So Sunday saw us once again packing the car for a journey north up the motorway towards Stoke on Trent area, this time for the Wolverine Archers NFAS shoot.
Both of us were feeling tired before we even started the shoot, having been at the SVYF wood all Saturday helping set up half of the new course. It was a very warm Saturday to be clearing undergrowth and setting 18 new targets, but it was done and we even managed to shoot it.
Wolverine – archers getting ready
Anyway on to Wolverine’s shoot, past reviews can be seen here. Sunday morning started dry, warm and sunny and unlike the previous week the motorway wasn’t that slow.
I think some archers may have been put off by the forecast of heavy rain later in the day, as admin at the shoot had to do some rejigging of groups for cancellations and no shows. As it was we ended up shooting with Adrian and his daughter Emily from Lyme Valley club both shooting hunting tackle class. I know some people are not fond of shooting in a group with a child but I must say Emily was a great sport, even when the heavens opened in the afternoon and it was raining she focused on shooting, being a credit to her family and club.
3D deer
Wolverine always set a challenging course and Sundays was no exception with our first target being a downhill paper face fox. The course was a mix of paper faces and 3D targets and yes, there was Kong in the field.
Adrian shooting a 3D deer
Like Lyme Valley, Wolverine operate a lunch break where all shooting stops to allow archers to get safely off the course. This gave us time to grab something to eat and the umbrella.
Adrian shooting a 3D turtle
My luckiest shot of the day I think must have been our first target after the lunch break, which was a small 3D dragon, which I managed to shoot through the mouth. Literally skin of the teeth.
Lucky shoot – 3D dragon
Another tough shot was a 3D owl between a V in two trees. It looked lovely but wasn’t easy.
Slightly out of focus but a 3D owl between trees
I’m glad we had done most of the course when the bad weather did arrive as I think it would have gone from challenging to very hard.
The rain that had been forecast rolled in in the afternoon and it got very wet. Hence the lack of afternoon photos as I was more concerned with keeping the phone dry. Thankfully we were mostly in the woods by this point.
Despite Sharon feeling she hadn’t shot well she won ladies hunting tackle and by some miracle I managed a second place in AFB.
Thanks for reading.
Liberty shoots have a reputation for being a fun shoot to attend as the club always put a lot of effort into making sure it’s fun. This shoot was their annual two day event with a party bbq on the Saturday night. We had decided to camp again this year with a few of the SVYF members and booked the Friday and Monday off work. So early Friday morning we packed the car for the three hour drive to Liberty arriving just before 11 am so plenty of time to pitch the tent and settle in.
Liberty Archers campsite
The camp site was already very busy with caravans and tents popping up along the access road, with some having arrived the previous day.
Liberty SVYF camp chats
Friday night meal was the traditional fish and chips from the local chip shop washed down with a couple of bottles of cider whilst sat chatting.
You can read a shoot report from last year’s event here.
One really nice tradition that Liberty Archers do is when a member leaves (they have several members that are associated with the armed forces and are transferred to other bases or countries) the archer shoots an arrow into the leavers tree.
The leavers Tree
Saturday night party
This years theme was a Night at the movies which resulted in some fantastic costumes on show for the Saturday night party. Including a full Sister Act quior, Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Beetlejuice and Marilyn Monroe not to forget the jedi knights, Snow White and Mr and Mrs Shrek wondering round. Sharon was as always magnificent going to town on a Maleficent costume.
Sharon, Jane and Jill were sponsored to shoot the Sunday course in full fancy dress costumes so we had Marilyn Monroe Beetlejuice and Maleficent wondering round the woods.
The charity team (from left to right Jane, Jill and Sharon)
Felt sorry for any cars driving past the site as they caught glimpses of these characters. At least one motorcycle pillion took a double look. The charity to benefit is the British heart foundation and to dare over £135 has been raised. A just giving page has been set up too here is the link.
The course
All 42 targets on the courses had a film theme from Star Wars to Citizen Kane with some requiring audience participation such as the Monty Python shot at a vampire rabbit where your fellow archers were to use coconut cups to make the sound of horse hooves as you were shooting.
As course sites go Liberty is very flat and covered in open woodland of silver birch and oaks. Thankfully this year the weather wasn’t as hot as last year which made it a more cumfortable couple day in woods.
Tegan and Sam
Shooting group on both days would include Sharon and myself along with fellow Svyf members Sam and Tegan. On Saturday we were joined by Simon but he didn’t shoot Sunday.
I didn’t shoot well on Saturday and it was obvious in my score of 600 points fare lower than I wanted and in the number of second arrows I took. I seemed to be going over the top of everything.
Sharon shooting a bedded deer
One thing with Liberty is the ground swallows arrows as it’s quite sandy and grassy so we spent a lot of time searching for arrows. There is still one of mine somewhere out there.
Sams luckiest shot of weekend
Robo Deer made an appearance though with a new paint job.
Robo Deer with paint job on Sunday
The course is a full 42 targets with 3d targets of all shapes and sizes from mosquitos made up to be giant butterflies to a Magnificent Seven shot which was a herd of deer 3ds in the field. This changed to the seven samurai on the Sunday.
SVYF on the next peg
One target that was really tough for lighter poundage bows was based on the psycho movie, where you had to shoot through a taught shower curtain to hit a 3D bear. The curtain caused the lighter bows to either fail to penetrate the plastic sheet or deflect when their fletching made contact.
I wasn’t looking forward to Sunday following my awful shooting on Saturday.It wasn’t helped by my sinuses playing up, thankfully Sue had some nasal spray that helped clear my head.Matters didn’t improve when on my first target I sailed over the top with first arrow only to have second shatter into multiple pieces when it clipped a tree.
Another Liberty shot between trees
For some reason my head slowly started to work as the day progressed but any chance on placing was long gone due to poor shooting on Saturday but at least I wasn’t feeling a complete failure.
Sam shooting the singing in the rain themed target
Sharon shooting on Sunday in costume
There were a couple of shots on Sunday that I thought could have been improved with better peg location as shorter archers found them near impossible to see due to undergrowth but in all it was a good course.
Hard shot through the trees
Sharon proving she can shoot in costume
Sharon came away with first in ladies hunting tackle so she now has an Oscar to fit in the trophy cabinet.
So back from holiday in time for a shoot at the club. Though I was a long way off from being fully recovered from the jet lag. Think I must have been sat in front of the person who believes it necessary to change settings on the headrests screen every five seconds by tapping (read hitting forcibly enough to move seat ) so the wish of getting some sleep on the flight home was to remain wishful thinking.
Anyhow back to the shoot report.
Svyf were hosting a charity invite shoot which was themed as Cartoon Capers.
Cartoon target
This being a twice round 20 targets all of which were cartoon characters. Everything from characters from Disney jungle book to Scooby Doo.
First target
It was well attended with over forty archers and the event raised over £200 for Midlands air ambulance and was a very casual affair.
Another shot on the course
Our group consisted of Sharon, myself and Cain and Kate guests of Jamie another Svyf club member.
One of the harder shots
It was nice to be in the woods again and to shoot round with new people.
Thanks for reading.
My Archery Experiences 