Shooting In Cool Weather (Guest Post)

With the winter months not far off this is a worth while read for shooting in cold weather.

Steve Ruis's avatarA Blog for Archery Coaches

I volunteer from time to time to work with local JOAD groups. We are blessed in the Chicago are with a number of very good JOAD coaches, one of who had this to offer his young charges as the weather turned quite cool here in the area recently.

Shooting In Cool Weather (Guest Post)
by Gabe Querol

Coach GabeLast evening we conducted our JOAD class in the first cool weather of the season. All the kids came dressed in a manner which made me realize I hadn’t done enough to teach them how to operate in cool conditions. I saw hoodies with draw strings, baggy coats, baggy sweatshirts and a young man with shorts and a teeshirt, who was shivering. Needless to say the practice was not productive for many, as some were hitting clothing on every shot and others were uncomfortable and didn’t much care how they shot.

Q

View original post 354 more words

200 posts

July 2011 I started this site not being entirely certain as to what I wanted to say or how it might develop, all I knew was I wanted to express my thoughts on my hobby of archery. Little did I think that over time it would grow to this the  200th post.

It hasn’t been plain sailing and over the past few years I’ve had a few rough times where I have thought about giving up writing or even archery. For that reason I would like to take the opportunity to thank my followers and friends for the support they showed me, especially Sharon who has been amazing.

Me (Rob) and better half (Sharon)

Taken at NFAS 3D champs in 2011

This site has grown over the years to include write ups of shoots we have attended, links to other peoples blogs and websites. This site has chronicled my progress from newbie archer to coach along with highlighting my friends and fellow archers successes.

I’ve written a few book reviews and given my thoughts and hopefully some useful information on things to consider when course laying.

I’ve not written many equipment reviews but there have been a few and I’ve got plans for a few more. Along with these, have been my thoughts, feelings and ponderings on all matters of archery.
I hope you have found my writing interesting and helpful.

Over the years I’ve learned a lot and taken a lot from the sport, some good some not so good. If I’ve learnt nothing else from his hobby is it’s a sport where you can challenge yourself and set your own targets, pardon the obvious pun. Whilst winning medals or placing is nice it is a hobby where you can challenge yourself and have your own goals. Even after all these years I still go out hoping not to blank a target and I’ve never done a one arrow round.
Sharon and I have met many people and some over the years have gone on to become friends.
We’ve traveled from one end of the country to another for shoots and championships.

So I’d just like to say to all of you, thank you for reading.

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.