Tag Archives: BAFAC

Jun 11 2026

Episode 149 – Shoot Report – Black Arrow Field Archers

Regular listeners and readers of this site will know I have a soft spot for Black Arrow Field Archers club (BAFAC). I do my best to attend as many of their shoots as possible in the year. It is a club I used to belong too for several years and only left due to moving house and was where I started my field archery shooting and coaching. Feel free to look back and read my last shoot report from there.

Links to the episode can be found below for Spotify and Amazon music

100 or so, archers would join us on the day to shoot BAFAC grounds and thankfully the wet weather promised earlier in the week never materialised, making for a cloudy but pleasant day. It was really good to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in ages, though it did feel a lot quieter than previous shoots. Especially Lynne

The course consisted of 36 3D targets arranged in 2 loops round the wood, with us starting on target 6, which was a 3d otter target.

The day started well with me shooting ok, not scoring the kill shots but hitting with first arrows. Sadly this would not continue as one one shot a few things triggered my down fall and I blanked what should have been an easy 16. I managed to get my head back in for the next but after the break I couldn’t get things to come together.

Speaking of break, I need to thank the catering team for the lovely chilli and baked potato I had for lunch. As always they put a lot of effort into the food and I think they probably had quite a lot left over due to the no shows on the day.

Now I know some of the people reading this will have seen the shoot results on NFAS page or on my Instagram feed and will know that I won my class, in fact all 3 of us would walk away with 1st (Sharon in ladies AFB and our son in U12 Unlimited). Whilst I won I feel it was a bit of a hollow victory as in myself I didn’t feel I shot well.

I had gone with my Hunting tackle rig and despite my best efforts, I would loose or break a few arrows. This time I would lose one, when it clipped the horns of the Wildcrete feral goat and skip off skyward into the depth of the woods, never to be seen again. Two others broke in tree roots, when I misjudged the distance and they slide under the 3D target. This seems to happen at BAFAC shoots as I often seem to break them there. Sharon broke one in one of their new 3D Chameleon target, when she hit a metal support tube.

Chameleon

The course was very similar to the last shoot and I think that got into my head a bit too as I thought I should be able to hit things as I did it before, so I was getting a bit frustrated when I wasn’t , especially in the afternoon, where my shooting was worse. It’s left me to do some serious thinking of what to do next.

Overall it was a good shoot, flowing well and with no significant hold ups throughout the day.

With fewer archers than normal we actually were all packed up and leaving the site by 4.30 and we were one of the last to leave. This was partly due to catching up and chatting to people we’d not seen for ages

Other topics mentioned

The Push

I did mention an episode of The Push, episode 426 with Ian Edwards that I am listening and relistening to and I’ve included a link to it below

Briar Rose Open shoot

We still have places for the Briar Rose open shoot is on the 19th of July and details can be found on the clubs website https://briarrosefieldarchers.wordpress.com/ It is open to all bow classes and members of the National Field Archery society.

NFAS coaches

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Most of all remember to enjoy your shooting and as always thanks for listening, watching and supporting.

May 4 2025

Shoot Report – Black Arrow Field Archers

Firstly I have a huge apology to make to all my followers and to Black Arrow club. I recorded the podcast shoot report but I didn’t get chance to create a blog post for the episode, to include all the photos I took at the shoot.

Sorry all, my bad.

Below is a gallery of the photos from the event which was the 20th anniversary of the clubs founding. With 38 3D targets, yes 38 as they added a few in due to the numbers of attendees it was a very well added event and raise several hundred pounds for Prostate Cancer charity.

I’ve had a few questions about where people can hear the podcasts and I normally post a link to the Spotify media site, but discovered some readers don’t use Spotify. The podcast is also available on my Amazon channel and a specific link to episode 116

Keep your eyes and ears out for the new episode which will be another shoot report, this time for Duvelle shoot at the end of April

Sharon shooting off the tower
Jun 21 2017

Shoot report – Black Arrow – June 2017

Black Arrow

Black Arrow – archers gathering

I have to say it was a little strange going to the Black Arrow shoot as a competitor, having been a member for several years. The club has moved from the wooded hillside near Coxbench in Derbyshire where I learnt to shoot to now being located near Lout. Even though it is a different location there were some similarities, including the old trap covered shelter. This new site being a stones’ throw or should that be an arrow flight, from Harlequin archers, Long Eaton, and the new Merlin archery wood.  Seems the area is fast becoming a nexus or archery clubs in the midlands.

There was a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere at the shoot with over 80 archers or so attending, though I think they had quite a few no shows. Fortunately the strong winds forecast didn’t arrive until late in the day and even then it wasn’t too much of a problem as its quite a dense woodland.

Our first target a hessian owl

Our first target a hessian owl

The 40 target course would be a mix of 3D, 2D, paper faces and some very well painted hessian faces ranging from badgers to bears. The only downside being not always seeing the detail of these targets until you are up close, so you are having to guess where the scoring zones were. But they did look good.

The club has invested in some of the 2D targets similar to those owned by the Harlequin club. One of these being a 2D lion which I hadn’t seen before and was a lot smaller than expected, might explain why it was so hard to hit and see from the white peg thanks to the fast growing bracken. Glad I managed to hit it from the red peg, one of my few good shots of the day.

The not so large 2D lion

The not so large 2D lion

They do also have some homemade 3D targets, including a large bear, complete with a salmon which was the kill zone and a coloured peacock. The only problem being the latter target was still wet though, so I now have a blue and white right boot.

3D peacock - should have come with a warnings as paint was still wet

3D peacock – should have come with a warnings as paint was still wet

As for other shots there were a few framed shots which I quite liked, though I think a few of the peg positions were a bit tight for younger archers and too close to trees or branches that you could have caught a limb on.

Sharon shooting off the tower

Sharon shooting off the tower

Our group for the day would be Sharon, myself, D’No aka Dean shooting bow hunter and David shooting AFB both from Hanson. The club catering was great as they had two food stops, which enabled them to run a shoot through, both having a wide selection of cakes to keep archers going along with hot drinks.

Paper face red squirrel

Paper face red squirrel

It’s obvious they are putting a lot of effort into the courses, including building a tower enabling them to set a more technical elevated shot involving height difference. This is something they struggle with being located in an otherwise flat woodland.

A slightly different angle showing Sharon shooting from the tower

A slightly different angle showing Sharon shooting from the tower

They had one interesting shot through a barrel and another of a paper face duck over a small pond and used dead ground well. Another nice feature was the way they had covered all their target bosses with camouflage tarpaulin making them less obvious.

Marshals were all friendly and proved good at reacting to problems when reported, which is always good to see. Though I think they struggled with the speed of growth of the bracken in some areas as a few shots were very hard to see despite having been trimmed the day before.

In all it was a good day seeing friends and catching up with an old house mate Stuart, from university days. On a personal note I think I would have preferred to see some the well painted hessian targets on the closer shots, as I felt some of the small paper faces (Jay, duck etc.) felt a bit stretched. Still Sharon shot well, winning ladies AFB and I managed a second place.

It was good to see the club appearing to be thriving and running shoots at their new grounds, I hope this continues in the future.

Thanks for reading