Tag Archives: “field archery”

Mar 17 2016

Shoot report – Centaura archers – March 2016

Centaura archers

Centaura archers

Many years ago I was watching a World War two documentary on the London blitz. The narrator an American journalist  made reference to a saying I still remember to this day.
“The sign of a great fighter in the ring is if they can get up from the floor after being knocked down.”
It was in the context of how Londoners would pick themselves up every morning following the German bombing raids and carry on with life.
Three weeks prior to their shoot the Centaura club had been a victim of a break in, resulting in a theft of some of their 3d targets, power generator and other items needed to run a shoot. A damaging blow for any club but when you are due to host a shoot for over 100 archers a scant few weeks later it could be devastating.
Despite this I am delighted to say the club and it’s members proved their commitment to archery by picking themselves up and hosting a good friendly shoot with some challenging shots and unique target faces.
The archery gods must have been looking after them as even the weather seemed to be kind on the day, bestowing a bright sunny early spring day, if at times slightly chilly in the morning. If you are interested in reading a past shoot report you can find one here.
Our shooting companions for the day would be Gayle and Amy both from Harlequin club ,  joining Sharon and I wondering round the woods admiring the banks of snowdrops and primroses that were in full bloom.
Bank of snowdrops

Bank of snowdrops

The polo shot returned this time with a skinny meerkat face one of many faces a club member had sourced.

The polo shot

The polo shot

Sadly I did not make the most of the day and would like to thank Jim Pierce for his assistance at the lunchtime break for taking the time to look at my shoulder. I had injured it on Saturday when lifting a boss resulting in a sharp pain each time I drew up. Not great for a draw dynamic really. Hopefully it will settle down over the next week. While I remember congratulations Jim on your first place.
Back to the shoot report.

Shot from the hill top

Shot from the hill top

Yes there were many familiar targets but they all seemed to work and the day flowed well with only a couple of hold ups on the more challenging shots.

Valley shot - sadly cost me an arrow

Valley shot – sadly cost me an arrow

On the subject of targets it is noting that there were some excellent custom target faces. I loved the owl looking out from behind the tree and the meerkats,  though I think the fox must have been on a diet.
In short well done to Centaura for showing what is possible despite the criminal element in our society.

Luckiest shot of the day

My luckiest shot of the day

On a lighter note to end this report can I say how great it was to have the opportunity to meet in person and talk with a reader of this blog. I’m really glad you like the site and enjoy the shoot reports and thanks for taking the time to chat.

Sharon shooting her BlackBrook American Flatbow

Sharon shooting her BlackBrook American Flatbow

Special congrats to Sharon who showed she is becoming more used to shooting her afb by out shooting all wooden arrow archers both male and female on the day.
Thanks for reading.

Feb 23 2016

Shoot report – Paget de Vasey – February 2016

As I’ve said before I always see Paget de Vasey shoot as the start of the NFAS season. It was the NFAS first shoot I ever attended so I make an effort to get there when I can. Fortunately there was no snow or ice this year and the rain mostly stayed away too.
Unlike previous years though this February shoot was smaller, as they were only using the smaller wood which meant it would be a twice round 18. To keep the interest and to make the two halves different the first would be entirely 3d targets and the second would be entirely paper.
Sharon looking amused

Sharon looking amused

You can read my previous shoot report here. Anyway on to the shoot report.
There would be four in our group so joining us would be Andy shooting in gents hunting tackle  and Viv in ladies longbow.
Viv at the first target of the day at Paget

Viv at the first target of the day at Paget

Overall the shoot ran smoothly with the only delay being at lunch break which was expected as people took the time to warm up and have some hot food.
Andy shooting a 3D at Paget

Andy shooting a 3D at Paget

Unlike others I seemed to cope with the paper faces better with very little difference in scoring on the two halves, probably because I shot the 3d targets so poorly. The paper faces were a challenge especially the timber wolf. One nice thing they did was try to match the paper faces with the 3d targets where they could.
Viv shooting the timber wolf

Viv shooting the timber wolf

I think a couple of nets would have been good on a few of the targets not from a safety perspective but for screening. Since they were using the small wood it was inevitable you would see other archers wondering round when you were on the peg .
Andy shooting a 3D at Paget

Andy shooting a 3D at Paget

I still feel that Paget de Vasey is a good shoot for a newbie as it’s friendly, well organised and marshaled.
Sharon shot well especially it was only her second offical time out with her new Blackbrook American Flatbow winning the ladies class.
The day didn’t go well for all though as a friend of ours Nadeem had his Border recurve break at full draw. Fortunately no one was badly hurt and here’s hoping he manages to get it sorted.
So the archery year has started with a friendly and relaxed shoot. They have another in August where they hope to use both woods making a 36 or maybe 40 target course. We’ve already booked our place, who knows maybe we will have warm dry weather.
Thanks for reading.
Feb 19 2016

lights, camera, action, I mean Archery

And the Oscar goes too…
Some people love being in front of the camera, others prefer to do the filming. The question is can video resources help you if you are an instinctive archer?A few weeks ago I posted an article on how we’ve been using a tablet computer mounted on a tripod to record archers at a club coaching session. So How does this help? This aids the archer as they can be shown exactly what they do when drawing up or at point of release. How their hand moves or whether they drop their bow arm. Often they think they are anchoring correctly to the face when in reality they aren’t because it all happens so fast , too fast for some to process. Recording them has huge benefits to the archer’s understanding of what they are actually doing as opposed to what they think they are doing.
Talking to fellow club members on Sunday they showed me footage shot on their iPhone, playing it back in slow motion to watch the arrow flight. With the growth of YouTube and ease by which people can make and edit their own recording I believe there are more budding Spielbergs are out there.

What we can learn from other sports

It is now common for touchline judges and sport referees to make lots of use of instant replays in games, multiple camera angles along with slow motion footage to aid their decisions. Managers and coaches use it for  post match analysis of players performance, game plans etc. So can we use it for our sport of archery, or more precisely for those of us who consider ourselves instinctive archers. I believe it can be used.
From my perspective I believe video resources can be immensely useful for many sports, field archery included and they are becoming more common.
One word of note, there are advantages and disadvantages of these helpful guides and video tips. For starters some may not be that helpful, so it is worth checking out multiple sources of information to get a more rounded understanding of the topic. If you are going to review these resources then make sure you watch a few different sites or techniques as each presenter convoys a slightly different perspective when they narrate their story. The important thing to remember is that they aren’t always right in what they say.
Some can come across as a marketing or sales pitch for the latest products or next development in the technology. Whilst others take a balanced view giving the positive and negative perspective which is important.Generally I’ve found these resources can be broken down in to three types
  • Instructional recordings  where a skill is demonstrated.
  • Video reviews of equipment, competitions or locations.
  • Personal achievement report.

Instructional –  these vary in length from a few minutes to longer durations. Short duration clips of a few minutes I think can be ideal for helping archers out on different topics from how to serve strings, to fletch arrows, to how to aim and shoot instinctively. The short duration is an important factor here as long reviews might go into more depth, but they are harder to find time to watch. Wolfie instinctive archery (https://www.youtube.com/user/Wolfiesairbrush) YouTube channel has some great advice for instinctive archery techniques.

Equipment reviews are good to so long as they aren’t marketing based publicity. I’ve come across a few that are more about selling the product than actually reviewing it’s merits and flaws. Jim Grizzly Kent Archery Adventures (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxl7N0J9Rc8kDnjV_BzH-yg) still comes across as a good product review even though they are now Merlin Archery Adventures. I think Jim does a pretty good job of giving a balanced viewpoint of the bows he reviews.

I also quite like the personal achievement videos; when someone has posted their own success story. You often see these pop up on Facebook sites and YouTube. It can take a lot of courage to put yourself out there for all to see and comment on. There are a lot of people who enjoy criticising others or simply being argumentative. 3d archery (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4HdCXofIA4jsWi1q9AdBUA) have some nice event reviews, showing shots from different courses, offering advice and views.

There are loads of different sites on the Internet so I’ve listed a few others sites that are worth a mention too.

Ironmind Hunting (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zPmJfjW2R9r0y2uUzq9aQ) has some good instructional guides.
Jeff Kavanagh (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgGoY0qpH8f11COXWkE8aLQ) is worth checking out for a mix of archery related topics.
Nathan Skyrme channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1kxvgSeCWZXdg4I6_BI5Zg) has also started producing some material and equipment reviews.
If you know of any others that you believe are worth sharing then add a comment here.

Making videos where I’m in front of the camera has never appealed to me. As someone once said “I have the perfect face for radio” , but I can see their merits.
Thanks for reading and don’t worry, I won’t be coming to a YouTube channel near you.