Tag Archives: blog

Apr 23 2013

Shoot report – Severn Valley 21st April 2013

Starting Announcements
Its been a while since my last shoot report due to a trapped nerve in my shoulder preventing me from shooting. So this shoot report is from the view of a marshal rather than competitor, but I hope you will still find it interesting.
Each year SVYF runs 2 shoots one in April and the other  in October and last weekend saw us host our first shoot of the year.
Archers arriving

Archers arriving on Sunday

We were lucky with weather as it stayed dry all day and nowhere near as blustery as the previous weekend, which had seen numerous branches down.
Saturday saw us, along with other club members, descend on the wood from before 8 am setting up the 3d targets, clearing paths and ensuring directional signs were up. The club house was tidied and kitchen cleaned from top to bottom in readiness for all the cooking that would take place.
Sadly recent weeks have seen the death of the land owner of our wood and the passing of Pete Bates, a well known character in field archery. Rather than having a minutes silence  it was decided to have 30 seconds silence followed by 30 seconds of applause in respect of their memories and achievements.
The course is split in two halves with separate course layers setting each side (A+B) which makes for a variety of shots and spreads the work load.
3d target

3d target on A Course

The Spring course is made up of 40 targets with a  mix of paper and 3ds. This time round it included a few special shots –  fan shots and negative shots where if your arrow hit the wrong target you lost 10 points.

B course layers

B course layers message to archers

With an average of 4 to a peg it gave us about 160+ archers and 20-30 marshals and cooking staff so the wood was pretty busy.
As a marshal your role is to ensure the shoot is running smoothly.

Long bear shot

Long bear shot on B course

There was  a good mix of traditional archers shooting longbow and American flat bows, along with those shooting compound bows with or without sites. All targets are over unmarked distances so judging the distance is very important and complicated by the use of avenue shots or dead ground.

Shooting group

Shooting group on one of the numerous bridges we have

As a marshal your role is to ensure the shoot is running well. Duties including helping search for lost arrows, replacing paper faces and guiding people out first thing on the walk out.

Another target on B course

Another target on B course – with marshals checking view

A friend who was shooting had a pedometer on and he said at the end of the shoot he’d walked 4 miles round the course. If that’s true I must have walked over 10 as I walked the entire course twice and one loop 2-3 times more helping search for arrows etc. Truth be told I was shattered when we finally got home on Sunday night.  At least we have 6 months before we have to do it all again.

For those interested full shoot results are available off the club website here. The feedback has been very positive from those attending.
As always thanks for reading.

Apr 17 2013

Time to change, I hope

When I first started writing this entry a couple of weeks ago, the view out of the window was showing snow on the hillsides, and British summer time had officially started. This got me to thinking about change over of kit in my quiver and belt pouches.

A while back I wrote an entry  that some of you may have read (Bow, arrows and kitchen sink …..what do you carry with you on a field shoot) about what I carry in general. (This was later published in the NFAS magazine)

In winter months I tend to load up with snack bars, gloves, thermos mug with a hot drink in and disposable hand warmers.

Summer months I tend to replace the flask with a cold drink, the hand warmers are replaced with insect repellent or on very rare occasions suncream (yeah I know, like we need that in Great Britain but you can be surprised some times) and a pack-a-mac on my belt in case of summer showers.

The warm hat is replaced with a canvas hat to keep the sun off my eyes.

First aid kit and spare arrow tube

First aid kit and spare arrows in arrow tube

I always carry a small first aid kit just in case, this being whether I am shooting, marshaling or just coaching.

The other thing I have started to do is not wear my reactive glasses. May sound strange to not wear glasses that go darker in the bright light of summer but I’ve found it sometimes to be a hindrance as they can darken at the wrong moment, they can also make it hard to see targets in shade.

So what do you carry?

Do you have a winter set of gear and a summer set?

Thanks for reading.

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.