Tag Archives: paper faces

Nov 2 2015

Spooky shoot report – SVYF Halloween night shoot – October 2015

Halloween shoot

Halloween shoot

Well that was a very busy weekend. Saturday morning we were driving up to Loughborough for Sharon to collect her new Blackbrook American flatbow from Andy Soars, then back home to collect the bows for club Halloween themed night shoot which meant we finally got home about 10:30 pm. Sunday we were back to the wood for 9:30 am to tidy and clear away the temporary course and for Sharon to try out her new bow.
Anyway on to the shoot report. Some of you might remember that last year Severn Valley ran a charity night shoot and this year Nigel and crew set about doing another.
This year we had just over 50 people for the shoot, made up of members and guests arriving in the early evening as dusk began.
SVYF welcome all, just don't feed the zombies

SVYF welcome all, just don’t feed the zombies

Even the weather helped to set the mood, with mist just forming as people started to arrive. The weather was unseasonably warm and completely dry, which was as good as could be hoped for for this time of year.

Mist appearing as dusk falls

Mist appearing as dusk falls

One thing about a night shoot is how very different the woodland is at night and you can hear the owls not being too happy with us being in their woodland.

woods at night

woods at night

As was the case last year it would be a simple 20 target course with custom faces and scoring from one arrow getting you 40 points to negative scores if you were unlucky in picking the wrong target. The flock of bats (or should that be colony) was one where you picked the target and shot two arrows. Problem was you only found out what you scored when you got to the target.

Themed pumpkin target

Themed pumpkin target

The targets themselves were illuminated with candles buried in the ground just in front of the bosses . (Yes you did have to be careful not to go too low or you ran the risk singeing your arrows.)

baby ogre target

baby ogre target

There was the floating bat distraction too, which Nigel controlled on a length of fishing line and would bob up and down as a distraction. sound effects were also played at some shots or along paths to set the atmosphere.
One target that worked well was the skull. Normally you have to hit a target to score, with the skull you had to shoot through the eyes or nose and had one arrow.

skull shot in day light

skull shot in day light

Here is what it looked like in day light from the peg. At night it looked like it was floating in air.

Skull target from the peg in day light

Skull target from the peg in day light

There weren’t any very long targets,  the longest target was about 30 yards
Once the shoot was over there was hot food of chilli or a variety of soups along with mountains of cake to warm you up for the journey home. The atmosphere was great with lots of laughter and joking around. Congrats to Nadeem on shooting so well in longbow. I’m sure you will remind Rich of your sucess, but stop picking on Cliff 🙂
I  think we raised just under £300 with the plan being to donate the surplus once the costs are covered to local charity.
Thanks for reading

Oct 22 2015

Shoot report – Thornbury – October 2015

Archers at Thornbury

Archers at Thornbury

Our Sunday mornings seems to come round very quickly these days and this last Sunday was a good example, with a bit of a damp grey start. It saw us loading the car for our drive down the motorway to Thornbury archers grounds.
For us the Thornbury shoot  is one of the easiest grounds to get to, being a little over an hours drive down the M5, subject to traffic and road works of course.
Being slightly further south than other shoots we attend, we the opportunity to meet a different group of archers from the south west clubs who travel up to Thornbury.
We hadn’t shot Thornbury for a while and then, it had only a 34 target course but this time it was a full 36 target with a mix of paper faces, 3d targets and some home made painted ones. Here is a link to the previous shoot report if you are interested.
Sharon at Thornbury

Sharon at Thornbury

The shoot was well attended, with around 100 archers in different bow styles, with the day flowing smoothly. I don’t think there were any hold ups and there were a few archers finishing by 3 pm.  Our group would include Sharon and myself,  with Sheron shooting crossbow and Alan shooting hunting tackle.

Sheron shooting 3D

Sheron shooting 3D

Though a small wood Thornbury have built a few small towers enabling them to have some elevated shots which seems to work well.

Sharon shooting from one of th towers

Sharon shooting from one of th towers

One target that must be mentioned is the elephant shot. A near life size elephant had been painted up and very cleverly set down an avenue of trees. A small hurdle of branches in front of the target provided a screen for an area of dead ground, making distance judgement that little harder. There were several discussions afterwards over tea breaks and at the end of the shoot, as to how far it had been set and concensus had it was between 68-70 yards.

View back to the shooting group on red peg

View back to the shooting group on red peg

Catering was good at sensible prices, with all marshals being friendly and there overall there was a very relaxed atmosphere to the day .

The elephant target up close

The elephant target up close

The club  set a good course with some deceptive shots, maybe a couple were at the edge of the normal distance, not stretched as such,  though others might disagree. I don’t think it was an easy course but nor was it overly difficult.
The 3d fox returned complete with the dustbin (see the previous shoot report for details).

3D owl - nicely framed

3D owl – nicely framed

Overall it was a good day, my only slight criticism is I think they repeated one target face on the course 3 times. A deer on a dark green background tagged as Broken Arrow designs painted on foam matting. Whilst the picture was nice I don’t think we needed to see it three times.

Painted deer target

Painted deer target

Thornbury obviously have same artistic members as another home made target was a cracking painting of a wildebeest,  almost too good to shoot.

Nicely painted target

Nicely painted target

We were very lucky with weather staying dry and  in the charity raffle winning a bottle of wine and a four pack of mixed ciders. Sharon came away with first in ladies hunting tackle and I was surprised to win gents afb. Congratulations to fellow Severn Valley members including Mary who won ladies afb.
Thanks for reading.

Sep 24 2015

Shoot Report – Centaura Bowmen – September 2015

Archers gathering

Archers gathering for the shoot at Centaura Bowmen

Sorry guys I’ve been really slow in getting this written up. A fewSunday mornings ago we had  a chilly start, the temperature gauge in the car claiming 7 degrees Celsius. Autumn looks to be on its way. At least it was sunny and dry as we packed the car and headed to the Centaura shoot grounds outside Derby.
The nice thing with heading to Centaura is we have the opportunity to run into friends we haven’t seen since moving from the area. It was great to see Jon C, Jim, Chris and others.
The shoot was well attended, resulting in a very full car park by the time we arrived shortly after nine, with most pegs having 4 archers on them. In interested you can check out a past shoot report here.
We would start on peg one a few yards from the main building, so a very short walk out, the only downside being at lunch break we would be at the furthest part of the wood.
Target 1 - paper face ermin

Target 1 – paper face ermin

The course like many others was a mix of 3d and paper faces, 36 targets in total.
We were joined by Trevor, Catherine and Jacob from Hanson, though only Trevor and Jacob were shooting. (Longbow and hunting tackle respectively )
The now infamous polo shot which Centaura are becoming known for returned on target 36 , this time with a 3D owl target. There was the long shot into the quarry this time with a 3D boar, though it’s hard to make out in the photo.

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Our first shot would be the ermin in a ditch, not a confidence building shot to start with.
Target 8 - a downhill bedded 3D deer

Target 8 – a downhill bedded 3D deer

Another traditional shot they put out is a very short one, 3 feet away. You can see Jacob shooting it.

Very close shot

Very close shot

This was the only one I didn’t like, simply due to the shortness in distance. I think I  would have put it back further and this would be safer, say to about 6 feet as very low poundage junior bows could see the arrow bounce back. I don’t believe there was any problems on the day,with the shoot flowing okay, all the time  with Trevor regaling us with archery stories and believe me he has a few.
Trevor shooting a 3D

Trevor shooting a 3D

Sharon shooting 3D owl between trees

Sharon shooting 3D owl between trees

Lunch break was between 12:30 and 1:30 giving archers ample time to get off the course grab some food and then head back out. Though I think Centaura need to invest in some louder air horns to signal start and lunch breaks.
Didn’t shoot as well in the afternoon and wonder if this was due to it being a  bit slower.

Paper face Racoon in a dip

Paper face Racoon in a dip which is a lot harder than it looks

Overall I think it was was a good shoot with some nicely placed shots like the 3d ram from the top of the hillside.
Long ram off the top of the hillside

Long ram 3D off the top of the hillside

Sharon came away with first in ladies hunting tackle. I managed a placing  in gents afb. Though I didn’t feel I shot very well and still have a long way to go with the flatbow.
Thanks for reading.