Last weekend we were up in Woodhall Spa for an archery friends birthday. Being a gentleman I refuse to give the ladies age, but will say it was a great evening and thanks for inviting us.
On Sunday we headed to a local club for their trophy shoot
On a non archery note we were incredibly lucky to be in the best spot possible to see the only 2 remaining Lancaster bombers fly past the wood. These beautiful old aircraft cruised over the wood in formation giving a wonderful display to the handful of us that saw it.
Lancaster bomber – sorry not a great photo
Castle’s grounds are flat but as is tradition with the club they make use of some of the old army bunkers to allow you to shoot off the top of them. The course was made up of 40 3d targets of varying distances and quality. It had been a few years since we had made it to Castle, a previous shoot report is here.
Sharon shooting off the rooftop
We would be shooting with Roger and Irene from Kings Lynn club.
Not sure why but I don’t think I gelled with the course. Our first target was billed as a predator prey but in reality it was simply two targets set up with one one set of pegs. I’m glad we shot this early in the day as I know it provided a hold up for others.
First target of day
Think some of the juniors might have struggled with the distance as the red, white and blue pegs were next to one another on several shots, which made them on the longer side.
There were a couple of really nice shots like the grizzly bear though the trees, though there was a stone block behind it.
Grizzly Bear
I think a couple of shots could have been positioned a little further from surrounding trees so that the arrows did not ‘whip round’ against them.
Beaver in the wood
Another nice shot was a black panther through an abandoned and partially collapsed roof.
Black Panther
An interesting shot was the drunken bear, complete with empty cans and traffic cone.
Drunken bear
Sharon came away with a first place but I only managed a 3rd, should have shot better but just couldn’t get my head into the right place or the arrows.
This is Robin A’Dale and he may well be visiting a shoot near you sometime soon. Robin is traveling round the country to different shoots whilst keeping a diary of his activities and travels. He’s now headed North East so keep an eye out and who know you might be taking Robin home and on to a shoot near you.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some coaching with a couple of new archers down at the wood which has been great fun. Been good to get back to doing some coaching.
One of the students was asking about getting a practice boss for their garden and what to get, how much to spend etc. This got me thinking, dangerous I know.
Well, a while back I wrote a piece on setting up a practice boss and the safety considerations. (Here is the link if you are interested.)
This was based on a layered foam boss, but there are bag targets out there and a few months back I picked one up from Merlin archery store. You can see the Archery Adventures video review here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVx16sYH2JE) .
So I thought it a good time to write a review of how we have found it.
So why did I buy one of these?
We were after something we could use not just for the recurves and flat bows but also the compound. Whist at Merlin I got chatting to the guys about target bosses and how our old tuff butt had seen better days and we were looking to replace it. They showed me the then new mybo sureshot target boss range they had started to stock.
The staff demonstrated its stopping power by shooting a compound crossbow at about 5 yards into it. The result was about an inch or two of the bolt sticking out the back of the smallest boss. Not bad and a good demonstration of its stopping power.
First few arrows
Cost wise they aren’t bad. I believe replacement covers can be bought from Merlin.
90 cm are £75 and 70 cm are £49
There are three sizes are available. We have the mid range one. (70cm)
The mid range one isn’t to heavy, manageable by me to move round so can’t be that heavy as I’m not the strongest archer in the world. There are a couple of handles on top to make it easier to move. I’ve used these with some rope to tie ours in place.
The larger one needs a couple of people to move more due to the bulk than weight.
I’ve put ours on top of our current boss so you have a size comparison.
Mybo bag target
Initial tests are positive we’ve been using for a few months now shooting at it a couple of nights a week.
Arrows are easy to draw too.
Weave hasn’t frayed yet and the holes appear to close up quite well but can still be seen after drawing the arrows.
The arrows don’t penetrate too far at least from our recurve bows. Haven’t tried my compound yet as concentrating on practice with recurve for upcoming National champs in September.
Hole after drawing arrow.
I think it works well for a practice boss and has lasted well from repeated shots though I haven’t shot it with anything other than recurves and flatbows. Although I do think you need to occasionally to shake the bag up so that the contents resettle themselves (bit like when you fluff up a pillow)
Whilst I don’t think you could replace foam bosses with these for a shoot. I think they work well for practice at home or for a club indoor range potentially.
Top tip
One tip I would give is to get some heavy duty plastic sheets. I’ve got a load I use in the garden and when I’m not shooting at the boss I cover it to protect it from the worst of the British weather. It also helps prevent birds or other wildlife using it as a scratching or scent post.
I hope you find this useful and if you have one of these or experience of them then let me know. Please remember when setting up a target consider safety above all else.
My Archery Experiences 