Tag Archives: help

Jan 14 2013

What is a club, more than a place to shoot!

No I’m not talking golf, this an archery blog after all.

I believe a club is far more than somewhere you turn up once or maybe twice a week, shoot a few arrows and maybe chat with other archers.

Clubs are made up of groups of individuals with a common interest, archery. How they approach these interests will also be individual but it is a common interest. If you have either been involved with any club or organisation you will know there are always a few characters in every club.

One thing to remember in any or all clubs, no matter its size, needs the support from members.

So far in our archery life we have been actively involved with 2 clubs (Black Arrow and Artemis both being Derbyshire based) With moving house last July we have left these two behind and joined Severn Valley. That is not to say we have forgotten about them. I still get emails and calls from colleagues at these clubs to swap notes and ask advice.

Like people clubs have their own personality and characteristics. Some might be very traditional, favouring traditional style bows, other clubs might be competitive, or interested in new styles of bows or the latest compound gadget and sight, but they are all there to support the archer.

bafaclogo

Black Arrow  is a small club with a small but very challenging course on a hillside. If you want to learn how to shoot up, down or across a hillside its a great proving ground. Largely a wooden arrow club with many fine longbow and recurve archers.

forestfloor-artemis

Artemis based not far from Belper, might be familiar to EFAA archers as they have both a NFAS course and EFAA course. Artemis are also well-known on the circuit having run a few shoots and laying a course at national championships.

svyf

So the new club  to us is Severn Valley, one of the oldest field archery clubs in the UK. It is due to celebrate its 60th anniversary later this year.autumn-shooting01

Likewise membership of a club is commitment by the individual to the club and supporting its activities, whether those activities be running shoots, laying courses, running have a go sessions at country fates or shows, or doing the hard work down the wood repairing target bosses, digging in steps, clearing snow in the winter, clearing undergrowth in the summer.

BAFAC workday

Club need members to help out

Charles blog has a recent entry on how individuals efforts can support a club or a shoot.

So if you are a member of club may I suggest that you make a new years resolution that you do your best to support your club and its executive body.

Thanks for reading.

Jan 7 2013

What to do during winter months

First of all, Happy New year to all readers.

Okay, so the winter months are here, short days and long nights with not much chance of shooting.

If you are a gardener you could be reading seed catalogues for the next growing year, if you are a warm weather lover you could be looking at holiday brochures, but if you are an archer what do you do?

Well you could be practising indoors if you have the option and facilities.

or

You might be cross referencing the latest catalogues and internet sites to work out the best combination of carbon arrows for the bow (think this is the closest we get to checking seed catalogues). I know this is something Sharon is doing at present in her quest to find some carbon arrows for next season.

or

Something you might find useful to do is review targets?

What do I mean? Don’t they all look the same? After all a circular target is the same day in day out. Well yes, if you are shooting at a circular target.  But in the field archery I shoot you aren’t shooting circular targets. I’m shooting either 3D animal targets or animal paper faces.

How is it scored?

Well if you hit with your first arrow you can score 20 points for a kill shot and 16 points for wound (if you get an inner kit you score 24 points)

If you miss with your first arrow you are allowed to take another shot from the second peg.  If you hit, you can score 14 points for a kill shot and 10 points for wound (if you get an inner kit you score 14 points i.e. no difference now as the bonus points are only if you hit with first arrow).

If you miss with your second arrow you can take a third and final shot from the last peg. From there you can score 8 points for a kill shot and 4 points for wound (if you get an inner kit you score 8 points)

JVD Boar

JVD Boar

The image above shows clearly the 3 scoring zones. The outer most line is the wound line. The next in is the kill line and the smallest is the inner kill.

As you can see not all the animal scores on paper faces so if you hit a leg, you don’t get anything.

There are now hundreds of animal faces and 3D targets on the market (JVD, Martin, Delta and Maple Leaf to name a few)  and if a course is laid well you should never be faced with the same target face on a shoot.  Also new target faces are always arriving on the market,  Merlin Archery in the UK have recently produced some fantastic quality paper target faces.

Target face - merlin boar

Merlin Boar

Another good target they produce is their ram.

target face - merlin ram

Merlin Ram

The only downside I have found with these faces, is they tend to reflect light so be careful course layers and try to avoid putting them in direct sunlight. Think they are changing this in next batch.

The problem with having all these faces, is trying to remember them all and know where the key high scoring areas are. In the NFAS only a few bow classes can use memory aids  such as booklets of targets faces or phone apps. For the rest of us we have to try and remember.

I’ve lost track of how many different boar or deer faces are on the market at present. All slightly different in size and shape. Some are life size others are reduced.

Likewise there are hundreds of different 3D targets out there too.

3d javalina

3d Javalina

A good tip I have been given is to aim for the leg line when shooting a 3D target, as if you drop low you are still in the leg. Downside of this means you aren’t in the highest scoring areas, but at least you don’t blank the target.

3d Turkey

3d Turkey

Anyway it is something to do, whilst we wait for the longer days and the season to start

As always thanks for reading and good luck for 2013.