Jul 23 2015

Shoot report – Liberty archers – July 2015

Liberty 2015

Liberty shoots have a reputation for being a fun shoot to attend as the club always put a lot of effort into making sure it’s fun. This shoot was their annual two day event with a party bbq on the Saturday night. We had decided to camp again this year with a few of the SVYF members and booked the Friday and Monday off work. So early Friday morning we packed the car for the three hour drive to Liberty arriving just before 11 am so plenty of time to pitch the tent and settle in.

Liberty Archers campsite

The camp site was already very busy with caravans and tents popping up along the access road, with some having arrived the previous day.

Liberty SVYF camp chats

Friday night meal was the traditional fish and chips from the local chip shop washed down with a couple of bottles of cider whilst sat chatting.
You can read a shoot report from last year’s event here.

One really nice tradition that Liberty Archers do is when a member leaves (they have several members that are associated with the armed forces and are transferred to other bases or countries) the archer shoots an arrow into the leavers tree.

The leavers Tree

Saturday night party
This years theme was a Night at the movies which resulted in some fantastic costumes on show for the Saturday night party. Including a full Sister Act quior, Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Beetlejuice and Marilyn Monroe not to forget the jedi knights, Snow White and Mr and Mrs Shrek wondering round. Sharon was as always magnificent going to town on a Maleficent costume.
Sharon, Jane and Jill were sponsored to shoot the Sunday course in full fancy dress costumes so we had Marilyn Monroe Beetlejuice and Maleficent wondering round the woods.

The charity team (from left to right Jane, Jill and Sharon)

Felt sorry for any cars driving past the site as they caught glimpses of these characters. At least one motorcycle pillion took a double look. The charity to benefit is the British heart foundation and to dare over £135 has been raised. A just giving page has been set up too here is the link.

The course
All 42 targets on the courses had a film theme from Star Wars to Citizen Kane with some requiring audience participation such as the Monty Python shot at a vampire rabbit where your fellow archers were to use coconut cups to make the sound of horse hooves as you were shooting.

As course sites go Liberty is very flat and covered in open woodland of silver birch and oaks. Thankfully this year the weather wasn’t as hot as last year which made it a more cumfortable couple day in woods.

Tegan and Sam

Shooting group on both days would include Sharon and myself along with fellow Svyf members Sam and Tegan. On Saturday we were joined by Simon but he didn’t shoot Sunday.

I didn’t shoot well on Saturday and it was obvious in my score of 600 points fare lower than I wanted and in the number of second arrows I took. I seemed to be going over the top of everything.

Sharon shooting a bedded deer

One thing with Liberty is the ground swallows arrows as it’s quite sandy and grassy so we spent a lot of time searching for arrows. There is still one of mine somewhere out there.

Sams luckiest shot of weekend

Robo Deer made an appearance though with a new paint job.

Robo Deer with paint job on Sunday

The course is a full 42 targets with 3d targets of all shapes and sizes from mosquitos made up to be giant butterflies to a Magnificent Seven shot which was a herd of deer 3ds in the field. This changed to the seven samurai on the Sunday.

SVYF on the next peg

One target that was really tough for lighter poundage bows was based on the psycho movie, where you had to shoot through a taught shower curtain to hit a 3D bear. The curtain caused the lighter bows to either fail to penetrate the plastic sheet or deflect when their fletching made contact.
I wasn’t looking forward to Sunday following my awful shooting on Saturday.It wasn’t helped by my sinuses playing up, thankfully Sue had some nasal spray that helped clear my head.Matters didn’t improve when on my first target I sailed over the top with first arrow only to have second shatter into multiple pieces when it clipped a tree.

Another Liberty shot between trees

For some reason my head slowly started to work as the day progressed but any chance on placing was long gone due to poor shooting on Saturday but at least I wasn’t feeling a complete failure.

Sam shooting the singing in the rain themed target

Sharon shooting on Sunday in costume

There were a couple of shots on Sunday that I thought could have been improved with better peg location as shorter archers found them near impossible to see due to undergrowth but in all it was a good course.

Hard shot through the trees

Sharon proving she can shoot in costume

Sharon came away with first in ladies hunting tackle so she now has an Oscar to fit in the trophy cabinet.

Thanks for reading.

May 13 2015

Shoot report – Long Eaton Field Archers – May 2015

Long Eaton 2015

The standard joke about the British sense of humour is we always talk about the weather. In many ways this is true and I think the reason for this is it’s so changeable. Weather forecasts at the start of the week had promised heavy rain over the bank holiday Sunday and even up to Friday and Saturday it was forecasting rain. In reality we had a beautiful sunny spring day making me wish I had chosen lighter, cooler apparel but it make make for lovely shooting weather. Having said this the drive up the motorway was unpleasant with lots of standing water and some chaotic drivers pushing their luck and speed limits. Anyway on to the shoot report.
We hadn’t been to Long Eaton Field Archers (LEFA) for a year and were looking forward to catching up with some old faces. It was great to see David chair of LEFA , Adrian from black arrow and others just a shame we did get to chat longer. Was also good to catch up with JT and the media legend that is Jim Grizzly Kent. Here are some links to previous LEFA shoot reports May 2014, 2013
Due to the forecasts Long Eaton had quite a few no shows and this delayed the start of the event by a few minutes along with the extensive pre shoot briefing and peg changes due to the no shows. As it was there were over 130 archers present.
Like many clubs LEFA have seen part of their woodland felled and this has changed the look and feel of the grounds dramatically which I think has improved it. The new layout enables fresh shots and new possibilities. The only thing I would say is they need to be aware of tree canopy as on a couple of shots the trees made it difficult for low poundage bows but this is easily resolved with a little pruning or change of peg position. Something I am sure they will sort for next time.
The fine weather did mean I was able to take a few photos.

Cliff Shooting

Our shooting group would be Cliff and Nadeem shooting longbow and hunting tackle respectively.
It was to be a 36 target course of 3d targets of all shapes and sizes from bison to small pheasants.
Cliff nicknamed the shoot the Noahs ark shoot due to the number of targets where you had to nominate which 3d target to go for. This was an interesting dynamic as it meant you have to consider which is easier or more suitable for you to shoot.

3D target behind tree stump

Talking of the 3d Bison it was set well in the open at about 65 yards.

Bison 3D target

They had two predator and prey shots and a moving target. Personally I think one predator prey shot is enough and if you do put it in then have second arrow scoring for prey so a maximum of 14 if you hit the prey. Otherwise it inflates the scores if you get two good kills as it is a possible 48 points on one target peg.
The shoot was a bit slow at times with us catching up the group in front but I think this was inevitable as it was a challenging course and I went to second and third arrows more than a few times as did others. I think I had the luckiest shot of the group on a 3D with my arrow some how just holding in the target.

Lucky shot

LEFA changed the format from past shoots, to a shoot through rather than lunch break which worked much better as it allowed us to time our breaks so groups in front could have more time.
Also it was nice to sit and chill out in the sun. Catering was as good as remembered with a selection of cakes to make Mr Kipping happy and hot food in form of baked potatoes, burgers etc.
I think overall the course layers did a good job with well placed targets and good use of ground.
The standing bear which you shot from a hollow worked well.

3D standing Bear

There was a lovely set 3d stag in the trees which looked so natural.

3D stag

Really special thanks to Nadeem and Cliff who were really supportive and fabulous company to shoot round with. Some readers may know I am struggling to get my head in to shooting the flatbow at present and at one stage nearly stopped on Sunday but their support and friendly banter got me sorted. Thank guys and belated happy birthday Nadeem.

Full results for the shoot are available on LEFA website and here’s a link if you are interested.
Sharon came away with first in ladies hunting tackle and despite starting badly I managed to scrape away fourth place in afb I think through luck rather than skill. Congratulations to Nadeem on his second place too obviously the force is strong in you.
Thanks for reading.

Feb 16 2015

Taking the wood and life for granted, don’t do it.

Archers walking in the woods

This last weekend Sharon and I had the pleasure of taking some visitors around the Severn Valley wood. None of them had shot there before so it would be a new experience for them (cue manic laughter, maybe I should have warned them about the mud).
I think it is fair to say a good time was had by all. There were no score cards and instead you had five instinctive archers wondering round the wood. Chatting about bows, life and stuff, while enjoying the day and hitting a few targets along the way.

In many ways I think Sharon and I had become complacent and used to shooting in the woods and forgotten how fortunate we are to have such facilities and be in reasonable health to get round.
It was so relaxing to shoot round with JT, Jim and Paddy and see the wood from their fresh eyes. Thanks to Paddy for the photos, think you did really well in capturing the atmosphere of the day. It was great to see all the regulars chatting to guests about the merits of this bow over another. Then again when you have the archery media icon that is Jim Grizzly Kent there’s bound to be a few conversations about archery books and bows.

Bows, bows and more bows

On a slightly more serious note though, its good to remember that we can get caught up in life and can easily transfer this to our hobby. The result is we start stressing about what we should be able to hit or whether the bows performing correctly and all this can develop into you not enjoying the hobby or in worse cases to target panic. I know I’m guilty of this as I’ve been concentrating on re-learning the AFB and been stressing about it.

Rob shooting on the bridge

This weekend showed that throwing away the scores and shooting instinctively is so relaxing. makes you wish you could do it every day.
Thanks for the company guys, but I have one question though, who bought lunch afterwards?
As always thanks for reading.

My Archery Experiences

Field archery experiences, shoot reports, equipment & book reviews, tips and advice from a UK archer and coach.

Tag Archives: arrow

Shoot report – Long Eaton Field Archers – May 2015

Taking the wood and life for granted, don’t do it.

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