Tag Archives: hunting tackle

Sep 10 2014

Shoot Report – Centaura- September 2014

Club house with trees behind just turning.

Club house with trees behind just turning.

Over a hundred and twenty archers joined us on a sunny Sunday morning for the Pete Bates Trophy Shoot. We had good weather though you can feel the autumnal nip in the early morning air starting with the leaves just beginning to turn behind the club house.
Centaura has a small wood situated not far from Derby with a course made up of a mix of a few 3d targets but mostly paper faces.
Our shooting group comprised Neil and Mandy from Forest of Arden, joined Sharon and myself.
Our First target was a red squirrel between the trees and I must admit that I did wonder if was going to be a good start.
First Target Of Day - Red squirrel

First Target Of Day – Red squirrel

In fact the day flowed well with few hold ups and there was a very relaxed atmosphere not dissimilar to the wooden arrows shoot they ran a few months back (shoot report can be found here).
In fairness I think we might have started on the small targets as the first 7-8 targets were mostly group fours including the red squirrel, jay, reflective duck, and Partridge.

Duck target

Duck target

The course is situated in mix leaf deciduous woodland with mostly flat terrain,  though there is the quarry section which will see going up and down there steps and presents the opportunity fir some nice down hill shots.

Deer target

Deer target

Due to the nature of the course Centaura operates a lunch break of an hour which gave archers ample time to enjoy the sunshine and have a bite to eat. Sadly the long lunch break did have a negative impact on my shooting as it a while for me to get back into the swing of things again.

Paper face Hare

Paper face Hare

By lunch we had shot 19 targets and had finished shooting the course by 3:30.

Paper face tiger target

Paper face tiger target

Congrats to fellow club members Stephen Parsons and Chris Harley on placing. Congrats also to Sharon who won ladies hunting tackle.

Sadly I only managed second in hunting tackle with a score of 654 30 points behind first. Well done Roger. Guess it’s not too bad considering in the last week I’ve fitted a new string with 2 less strands, made some new arrows, started a new glove, set a different bracing height for the string and obviously had to set a  nocking point.
Only criticism of the course was I think they could have put a wider selection of target faces as there were a number of repeats. With the selection of faces on the market I don’t think clubs need to repeat any.
In all though it was a good shoot and a good day. Thanks to all the club and I’m sure Pete would have been proud of you all.
As always thanks for reading.
Aug 28 2014

Shoot report – Castle – August 2014

Castle Bowmen

Castle Bowmen

Last weekend we were up in Woodhall Spa for an archery friends birthday. Being a gentleman I refuse to give the ladies age, but will say it was a great evening and thanks for inviting us.
On Sunday we headed to a local club for their trophy shoot
On a non archery note we were incredibly lucky to be in the best spot possible to see the only 2 remaining Lancaster bombers fly past the wood. These beautiful old aircraft cruised over the wood in formation giving a wonderful display to the handful of us that saw it.
Lancaster bomber

Lancaster bomber – sorry not a great photo

Castle’s grounds are flat but as is tradition with the club they make use of some of the old army bunkers to allow you to shoot off the top of them. The course was made up of 40 3d targets of varying distances and quality. It had been a few years since we had made it to Castle, a previous shoot report is here.
Sharon shooting off the rooftop

Sharon shooting off the rooftop

We would be shooting with Roger and Irene from Kings Lynn club.

Not sure why but I don’t think I gelled with the course. Our first target was billed as a predator prey but in reality it was simply two targets set up with one one set of pegs. I’m glad we shot this early in the day as I know it provided a hold up for others.

First target of day

First target of day

Think some of the juniors might have struggled with the distance as the red, white and blue pegs were next to one another on several shots, which made them on the longer side.
There were a couple of really nice shots like the grizzly bear though the trees, though there was a stone block behind it.

Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear

I think a couple of shots could have been positioned a little further from surrounding trees so that the arrows did not ‘whip round’ against them.
Beaver in the wood

Beaver in the wood

Another nice shot was a black panther through an abandoned and partially collapsed roof.
Black Panther

Black Panther

An interesting shot was the drunken bear, complete with empty cans and traffic cone.

Drunken bear

Drunken bear

Sharon came away with a first place but I only managed a 3rd, should have shot better but just couldn’t get my head into the right place or the arrows.

Thanks for reading.
Aug 22 2014

Shoot Report – Wolverine – August 2014

Kong from afar

Kong from afar

Last weekend we headed up to Wolverine Archers outside Stoke on Trent for their August shoot in weather that felt more autumnal than high summer.
I must admit to having second thoughts about going.  Not because of the course but because for the previous few days I’d not been very well and had less than 8 hours sleep in total for the past few nights. The previous day I’d been coaching which had left me very tired so I wasn’t feeling my best.
But the option was to either stay home feeling rough or to try and work through it. So we loaded the car and set off.
The course comprised of 40 mixed 3Ds and paper faces. You can see previous reports here.
Shooting group

Shooting group

We had a really good group with Zeena and Dan from Lyme Valley joining Charlie from Hanson and ourselves.

Shooting Group

Shooting Group – Charlie, Sharon, Zeena and Dan

I learnt two things from this day. The way to stay looking young is to drink Guinness as evident from the very youthful Zeena. The other is that Charlie should stick with shooting longbow rather than crossbow as he is a natural.

Charlie shooting at 3D beer

Charlie shooting at 3D beer

The Wolverine team always put on a good course and this was no different. Shots were challenging and not stretched,  with Kong making an appearance as always.

Charlie moving on to shoot

Charlie moving on to shoot

The only thing that marred the day was Sharon falling down a slope half way round the course. Fortunately she wasn’t injured but now has a scratch on her bow that will need seeing to. Could have been much worse and like many archers she was more concerned about her bow than herself. Note to Sharon when reading this. “Bows can be replaced,  you can’t.”

Dan shooting

Dan shooting

We came home having had a lovely day but I must admit to feeling shattered and having an early night. Despite her fall Sharon came first in ladies hunting tackle and I somehow managed to scrape a third place despite dropping 50 points in the second half as fatigue and lack of sleep started to play a part in my shooting.
We also came home with a new friend. Robin a’Dale who is travelling round the country visiting different shoots and keeping a diary of his adventures.
Thanks for reading.