Tag Archives: “shoot report”

Dec 16 2014

Shoot report – Spirit of Sherwood – December 2014

Spirit of Sherwood Christmas shoot

Spirit of Sherwood Christmas shoot

Seems ages since I wrote a shoot report but then again it’s been ages since I’ve been to a shoot.

Spirit of Sherwood were hosting their Christmas shoot and it was to be a wooden arrow only one. It’s a long drive for us but Karen kindly put us up for the Saturday night returning our hospitality for when she crashes at ours for Svyf shoots. Huge thanks for cooking us a great meal, camp fire stew yummy.

We hadn’t shot Spirit of Sherwood for a few years and the club has struggled recently due to forestry work taking place in their woods. Considering that they put on a great course with some clever shots using tree stumps from which you shot or on which positioned the targets. Loved the longhorn ram, looked great.

3D Longhorn Ram

3D Longhorn Ram

Our shooting group would be made up of Dave and Lynn Sabo who we had had the pleasure of shooting with before and Paul who was on only his third nfas shoot having just swapped to wooden arrows.

The course was to be a mix of 3d and paper faces set in a clover leaf formation so you would pass catering 3 times. The result was an easy flowing day with no hold ups or delays with everyone having finished and getting away by 3:30. Not bad when you consider there were over 140 archers. We were also lucky with the weather having only a brief shower in the afternoon.

First target was not a great start for me. I  blanked it,  think the lack of practice and distance judgement being to blame as my arrows flew over and under.

Second target of the day, shot off an old tree stump.

Second target of the day, Dave taking shot off an old tree stump.

There was a really relaxing atmosphere and good spirits, maybe it was the festive season or simply because everyone appeared to be having a good time.

There was an interesting moving target which was a large 3d crocodile wished I’d taken a photo of that now. Suspended on pulleys a few inches off the ground it looked really good as it slid down the slope.

Sharon won ladies hunting tackle so has another trophy for the mantlepiece. I only managed second in gents class missing out by 6 pts. Still a personal best for thirty six targets 686 despite a blank. Would like to make a special congratulations to Chris Harley who shot her first round with no blanks. Well done Chris.
Thanks for reading, have a Happy Christmas and Good luck for new year.

Nov 6 2014

Shoot report – spooky night down at the wood

Spooky club house

Spooky club house

Bit of a different shoot report this week as it is for a spooky night shoot. As opposed to the normal club shoot in August, this year SVYF decided to organise a themed Halloween shoot which was open to all members and guests.
Starting shortly after 6pm it would be a 20 target round with special scoring on each target ranging from a positive 20 points to a negative 20.
Entrance to the wood as dusk falls

Entrance to the wood as dusk falls

Being close to Halloween all the targets were suitably themed as were some of the archers costumes.
ghost target

ghost target

Another interesting shot was the ghost shot where you shoot your two arrows but didn’t know until you got the boss whether your arrows scored positive or negative.
ghost target description

ghost target description

Rules were simple; you were allowed to use torches to find your way from one shooting peg to the target or along the course but couldn’t shine it on the target when you were shooting.

target 20 - vampire or zombie

target 20 – vampire or zombie

An old oil lantern was set by the shooting peg and there were a couple of night light candles  set in a trench in front of the target to provide some illumination.
You could shoot from anywhere within a yard of the peg and distances varied from 3 yards up to about 20 yards, which seems a lot further at night.

The grim reaper with a few arrows

The grim reaper with a few arrows

All proceeds would go to charity  (bowel cancer research ) with club members bringing a variety of hot food in forms of chilli, vegetable soup and Sharon had made some of her spicy pumpkin soup too. In all we had about 45 archers on the night and we were very fortunate to have good weather that was warm for November, with the rain holding off until after we had finished.

Sharon in her costume

Sharon in her costume

Sharon and I  had never been to a night shoot so it was a new experience and we were joined by Nadeem and  Cliff. By the way my thanks to Nadeem for  the pictures.

Normally you can see the flight of your arrow but at night you have to go by instinct and hope to hear the thud as the arrow gets to the boss.
Trying to judge distances at night proved challenging for all as was testified by the number of  arrows we found the following morning when tidying up.
In all it was a great laugh and we managed to raise just over  £150 for the charity. Big thanks to Nigel, Debbie, Jason and Bernie for all the hard work for setting it up.

Thanks for reading.
Oct 22 2014

Shoot report – Severn Valley – October 2014

Archers waiting to start

Archers waiting to start

Last weekend saw us even busier than normal as we prepared for the club shoot. Saturday we were at the wood early to sort through the targets, stake them in position, finalise shots, re-felt some of the bridges and generally put finishing touches to the course in readiness for the Sunday shoot. When I say finishing touches it still took from 8 am until gone 4:30pm. I’d like to thank those in the club who helped on Saturday and in the run up.
Sunday was shoot day and at the beginning of the week the forecasts had predicted rain and wind but we got lucky. The day was dry and sunny.

Target 5 - brown bear 3d

Target 5 – brown bear 3d

So Sunday would see SVYF host their autumn shoot with approximately 170 archers of different classes descend on our wood. The club runs two shoots a year one in spring and one in autumn with the entire course being reset between each shoot.

Target 4 - 3D Ram

Target 4 – 3D Ram

This was the second course we had put our names to officially in the past five the club had set since we joined. Though we had helped out on the others we hadn’t been the primary course layers.
Despite having over thirty people drop out over concerns about the weather we had glorious late autumn sunshine all day. Though in fairness it was a little windy in the more exposed parts of the wood. Think the one downside was the noise from the local shotgun club which were hosting an event the same day.

One of the long shots 3D Ram

One of the long shots 3D Ram

The course itself comprised of 36 targets mainly 3ds with a half dozen paper faces spread out over the course. Sharon and I had helped Nigel, Birnie and Jason lay targets 1-18 so we were keen to see what people thought. As always SVYF members marshall the club shoot helping archers search for lost arrows etc.

Raising boar 3D

Raising boar 3D

In all the day appeared to flow well with only a few hold ups which may simply have been caused by some archers naturally shooting more slowly than others.
Feedback has been positive with archers enjoying the challenge of the course.
Thanks for reading.