Tag Archives: 3d targets

Dec 7 2015

Shoot Report – Spirit of Sherwood – December 2015

Spirit of Sherwood Wooden Arrow shoot

Spirit of Sherwood Wooden Arrow shoot

So last shoot of the year and our thanks to all at Spirit of Sherwood for making it a good one.  They hosted a wooden arrow only shoot which unsurprisingly was well attended with an excess of 100 archers. Spirit ground is a long drive for us and knowing they wanted an early start along with the weather not looking great  we decided to stop over in Worksop the night before. For those overseas readers, parts of the UK have been battered by high winds and heavy rain resulting in serious flooding in Cumbria and southern Scotland, with the rest of the country experiencing high winds.
As it was the choice of motel was good as it was a 10 minute drive to spirits grounds and an easy walk to a local bar for an evening meal on Saturday.
3D baboon in the morning sun light

3D baboon in the morning sun light

So Sunday morning saw us packing up and heading down the road to Spirit. As I’ve said the shoot would be wooden arrow only meaning reduced number of classes, with there being Longbow, Amerian Flatbow, Hunting tackle and Primitive, all shooting wooden arrows with feather fletchings and no sights. Here is a link to last years shoot report.

It would be a 36 target course with a majority of 3d targets and only a few paper faces.
3d beaver complete with sawdust

3d beaver complete with sawdust

Our group would include Jackie and Charlie from Castle Bowmen both shooting hunting tackle. This would be the first time Sharon would be shooting her new Blackbrook American flatbow at a shoot, though she had had a little practise down at the club woods.

Sharon Shooting off the tree stump at 3d

Sharon Shooting off the tree stump at 3d

The course included one moving target a festive 3d turkey along with a predator prey.
Throughout the course Spirit had distributed boxes of sweets as festive treats for archers to help themselves,  a very kind and generous touch.

Spirit of Sherwood gift to archers

Spirit of Sherwood gift to archers

The shoot flowed well with no hold ups or apparent problems with the whole thing being completed by 3 pm allowing for all to set off home while there was still light.

3D bedded dear

3D bedded dear

There were some nice new 3d targets I hadn’t seen before including a 3D boar and bear.

Nice 3D bear target I hadn't seen before

Nice 3D bear target I hadn’t seen before

3D Boar hidden behind the tree

3D Boar hidden behind the tree

Being a  pretty flat ground spirit made use of a couple of tree stumps for elevated shots along with a few nicely framed shots between trees including one of a climbing cat 3d I’d not seen before.

Shooting off the tree stump at 3d

Shooting off the tree stump at 3d

3D car climbing the tree

3D car climbing the tree

Overall it was a really relaxed enjoyable shoot with good company and great atmosphere. There we no stretched targets just well set course at sensible distances, well done guys. We were lucky with the weather too as it was mostly dry except for the briefest of showers.  It was nice to chat with friends and fellow stick throwers along with other Fellowship of the Bow Facebook group members.
Sharon shot well and she came away with first in ladies American flatbow sadly I only managed third missing out on first by 8 points.
Thanks for reading and have a safe and enjoyable festive season.

Oct 30 2015

How to become a Better Archer

Source: How to become a Better Archer

Some really good, simple advice in this video from 3D Archery with Gregory Richards on working on a system for archery and love the comment about the Gremlin.

Oct 22 2015

Shoot report – Thornbury – October 2015

Archers at Thornbury

Archers at Thornbury

Our Sunday mornings seems to come round very quickly these days and this last Sunday was a good example, with a bit of a damp grey start. It saw us loading the car for our drive down the motorway to Thornbury archers grounds.
For us the Thornbury shoot  is one of the easiest grounds to get to, being a little over an hours drive down the M5, subject to traffic and road works of course.
Being slightly further south than other shoots we attend, we the opportunity to meet a different group of archers from the south west clubs who travel up to Thornbury.
We hadn’t shot Thornbury for a while and then, it had only a 34 target course but this time it was a full 36 target with a mix of paper faces, 3d targets and some home made painted ones. Here is a link to the previous shoot report if you are interested.
Sharon at Thornbury

Sharon at Thornbury

The shoot was well attended, with around 100 archers in different bow styles, with the day flowing smoothly. I don’t think there were any hold ups and there were a few archers finishing by 3 pm.  Our group would include Sharon and myself,  with Sheron shooting crossbow and Alan shooting hunting tackle.

Sheron shooting 3D

Sheron shooting 3D

Though a small wood Thornbury have built a few small towers enabling them to have some elevated shots which seems to work well.

Sharon shooting from one of th towers

Sharon shooting from one of th towers

One target that must be mentioned is the elephant shot. A near life size elephant had been painted up and very cleverly set down an avenue of trees. A small hurdle of branches in front of the target provided a screen for an area of dead ground, making distance judgement that little harder. There were several discussions afterwards over tea breaks and at the end of the shoot, as to how far it had been set and concensus had it was between 68-70 yards.

View back to the shooting group on red peg

View back to the shooting group on red peg

Catering was good at sensible prices, with all marshals being friendly and there overall there was a very relaxed atmosphere to the day .

The elephant target up close

The elephant target up close

The club  set a good course with some deceptive shots, maybe a couple were at the edge of the normal distance, not stretched as such,  though others might disagree. I don’t think it was an easy course but nor was it overly difficult.
The 3d fox returned complete with the dustbin (see the previous shoot report for details).

3D owl - nicely framed

3D owl – nicely framed

Overall it was a good day, my only slight criticism is I think they repeated one target face on the course 3 times. A deer on a dark green background tagged as Broken Arrow designs painted on foam matting. Whilst the picture was nice I don’t think we needed to see it three times.

Painted deer target

Painted deer target

Thornbury obviously have same artistic members as another home made target was a cracking painting of a wildebeest,  almost too good to shoot.

Nicely painted target

Nicely painted target

We were very lucky with weather staying dry and  in the charity raffle winning a bottle of wine and a four pack of mixed ciders. Sharon came away with first in ladies hunting tackle and I was surprised to win gents afb. Congratulations to fellow Severn Valley members including Mary who won ladies afb.
Thanks for reading.