Tag Archives: flatbow

Episode 145 - shoot report - Black Arrow - March 2026 graphic
Apr 11 2026

Episode 145 – shoot report – Black Arrow – March 2026

Long time followers will know that I have a soft spot for Black Arrow Field Archers Club or BAFAC. It was the first field archery club we joined and we learnt so much there from the great coaches and people.

First off though I’d like to say how good it was to catch up with Clwyd_Archer Nathan and chat. Add to that the good company we had in our shooting group with Joy joining us again, seems to be the norm for Black arrow shoots. She must be a gluten for punishment or just enjoy my dry sense of humour.

Before I dive into the write up here are the links to the episode for Amazon music and Spotify

Pre shoot preparation

I was not feeling confident physically or mentally for the shoot. I’d been playing around with Barebow for the previous few weeks and then remembered I’d booked in hunting tackle so it was a sudden rush to try and find some suitable wooden arrows. I found some that were working okay but I wasn’t feeling the confidence even after a Saturday at the woods.

In the end I decided to swap to my old Blackbrook tdr (take down recurve) even though I had been struggling a bit with the heavier draw weight.

An early Morning

Bafac is just over an hours drive for us so, an early start not helped by the clocks going back on Saturday night so an hour less sleep. We all know I need my beauty sleep. As I said earlier we would be joined by Joy in our shooting group.

The course was all 3D targets and we started on target 16 a shot across a couple of mounds, followed by a cleverly set ram in a hollow that made you wonder if it was a bedded ram. As we started on target 16 we would be having our first stop between 18 and 19. We decided not to bother stopping for food and drink and headed off to target 19 a small dragon 3d, which I do like. I normally don’t like fantasy targets but this one was pretty cool.

Sorry there aren’t many photos as the weather turned in the afternoon making it a wet and cold end of the day.

After about 8 targets things slowed down lots as we caught up with the group in front. From then on until we stopped at target 36 for the next break, we were waiting on nearly every shot as they were delayed by the group in front and we were waiting for them. I think there was a bottle neck somewhere in a couple of groups in front but not sure.

The afternoon was tiring as I think we were all getting cold and a bit tired by that point, possibly due to the loss of an hour sleep. The hot chilli at lunch break was really needed, the perfect mix of slightly spicy and very warming. By the time we got to have food we’d shot over 21 targets and needed food and to warm up

There was a nice new 3d target I hadn’t seen previously, a large male bedded lion, shot through gaps in foliage that made the distance hard to read for many.

There were a couple of clever shots where I misjudged myself and kicked self as I went over the top, I think that is partly due to not having shot the bow for several months or longer with wooden arrows. I prefer using woods with the TDR than carbons.

There was only 1 shot I felt uncomfortable with and that was the 3D owl on target 11. Not because of the angle or distance but because as I drew up to take the shot I saw a group of archers walk behind the target. The target was about 20 yards, with catching bosses another 5 yards behind. The thing was as I drew up I saw movement some distance behind the catching bosses approximately 20 yards but it caught my eye due to lack of foulage on the trees, and the first archer wearing bright red. There followed 2 other groups and martials so we stopped shooting for a while to ensure it was clear. I think the shot was safe but could have been improved with some form of screen such a net or taller boss to block the view.

Looking back at score card I had 1 x 3rd arrow which was a bear down a stream bed,  8 x 2nd arrows the rest 27 were 1st arrows and 4 spots so in hindsight not that bad. Sadly I did break a couple of arrows, both when I hit the target and the arrow flicked off and hit the boss behind, with a horrible snapping sound.

Overall it was a good shoot, just a bit slow at times, which made it feel a long tiring day. I’m glad I carry disposable hand warmers in the car as these were needed after lunch just to warm up you hands. So even with the delays there’s little doubt we will be back.

I managed a second place in Hunting Tackle, with Sharon placing second in ladies flatbow and our son 1st in unlimited. He decided to shoot off the yellow pegs rather than the orange for nearly ever target as he moves up after his 9th birthday.

Thanks for reading and support.

Mar 12 2026

Distance judgement and using a rangefinder in archery

By far one of the most common questions I’m asked by new and sometimes experienced archers is concerning distance judgement and how to improve accuracy at varying distances in their shooting. Many will start shooting at a target of 15 to 20 yards and when presented with longer shots struggle. Over the years I’ve found many experienced archers all have a distance they struggle to shoot accurately.

How far is this shot?

As an introduction to the concept of distances and my use of rangefinder as a supportive tool I’d like you to watch the following video, showing 2 different distances to the same 3D target. One is from the Red peg (where an adult shoots their first arrow and normally furthest distance from the target). The other is from the Blue peg, the peg from which an adult would shoot their third arrow (last arrow) and is normally the closest peg to the target. In the video you will see a couple of other coloured pegs (yellow and orange) these are junior pegs.

Can you estimate how far these shots are? I know it’s harder to do from a video than in real life, but take a guess.

How did you get on? Did you manage to judge the distances?

Speaking to other archers I know several instinctive shooters, who past a certain distance, swap to some form of gapping as they don’t feel comfortable with their distance judgement past 40 yards.

To clarify before I go any further. I shoot the vast majority of my time under the NFAS organisation. Unlike other societies NFAS is entirely unmarked distances which means not only do you have to have good form and tuned equipment, but you also have to have an ability to read the ground, in order to judge the distance to your target.

When competing you can’t use a range finder of any description, as everything is shot on unmarked distances. Though you can use binoculars if you wish so long as there is no range finding facility inbuilt obviously.

This means if you want to score well, you need not only be able to shoot well, but also have a method to judge distances. Whether, consciously via gapping or subconsciously via instinctive / intuitive 

In this article I am not going to be covering gap shooting techniques or instinctive shooting (you can check out some of the material I’ve produced on this another time)

In this I’m going to talk about the use of a rangefinder as a tool for both course laying and improving your ability to judge distances. Even though I am an instinctive shooter I frequently use a rangefinder to develop my distance judgement.

You don’t need to be at an archery club to develop this skill in fact you probably do this every day when driving or cycling, as you are having to judge the distance to the vehicle in front of you to ensure you have time to react, brake, overtake etc.

Here is one useful technique to try out. It requires you to carry your rangefinder with you when out walking your dog or on the way to work. You can pick a tree or lamppost in the distance, making a mental note as to how far you think it is and then check the actual distance using your rangefinder. You will be surprised how quickly you will begin to be more and more accurate in your estimations.

An alternative to this technique is to pick a point in the distance but rather than try to estimate the distance, you immediately range it. You then know the distance and try to work out why it is that distance. The advantage with this method is your brain will know what it is straight away so you aren’t trying to correct a misread distance.

How rangefinders help coaching archers

For years I have carried a rangefinder when coaching. As an instinctive shooter I find it hard to consciously judge distances or rather put a number to that distance, e.g. 23 yards. I tend to think its between 23 to 25 yards. So, I carry the rangefinder as a useful tool for more precision.

If I can give a student a definitive distance, they can either select their sight pin or identify their gap distance.

Course laying use.

When I go about setting a course it’s usually with a couple of club members. One of us will spot a shot line and another will move to a potential target location. I can then take a range measurement to that location.

You may wonder why I bother doing this, so allow me to explain

  1. It means we can log the distances for each shot on the course to check the balance of short, medium or long shots.
  2. It means we have an accurate record of the distance as a shot may look closer or further than it actually is thanks to the use of dead ground or vegetation.
  3. If anyone at our shoot queries or challenges distances we can provide a definitive and accurate response.

I’m sure there are other course layers who do this. I know some don’t and prefer to rely on their own judgement. I prefer to use the rangefinder to make sure the distance is accurate and I have a record of it.

How can you develop distance judgement?

Technique 1 – half, then double

One technique I explain in the video is to pick what you think is a  mid-point to the target. How far is that? Lets same 10 yards. Then double that distance estimation, so in this case 20 yards. Take another look at the target. Does 20 yards sound right? Do you think it is further or closer?

If you have a rangefinder you can then range it and see how close you are.

The downside I have found with this technique is if you misjudge the initial mid point by a couple of yards,  then when you double the distance you double the mistake.

Technique 2 – 10/20/30

A second technique is when presented with a target, you first judge  what you feel is 10 yards to the target, then judge what another 10 yards towards the target would be, taking you to 20 yards in total. You then have to decided if you have reached your target, gone past the target or is it further? If further then ask yourself is it another 10 yards or less?

This technique can work pretty well on most targets, but can fall down if judging across large open ground or water.

The thing to remember is neither technique works 100% unless you practice it.

Do you use a rangefinder? If so let me know your thoughts. If you are interested in learning more about the rangefinder I use you can check out my review.

As always thanks for reading, supporting and following me. Take care and remember to enjoy your archery.

Feb 25 2026

Episode 141 – Equipment review – NFAS target faces

I’ve recorded this episode of the podcast as a video on my thoughts on the National Field Archery Society championship faces (NFAS). It seemed more logical to record a video when talking about target faces than just having it as an audio podcast.

For those that don’t know NFAS produce a selection of target faces specifically designed for the big game round used at clubs across the country and at the National Championships in September.

It is available on Spotify, Amazon, Music and YouTube, the latter being shown below.

In the video I cover the positive and negative points of the targets faces, along with my thoughts specifically on the mess version we use at our club. We have been using these styles of faces for a couple of years and in our experience they work pretty well, especially in wet conditions but there are a couple of negative areas where they could be improved.
There is one downside you need to consider and that being, the faces are printed on a white mech fabric and can suffer from being shot out, with the threads breaking. I show a couple of examples in the video.

There are currently 80 target faces, 20 per group, which means you could set 2 full 40 target courses and not repeat a face. We’ve used quite a few of the Group 1 target faces on our open shoots and they have been very well received. I especially like the Tiger and Golden Eagle faces, though the African lion I struggle will as it melts into the background.

You can order these directly from the NFAS website, where in the downloads section you will find the order form. https://nfas.net/downloads

Let me know what you think of the faces. Does your club use them?

Overall I think the quality of the images is great, with it being nice to see some NFAS specific faces. There has obviously been a lot of work involved in putting these together.

The mess works well for us at the club as it out last the equivalent paper face. Like all target faces they will get shot out over time, especially if you have a number of good archers nailing the centre time and time again.

Personally I would like to the scoring lines to be marked in a darker colour, so they are more easily seen as the light grey doesn’t work well on many of the faces.

In the video I mentioned a top tip I recorded in a YouTube short a while back, when it comes to securing the mess faces to target bosses.

If you have any questions or queries you can drop me an email on or a message via the website contact me page. 

If you have time please check out my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@offthearrowshelf) . Hopefully you will enjoy the content, and if you do, please hit the Like button and consider subscribing to the channel.

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