Tag Archives: Hanson

Apr 2 2014

Shoot report – Hanson March 2014

Hanson shooting group Steve, Sharon and Barry

Hanson shooting group Steve, Sharon and Barry

Last Sunday saw the Hanson club outside Derby organise a shoot which we attended.
With the clocks changing this past weekend to BST (British summer time) we decided to not have the even earlier start on Sunday morning and went up Saturday and stayed over in Derby.
The nice thing with staying over in Derby was it gave us the opportunity to call in at one of our old clubs Black Arrow, allowing us to catch up with friends we hadn’t seen for a while and shooting round the course.
Kevin at black arrow

Shooting with Kevin at Black arrow on the Saturday

As always with Hanson the food was great and reasonably priced. We were also very fortunate with the weather, with it being a bright early spring day.
Sharon preparing to shoot

Sharon preparing to shoot

The challenging course was a mix of 3Ds and Paper Faces made up of 38 targets not the normal 36/40.
There were some well set shots including this 3D beaver.
3D beaver set in wood pile.

3D beaver set in wood pile.

My one criticism of the course which I didn’t have chance to mention to the organisers was with their target placement on a few shots. A number of 3d targets had either no boss behind to catch stray arrows or small ones that would not catch many. Maybe I’m sensitive to this as on one target which lacked a boss I snapped an arrow in the tree directly behind the target. There is ample space on there ground to avoid this.
3D bird though not sure what bird?

3D bird though not sure what bird?

I think it would be fare to say I didn’t meet the needs of the course. I came away very disappointed with both my score and performance. Didn’t feel right or comfortable all day. Shoulder and back aching almost from the start, just hoping it’s not my re-occurring shoulder problem.

Thanks for reading.
Jul 4 2013

Shoot report – Hanson June 2013

Hanson at the start of the day

Hanson at the start of the day

Been a while since we have managed to make a Hanson shoot. (There is a past shoot report here) It used to be one of our nearer shoots, but since moving its now just under an hour and a half drive on a good day. This is a shame as Hanson have a good reputation for putting on a good course and excellent catering. They are also a friendly bunch of people too.

I think they have suffered recently with some archers not booking on their shoots due to parking and access issues. In response to this the club had done a lot of work to improve access to the car park. When I say a lot, I do mean a lot. They have laid 100 tonnes of hard core and gravel to make a road from the entrance to the wood to the car park.
Hanson road

Hanson road and entrance to car park

This has greatly improved access. Drivers were able to get in and out without problems.  Well done guys.

The Shoot

As for the shoot itself, it was a 40 target course with a 50/50 split of 3d and paper faces. We (Sharon and I) started on peg 15 with Andrew, Mike and Cassey all from Black Sheep club. I was the only wooded arrow shooter in the group,  the others being all bare bow archers, which made me feel a little outnumbered.
Weather was good, with sunny spells and warm but not too hot, which makes a change as it often rained at Hanson shoots.

Sharon at Hanson

Sharon at Hanson and not in waterproof clothing

The club had done a lot of work on setting up new and interesting shots, through trees and a great one where they have put a paper face spider target and draped false cobwebs round it to make appear in a cave. Wish I had chance to take a picture of it.

Another was a long standing bear, between the trees. This is a photo a friend took and posted on Facebook. This was a real challenging shot that resulted in a few arrows finding their way into the branches.

Hanson 3d Bear

Hanson 3d Bear

Overall it was a really good day, though the afternoon was slow, I think due to the number of archers present (there were 5 to a peg so 200).We kept catching the group up in front not their fault as at the longer shots people were taking 2 or 3 arrows.

The mistake we made was not taking an early lunch as we passed catering, the thing was when we got to catering the first time we had shoot  only 5 targets so weren’t feeling hungry. The problem was we would have to shoot 20 more targets before returning which meant we were hungry, tired and in need of a break.

The important thing was there was still apple pie when we finally got to have lunch at 3:00. Hanson do great food and I always try to get some apple pie.

Overall I think it was a really good shoot, everyone appeared to enjoy themselves despite some of the delays. I can only think of one target that might be thought of as being stretched which was a paper faced Wildebeest.

So how did we do?

Sharon came away with 680 a great score that got her first place. I thought I was shooting okay,  but not great having missed a few first arrows so  was surprised to hear Sharon say she had been chasing my score all day!  I came away with 700 matching my personal best. This won me first place. Maybe  my shoulder is finally settling down.

Post Shoot

The only problem with the day was at some point before I put on bug repellent I was bitten on the back of the hand  by a horsefly. This resulted in an allergic reaction and a very swollen hand, I managed to get my wedding ring off before it got too swollen. Thankfully I’m on the mend now.

horsefly bite

horsefly bite = very swollen hand

Moral of the story is remember to put on insect repellent.

As always, thanks for reading.

Jun 6 2013

Shoot Report – 3D National Championships

Morning Sunrise

Misty sunrise over the fields

The weekend of the 25th-26th of May saw the arrival of the annual National Field Archery Society (NFAS) 3D championships.
This 2 day event would see archers from around the country (just under 600 competitors) travelling to Osmaston just outside of Derby. This was the 4th year the event had been hosted there and possibly the last as the contract with the estate is ending this year. Here is a link to last years report.
3D Badge

3D Badge

I will admit to approaching the weekend with a level of apprehension, the week before I had struggled to shoot round our wood on both days, so wondered how my shoulder would cope with 2 days of no doubt challenging courses. Only time would tell.
We’d chosen to camp this year with a group of fellow archers from SVYF and had taken the Friday off work so we could get up early and set up the tent.
3D Champs, Sharon sheltering from the wind

3D Champs, Sharon sheltering from the wind

As it was pitching the tent was a bit of a challenge in winds, gust up to 50mph and showers but we managed it.
Rainbow over campsite

Rainbow over campsite

Format of the weekend

Each class would shoot a different course over the 2 days, A+B course if shooting wooden arrows X+Y course if shooting metal / carbon arrows. The courses had been set by 4 different clubs Artemis Archers, Lyme Valley, Hanson and Duvelle.
Since I was shooting my recurve in the Hunting Tackle class as my shoulder was still not 100% I would shoot course A on Saturday which had been laid by Duvelle archers and Sunday it would be Lyme valleys course (B course). Sharon would be shooting X&Y course (X course Saturday and Y course on Sunday)
The courses were made up of 40 3D targets of various size and distances and I do mean all shapes and sizes. Over the weekend I shot everything from 3D deers, bears, frogs, raccoons to the occasional dinosaur.

Saturday Morning

Saturday Morning – archers gathering

You register between 8:30-9:30 and go through arrow check, this is where a marshal will check your arrows to ensure they are marked with your name, and shooting order. (this is a requirement for both the rules and insurance)
Announcements started at 10 and we were sent off onto our respective courses on the walk out, which can take up to 15-20 minutes itself before you even get to your course and then have your course briefing and escorted to your starting peg. Roughly by 11am you should have started shooting.

Saturday

Saturday dawned with a clear bright sky, thankfully the wind from Friday had gone too. having made up a few new arrows I thought I’de try them out on the practise targets before they got too busy.
The day didn’t start too well with breaking 2 arrows on the first 6 targets, one of which hit the target but broke on the leg after hitting the leg support. By the end of the day I had smashed one into pieces and had to re-pile 2 others.
My only criticism of this course would be that within the first 16 targets we shot,there were a number of the same targets, we had 3 of the same bedded panthers and 2 Velociraptor. This isn’t the clubs fault as they are given the 3D targets, but I think it would have been better to spread them out a bit more.
Having said that the targets weren’t stretched for their size or distance. I think a few more signs informing archers to shout clear when they had left the target they had shot, so the following group knew they were clear and could start shooting would have been good. There were a number of large bushes that blocked vision so at times it was hard to tell if people had cleared the area.
As for shooting, well I didn’t blank any targets so wasn’t too bad a day, though my shoulder was beginning to ache. Here’s hoping for a decent nights sleep.
We had finished by 4 pm and I was back at the tent shortly afterwards, A course being the closest to the campsite.
As the evening approached we gathered round the camp fire, lit the barbecues and sat chatting about the days successes and failures over some hot food and a few drinks. Good social end to the day.

Sunday

Sunday was another bright and clear day, a complete difference to last year when it was continual rain all day.
The one downside was I hadn’t slept well and my shoulder was stiff and painful, add to that my stomach wasn’t feeling 100% (guess that was the Barbecue I thought). The organisers had posted the first day results on the net late Saturday night and a copy at Administration so there were people massing round comparing notes and scores.
This days course had been set by Lyme Valley archers. Lyme Valley’s home ground is in a valley outside Stoke on Trent and they make great use of up and downhill shots. They had obviously taken this skill set to the course and applied it very well.
There were a number of deceptive shots making use of the height and dead ground.
I’m sorry but I didn’t take any photos of the course, but I’ve included a couple of photos from the course Sharon shot on Sunday.
upsidedown Baboon Y course - thanks to Sharon

upsidedown Baboon Y course – thanks to Sharon

Including an interesting upside down baboon.

Photo from Y course - thanks to Sharon

Photo from Y course – thanks to Sharon

I didn’t shoot as well on this course as Saturday, partly down to it being a more testing course and partly due to my shoulder beginning to cause me grief. Despite blanking several targets I came in with 30 points less than Saturday, just under 600 points.
Hanson were doing the catering for Lyme Valley and they always do a great spread, sadly my stomach was not feeling right so I only snacked.
It transpired that I had a better day than Sharon who was shooting on Y course (Artemis), she had had the misfortune of being held up on most targets which interrupted her flow and concentration.
Sharon on Y course

Sharon on Y course

So how did we get on? Well Sharon came away in third for ladies Barebow (despite shooting badly on Sunday) As for me well I came in 15th, not bad for feeling off and having a bad shoulder. You can see the full results here.
We got home on Monday after a fun weekend, the only down side was I came down with a very unpleasant stomach bug which saw me not venturing far from the toilet for 3 days. The doctors think it was gastroenteritis.
So despite falling ill after the event, it was a great weekend. What is more it has made me realise that despite having a bad shoulder I can shoot and do well. Big thanks to all those archers and friends out there who have been so supportive, especially a certain lady called Sharon. Thank you.
As always, thanks for reading