Tag Archives: archer

Mar 8 2013

Aiming for the fish’s eye

No I’m not talking about bow fishing, it is a quote from a book that came to mind after reading a recent archery article on the web.

A link to the artilce was posted on the Infinite Curve blog site http://theinfinitecurve.com/2013/03/07/bare/. If you have the chance read the post and follow the link to the full site http://www.bowyersedge.com/elements.html

As I said the article reminded me about I book I read over 20 years ago “The man who never missed” by Steve Perry. Its the first in a trilogy of books.

original book cover

original book cover

New book cover

New book cover

The story revolves around the main character Emile Khadaji and his mission to overthrow an evil galactic Confederation read empire. He masters a variety of skills including martial arts, bar tending, economic, smuggling etc, but one skill becoming a marksmanship in an exotic dart gun called a Spetsdōd.

Whilst being taught to shoot it he is told the story of the 3 archers at a competition run by the local lord. The 3 archers had been matched all the way through and were eventually pitted in a head to head round. As an alternate  target the lord placed a fish on the target boss.

After the final round the ruler asked the 3 archer what they had aimed for. The first archer said they aimed at the fish, the second said they aimed for the middle of the fish, the final archer when asked what they aimed for said they had aimed for the fish’s eye.

Well, you can guess who won.

The moral of the story being you only get as accurate as you try to be.

Reminds me of another sayings you hear from time to time.

“That was a lucky shot.”

“Yes it seems the more I practise the luckier I get with my shots.”

As always thanks for reading.

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 🙂

Feb 18 2013

Shoot report – Paget de Vesey 2013

As promised here is the write up from the Paget shoot which took place on Sunday 17th. This was the first competitive shoot of the 2013 season for us and before I start I will admit to having a soft spot for Paget de Vasey shoots.

Paget was the first NFAS shoot we ever did and have made sure we have booked on their shoot ever since. It was also going to be the first shoot that Sharon would be competing at following recovering from her injury.

Paget 2013 - start of the day

Sunny start of the day

Unlike in previous years, where the shoot has been cold and damp, last year even having a dusting of snow, we enjoyed a sunny Sunday. The only problem was having the sun in your eyes for a few shots 😉

The Paget club only hold one shoot a year and they use an outdoor activity centre when they do. This means the club members have to set everything up the day before and have everything cleared out by the end of Sunday. An advantage to this site is the catering is superb, with 2 food stop huts with an excellent selection of cakes for those with a sweet tooth.

On the day we were very fortunate to have a had a great group too shoot with Trev, Emma, Robin (also from SVYF who we were taking round for his first ever NFAS shoot), Sharon and myself, with a mix of styles too with longbow, hunting tackle, barebow and compound. I was shooting Hunting Tackle (recurve bow without sights and wooden arrows) as I’d not had any practice with my flatbow.

From left to rightEmma, Chris, Sharon and Trev

From left to right
Emma, Robin, Sharon and Trev

The course was made up of 36 targets, being a mix of 3D and paper faces about 50/50 I’d say with some less familiar faces too. The centres grounds are flat, with the woods being mainly deciduous woodland.

The shoot started at 10 am the day flowed well with only a short stop for lunch and no hold ups. We started on target 15.

Target 16

Target 16 – 3D coyote

Some of the shots were very nicely set like this one below of a 3D boar in a hole by an uprooted tree.

Paget Shoot - 3D boar in hollow

Paget Shoot – 3D boar in hollow

There were a few paper faces targets that were stretched for the distance which was a shame. Often course layers will put a paper face out and increase the recommend distance to make it a harder shot when it truth it can be done with careful positioning or use of ground. Sorry winge over.

In fairness there were also some very nicely set paper faces. This crocodile was a great example, can you spot the interesting feature? (No, Trev hasn’t shot himself in the head, its just the angle of the photo and how he is holding the arrow)

Paper Crocodile shot

Paper Crocodile shot (No Trev hasn’t shot himself in the head)

This target was  made more interesting as the target boss was slightly slanted forward.

target 14 - last of day

Target 14 – last of day – 3D bobcat

As readers of this blog will know I was a little anxious about this shoot. It would be the first Sharon had competed at following the recovery from injury. Saturday she had managed to shoot round the wood in full (40 targets) for the first time with her own bow for nearly 4 months.

Sharon (holding my bow)

Sharon (holding my bow)

I needn’t have worried as she did really well and enjoyed the day. Though she will admit she was not up to her usual scoring level, she managed to shoot the entire course and it wasn’t until the latter part of the day that she began to feel tired and scores dropped off. Even then she scored 546 points  (an average of just over 15 points a target) which was enough to secure first place in ladies Barebow. Well done.

Robin also did really well and seemed to enjoy himself and already booked on another shoot in  a couple of weeks.

I came in with 596 points, no blanks and secured second place in gents Hunting Tackle, 8 points off first. Not bad considering I’ve only shot the bow a couple of times in the last few months.

Overall I’d say it was a great day, really good to catch up with so many familiar faces who we hadn’t seen for so long. Here is hoping for a good 2013 season.

Thanks for reading.