Shooting In Cool Weather (Guest Post)

With the winter months not far off this is a worth while read for shooting in cold weather.

Steve Ruis's avatarA Blog for Archery Coaches

I volunteer from time to time to work with local JOAD groups. We are blessed in the Chicago are with a number of very good JOAD coaches, one of who had this to offer his young charges as the weather turned quite cool here in the area recently.

Shooting In Cool Weather (Guest Post)
by Gabe Querol

Coach GabeLast evening we conducted our JOAD class in the first cool weather of the season. All the kids came dressed in a manner which made me realize I hadn’t done enough to teach them how to operate in cool conditions. I saw hoodies with draw strings, baggy coats, baggy sweatshirts and a young man with shorts and a teeshirt, who was shivering. Needless to say the practice was not productive for many, as some were hitting clothing on every shot and others were uncomfortable and didn’t much care how they shot.

Q

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Shoot Report – Centaura- September 2014

Club house with trees behind just turning.

Club house with trees behind just turning.

Over a hundred and twenty archers joined us on a sunny Sunday morning for the Pete Bates Trophy Shoot. We had good weather though you can feel the autumnal nip in the early morning air starting with the leaves just beginning to turn behind the club house.
Centaura has a small wood situated not far from Derby with a course made up of a mix of a few 3d targets but mostly paper faces.
Our shooting group comprised Neil and Mandy from Forest of Arden, joined Sharon and myself.
Our First target was a red squirrel between the trees and I must admit that I did wonder if was going to be a good start.
First Target Of Day - Red squirrel

First Target Of Day – Red squirrel

In fact the day flowed well with few hold ups and there was a very relaxed atmosphere not dissimilar to the wooden arrows shoot they ran a few months back (shoot report can be found here).
In fairness I think we might have started on the small targets as the first 7-8 targets were mostly group fours including the red squirrel, jay, reflective duck, and Partridge.

Duck target

Duck target

The course is situated in mix leaf deciduous woodland with mostly flat terrain,  though there is the quarry section which will see going up and down there steps and presents the opportunity fir some nice down hill shots.

Deer target

Deer target

Due to the nature of the course Centaura operates a lunch break of an hour which gave archers ample time to enjoy the sunshine and have a bite to eat. Sadly the long lunch break did have a negative impact on my shooting as it a while for me to get back into the swing of things again.

Paper face Hare

Paper face Hare

By lunch we had shot 19 targets and had finished shooting the course by 3:30.

Paper face tiger target

Paper face tiger target

Congrats to fellow club members Stephen Parsons and Chris Harley on placing. Congrats also to Sharon who won ladies hunting tackle.

Sadly I only managed second in hunting tackle with a score of 654 30 points behind first. Well done Roger. Guess it’s not too bad considering in the last week I’ve fitted a new string with 2 less strands, made some new arrows, started a new glove, set a different bracing height for the string and obviously had to set a  nocking point.
Only criticism of the course was I think they could have put a wider selection of target faces as there were a number of repeats. With the selection of faces on the market I don’t think clubs need to repeat any.
In all though it was a good shoot and a good day. Thanks to all the club and I’m sure Pete would have been proud of you all.
As always thanks for reading.

200 posts

July 2011 I started this site not being entirely certain as to what I wanted to say or how it might develop, all I knew was I wanted to express my thoughts on my hobby of archery. Little did I think that over time it would grow to this the  200th post.

It hasn’t been plain sailing and over the past few years I’ve had a few rough times where I have thought about giving up writing or even archery. For that reason I would like to take the opportunity to thank my followers and friends for the support they showed me, especially Sharon who has been amazing.

Me (Rob) and better half (Sharon)

Taken at NFAS 3D champs in 2011

This site has grown over the years to include write ups of shoots we have attended, links to other peoples blogs and websites. This site has chronicled my progress from newbie archer to coach along with highlighting my friends and fellow archers successes.

I’ve written a few book reviews and given my thoughts and hopefully some useful information on things to consider when course laying.

I’ve not written many equipment reviews but there have been a few and I’ve got plans for a few more. Along with these, have been my thoughts, feelings and ponderings on all matters of archery.
I hope you have found my writing interesting and helpful.

Over the years I’ve learned a lot and taken a lot from the sport, some good some not so good. If I’ve learnt nothing else from his hobby is it’s a sport where you can challenge yourself and set your own targets, pardon the obvious pun. Whilst winning medals or placing is nice it is a hobby where you can challenge yourself and have your own goals. Even after all these years I still go out hoping not to blank a target and I’ve never done a one arrow round.
Sharon and I have met many people and some over the years have gone on to become friends.
We’ve traveled from one end of the country to another for shoots and championships.

So I’d just like to say to all of you, thank you for reading.