Tag Archives: target

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.

Aug 19 2014

Equipment review – Mybo boss

Over the last few weeks I’ve been doing some coaching with a couple of new archers down at the wood which has been great fun. Been good to get back to doing some coaching.
One of the students was asking about getting a practice boss for their garden and what to get, how much to spend etc. This got me thinking, dangerous I know.
Well, a while back I wrote a piece on setting up a practice boss and the safety considerations. (Here is the link if you are interested.)
This was based on a layered foam boss, but there are bag targets out there and a few months back I picked one up from Merlin archery store. You can see the Archery Adventures  video review here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVx16sYH2JE) .
So I thought it a good time to write a review of how we have found it.

So why did I buy one of these?

We were after something we could use not just for the recurves and flat bows but also the compound. Whist at Merlin I got chatting to the guys about target bosses and how our old tuff butt had seen better days and we were looking to replace it. They showed me the then new mybo sureshot  target boss range they had started to stock.

The staff demonstrated its stopping power by shooting a compound crossbow at about 5 yards into it. The result was about an inch or two of the bolt sticking out the back of the smallest boss. Not bad and a good demonstration of its stopping power.

First few arrows

First few arrows

Cost wise they aren’t bad. I believe replacement covers can be bought from Merlin.

90 cm are £75 and 70 cm are £49

There are three sizes are available. We have the mid range one. (70cm)

The mid range one isn’t to heavy,  manageable by me  to move round so can’t be that heavy as I’m not the strongest archer in the world. There are a couple of handles on top to make it easier to move. I’ve used these with some rope to tie ours in place.
The larger one needs a couple of people to move more due to the bulk than weight.
I’ve put ours on top of our current boss so you have a size comparison.
Mybo bag target

Mybo bag target

Initial tests are positive we’ve been using for a few months now shooting at it a couple of nights a week.

  • Arrows are easy to draw too.
  • Weave hasn’t frayed yet and the holes appear to close up quite well but can still be seen after drawing the arrows.
  • The arrows don’t penetrate too far at least from our recurve bows.  Haven’t tried my compound yet as concentrating on practice with recurve for upcoming National champs in September.
Hole after drawing arrow.

Hole after drawing arrow.

I think it works well for a practice boss and has lasted well from repeated shots though I haven’t shot it with anything other than recurves and flatbows. Although I do think you need to occasionally to shake the bag up so that the contents resettle themselves (bit like when you fluff up a pillow)
Whilst I don’t think you could replace foam bosses with these for a shoot.  I think they work well for practice at home or for a club indoor range potentially.

Top tip

One tip I would give is to get some heavy duty plastic sheets.  I’ve got a load I use in the garden and when I’m not shooting at the boss I cover it to protect it from the worst of the British weather. It also helps prevent birds or other wildlife using it as a scratching or scent post.
I hope you find this useful and if you have one of these or experience of them then let me know. Please remember when setting up a target consider safety above all else.
Thanks for reading.