Mar 24 2016

Shoot report – Thornbury – March 2016

Thornbury Field Archers

Last Sunday we headed south on the motorway to Thornbury Field Archery Club for their 40th anniversary shoot. I have come to the conclusion that I really hate road works on motorways and especially 50 mile an hour limits, which only some people adhere to. Anyway on to the shoot report. We’ve shot at Thornbury a couple of times and this was by far their busiest shoot with over 120 people attending. You can read the last shoot report here.

Despite the size of the event it was still friendly and flowed quite well with only a couple of hold ups.

3D bird target just over the bank

We would be shooting with a couple we’d not met before, Helen and Jason. Helen shooting Barebow and Jason his compound. It was really nice to meet another archery couple and we hope to shoot with Jason and Helen again in the future.

Shot between the trees

Unlike previous shoots at Thornbury, this one would be a full 40 target course, with a mix of 3D, paper and hessian faces. They had managed to secure the adjacent field to their wood which has enabled them to set 4 targets in field including a lovely 3d target of a badger under a fallen tree.

Sharon shooting 3D badger

There were a couple of predator prey shots (only one arrow at each target allowed) along with some challenging shots over banks or window shots between trees.

3D target between the trees

I think one of the hardest shots of the day was one of the special shots, where you had three 3d deer targets and a wolf 3d behind. The target was the wolf and if you hit the deer you blanked the shot.

Jason shooting a 3D hare

I’m not sure but think they must have some very gifted artists in the club as they had some lovely hessian targets on the course including a fantastic tiger and a fish jumping out of the water for a dragon fly.

An example of the great hessian faces

The elephant shot returned, though not at the great length it was previously, but it still made for a challenging shot between the trees.

The elephant shot makes the return

Sharon shooting off one of the towers

My complements to the cooks as the chilli at lunch was great as was the homemade lemon cake. Sharon shot well winning ladies AFB and I was pleasantly surprised coming first in gents AFB.

Thanks for reading.

Sep 24 2015

Shoot Report – Centaura Bowmen – September 2015

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

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.

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

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

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

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 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 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.

Sep 27 2014

Shoot report – NFAS National Championships – part 2

B course – Archers mustering

Day two of the championships dawned and we wondered whether staying in the premier inn had been a good plan. We had had a very disturbed night having been woken by a fan humming noise which we’d thought was the aircon or heating but neither of these were on and it seemed to come from the corridor. The annoying thing was it would stop only to restart a few minutes later.

B course – Archers mustering

So bleary eyed we checked out and headed to Catton park. I’d taken some Lemsip tablets so I was hoping my head would be a little better.

B course – views across the fields

The mid point placings were out showing Sharon in first place and me way down at 19th.
Sunday was brighter day with clear skies and a slight autumnal nip in the air. Shooting group would be different on each day so I wondered what to expect.

Sunday Shooting group

To say my possible concerns were ill founded would be an understatement as we never stopped laughing all day. Thanks to Julie and others in the group we had a great laugh often at our own expense.

Catton Park

I think we were fortunate on Sunday as unlike other groups we weren’t held up by the previous groups. I was speaking to one fellow SVYF member who was waiting over 10 minutes to shoot each target with a 45 minutes delay after food stop. When faced with these delays it is very hard to remain focused. I’m not sure of the cause but a possible solution for the future might be to allow groups to jump slow groups at food stops. This would mean that targets could not be taken down until much later though. (Normally the target you finish on, on the last day is brought in by your shooting group to help the organisers to break down the course. If you allow jumping them you might not be the last group to shoot the target.)

View on B course

Think B course had the best grounds in my opinion with two separate pieces of woodland and a few open ground shots and a couple over water making for a good mix for all.

B course – 3D Crocodile

They also set up some interesting shots down the side of the woods or out of the woods into the fields, making distance judgement challenging.

B Course shot after food stop

Julie Shooting paper face on B Course

Thank you

At this point I would like to say a huge thanks to all the people who gave up there time to not only lay the courses but find the ground initially and thanks to the administration staff for all the work behind the scenes.

Outcome

The full results are available here.
Despite feeling rough I managed to climb 9 places on Sunday from 19 to just get in the top 10. Not too bad I suppose. Sharon did wonderfully well winning ladies hunting tackle making her not only 3D champion from earlier this year but now also the national champion for 2014.

2014 NFAS Nationals – Sharon (thanks Alex Tyler for photos)

Svyf came away with the team hunting tackle trophy.

2014 NFAS Nationals – Hunting Tackle team (from left to right, Nigel, Johnny, Sharon and me) thanks Alex Tyler for photos

With Colin capturing a bronze in crossbow. Sharon and I also came away with the Nearest and Dearest trophy.

2014 NFAS Nationals – Nearest and Dearest (thanks Alex Tyler for photos)

So not a bad weekend considering I was feeling rough.
As always thanks for reading.

My Archery Experiences

Field archery experiences, shoot reports, equipment & book reviews, tips and advice from a UK archer and coach.

Tag Archives: shoot

Shoot report – Thornbury – March 2016

Shoot Report – Centaura Bowmen – September 2015

Shoot report – NFAS National Championships – part 2

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