heard that a few people retired early from the competition due to a combination of the very poor weather  and losing too many arrows

Quiet a few  people who were camping stuck around on Sunday night rather than trying to take their tent or caravan down in the rain. So saw quite a few sore heads on Monday.  We’d decided to stay so that on Monday we could give the organisers a hand to take stuff down and walk one of the courses  (x course laid by Yorick archers) to check for any lost arrows, clear signs etc Glad I took the metal detector as found a load of crossbow bolts and arrows.
So how did I get on ?
30th in AFB and considering my lack of practise time I’m more than happy with that. Only blanked 1 target over the whole weekend too.
B Course - Score card

B Course – Score card only 1 blank

Very wet score card from Sunday

Very wet score card from Sunday

Sharon won bronze (3rd place) in ladies BareBow which I am very proud of since she has been shooting this new bow (Andy Soars Black Brook bows)  for a bout 5 months. Congrats to Andy Soars too who won Gents Barebow.