Tag Archives: autumn

Oct 31 2013

Shoot report – Artemis October 2013

Artemis header logo

Artemis header logo

This last weekend did not only have British weathermen warning us of an impending great storm which promised to lay waste to huge areas of the UK along with winter clock changing (back an hour) but it was also to be the Artemis shoot. Busy weekend then.

People gathering for start

People gathering for start

Artemis archers only host one nfas shoot a year as they are reliant on the good nature of neighbouring farmer to allow access to their field for their parking. For the last two years we’ve marshalled the event so shooting it would be a new experience. You can read past shoot reports here. 2012 and 2011

Their shooting grounds are on a wooded hillside not far from Belper in Derbyshire. This allows them to put on a mix of up and down hill shots which is not common in many club grounds and a lot of walking.

The course was to be of 36 targets mixed 3d, paper and a few exceptionally well painted hessian faces.this was Split into two large loops of 18 targets each side of the woodland with a food stop between targets 36&1 and 18&19.

The day started in bright sunshine but with a cooling wind reminding you it was autumn with November just round the corner.

As I said earlier over the years I’ve marshalled the artemis shoot twice but never shot the course. Even when i was a member i only managed to shoot part of the course so it would be interesting to see it from other side of the fence so to speak. Or should that be the other end of the bow?

The bad weather that was forecast fortunately stayed away with us having brief heavy showers and strong gusts but not the monsoon predicted. Speaking with the organisers i understand a number of trees had come down in the previous few weeks and organiser stated that if any more came down on the day they would stop the shoot on safety grounds. Fortunately the gusts promised didn’t materialise and we were able to shoot the entire day.

Artemis administration limited the numbers on the pegs to four which made for a quick day which was good considering weather. And change of clocks made sunset that little closer.

There were some long shots and one very interesting one on a boss half way up the wall which you had to shoot at 45 degrees.

Interesting new faces from France (http://normandie-archerie.com/ )which caught a lot of archers out especially the thinking gorilla. Pigmy hippo and small wolf caught me out. As a side note Not sure if I’m a big fan of faces that aren’t life size.

The thinking gorilla

The thinking gorilla

I’d not shot for nearly 4 weeks and it showed in my distance judgement which was out and my fingers were feeling the strain.

One of few decent shots of day

One of few decent shots of day

Came in with 600 not too bad I guess but still not great but that’s what happens when I don’t get to practice.

Sharon did well winning in the ladies barebow class and a clean sweep in gents bare bow as severn Valley got first second and third. Well done guys.

Full results for the shoot are available here.

This will be my last shoot report for a while. I’m not booked on anything for several months and I’m trying to get my head back into archery following various things recently.

As always thanks for taking the time reading this. I hope you found it useful and interesting.

http://normandie-archerie.com/

Sep 9 2013

Shoot report – Doverdale September 2013

 

My grandparents raised me when my mam went out to work. They always said if you can’t say something good don’t say anything.

I don’t entirely believe in that as constructive comments can be very helpful.

So here goes. On Sunday we headed about 15 minutes drive down the road to Doverdale shoot ground, a local club who have seen a number of changes in recent months.

We’d shot there previously and been demoralised by their tendency to stretch distances to shots. Stretching is a term I use when the target face or 3d is set further than the norm i.e. if a target is normally set at say 20 yards it might be a challenge at 22 yards but stretched if at 25 yards or more. (under NFAS rules all targets are shot over unmarked distances)

I know a few members of our club had not booked on the shoot because of past experiences, but we thought we would give them the benefit of the doubt.

Sunday was sunny but had a slight chill in the air, fortunately it stayed dry all day. Some 80 archers attended the event which would see a mix of 3d and paper faces. They have a mix deciduous mature woodland with a few dips and avenues.

So on to the course. Well I would say some targets weren’t stretched they were plain ridiculous.

Can think of two out of 36 that were sensible distance.

To give an example of the type of shot we faced. JVD, a paper target face publisher, produces a pheasant target face you often see on shoots. Normally it is set at 15 -18 yards for the first shooting peg, maybe 20 yards at a push. That day it was set at over 30 yards!!

pheasant

We shot (or attempted to) a paper face mallard that could have been a duckling for the distance.

duck

The shoot was immensely depressing to shoot and I must admit to giving up half way round. The only redeeming feature was the company as all of us were fed up.

I have never walked off a shoot but came close at lunchtime as did a number of others. I think many will vote with their feet next time and simply not book for their next shoot.

The day before we did our club shoot, which was a 36 target 3d course. Sharon scored 536 on Saturday and at Doverdale she scored 412, that was the winning score. I shot 670 on Saturday and 500 at the open shoot. Although we were both placed we were immensely demoralised by the shoot. Heaven knows what others thought.

Thanks for reading.

Oct 10 2012

Shoot Report – March Hare October 2012

March Hare

Misty morning at March Hare

Been a while since I’ve written one of these reports, but then again been a while since I’ve been out shooting. Moving house kind of gets in the way a bit of going to shoots 😦 Well there are now a few less boxes and most things are getting sorted, slowly!! Just need to set up the range in the garden 😉 anyway back to the shoot report.

So this misty Sunday morning we packed the car and headed south to a new ground for us March Hare. The Autumn chill was in the air, with car showing only 3 degrees centigrade, but with no cloud cover it would soon burn off and we would enjoy a sunny early Autumn day. It had been a last minute decision to book on the shoot as we thought we were going to be entertaining house guests that weekend, but things didn’t work out.

March Hares ground is about 35-40 minutes drive from the house and is part of a disused airfield which makes it very flat. The ground cover is made up of a young broadleaf  woodland and mixed scrub. The one down side of the ground is that if you miss a target your arrow tends to travel along the ground a fair way disappearing in the long grass.

The club has great facilities with not only a members hut but full indoor toilets (a luxury compared with many shoots) along with plenty of parking space. I think the ground is shared with a shooting club too which could explain the quality and quantity of facilities.

March Hare club house

March Hare club house

One thing that is strange is the way they run registration. You present your NFAS card and pay, but you aren’t given a score card at that point. When they are doing the shoot brief at teh start of the days shooting, they call the peg and your name, which is when you go up and collect your score card with the other members of your group. Also no double scoring. The downside of this was it made for a late start and in turn a long day. Must say this confused me, (yes I am easily confused these days).

The shoot itself was twice round 20, with a mix of 3D and paper targets with about 60 archers present in a mix of classes including all except crossbow.

March Hare have what appears to be a huge ground and I think they could easily put on a 36 target course and they have the bosses as they are set up for EFAA shoots, but maybe the low numbers explained why it was twice round 20.

We we shooting with Keith and Marion, also from SVYF who were great company. Keith was trying out some new arrows (5 1/4 shields with a helical twisted fetching) appears to straighten faster but lose distance).

Normally a twice round 20 is pretty quick but this was very slow as we caught the group up in front on most targets.

As a shoot I think they could have made it more interesting. Thought some of the targets were stretched for the faces on them. We started on peg 4 which was a long 3D deer, felt like it was over 40-45 yards through trees and Marion lost one arrow on this target, just disappeared into the long grass, not a good start for her. When we shot this second time round I managed to put one of my arrows through a tree 😦 but in fairness I know others enjoyed it.

Managed a 24 on a 3D turkey

Managed a 24 on a 3D turkey

I think the problem I had with this shoot was that everything was flat and many of the shots felt stretched. They might not have been, but a few were, about a quarter of them by my guess. Not helped by the fact we couldn’t always make out scoring areas. I’ve never been a fan of flat ground or long shoots,preferring shots of 15-25 yards and through trees, framed etc. with use of dead ground. Guess this is because I’m used to shorter shots and shooting at a club on a hillside.

(Sorry just realised something. When I say the target is stretched I don’t mean the target face or image is stretched or distorted. I mean the distance to the target from the peg is longer than normally expected. So a target face that would normally be shot at 15-20 yards might be at 25-30 yards.)

I know March Hare is a strong EFAA club and in EFAA you shoot longer distances, so maybe that is just the clubs style. Sorry if this sounds a bit of a moan.

So how did I get on. Well I had a couple of good shots but not many.I didn’t shoot well and came in with only 548. Far too many blanks(5) (the lack of practise is definitely showing so really need to sort the range in the garden). I did come away with a first place though (largely due to very few AFB archers) Sharon got 570 and won again, very proud of her as always.

Would I go back? Maybe simply because it is so close. Also have a better idea of what to expect.

We should be working as marshals next weekend for the club shoot so are hoping for dry weather.

Thanks for reading.