I'd heard about the Team Sagittarius shoot many times from fellow archers and it had been recommended by many of my fellow wooden arrow archers as one I should not miss. So this year I finally booked in to shoot the Team Sagittarius shoot which is held at the Fleet Ibex grounds.
For those who have not shot this shoot their are some subtle differences to a standard NFAS shoot; being that it is restricted to wooden arrows, single shot at each of the targets which are laid in a more natural way and finally scoring only 10s and 20s (wound and kill). The key aim, apart from having fun, is to simulate a more hunting style shoot where you would not get a second chance.
The course was laid as a loop of 20 targets which we would shoot twice. The first loop would be from the red peg whilst the second would be from the yellow peg. So with the bracken high this was going to be a fun shoot especially if I missed and as I reached my first target (18) it was to look across the bracken at a deer through the trees. Before the blast of the horn it was time to say hi to my shooting partners for the day (Adrian, John and Stephan) before stringing the bow in anticipation.
So with the blast it was time to take a pot shot at the standing deer and a miss but at least I spotted where the arrow went. Well I thought I did so having missed the target to add insult to injury I lost the arrow, never to return, but that’s why I shoot wooden arrows. So moving on it was time for one of the two long shots of the shoot the 2D Rhino and a nice 10 before heading off for a tricky pheasant before heading tot he path and walking straight past target one.
So having been pointed in the correct direction it was time for another deer before heading down the path for a quick shot at a goat. At this point I started a short run of missing the targets which makes a big difference on a one arrow shoot.
I had also worked out that most of the shots would be through the undergrowth and trees with some rather narrow windows at the target. This tended to produce some none standard, for me, shooting stances and more that once my sleeve caught the bow string that in the case of a bear caused the deflection that resulted in the ricochet that results in me hitting the target.
And so as we moved through the first loop of the targets I had some spectacular misses and more that a couple of trees to my name and by the time we stopped for lunch after the first loop I was 3 arrows down all somewhere in the undergrowth.
After a quick cup of tea and a burger it was time to head round for our second loop and as we were leaving one of my missing arrows returned. Little did I know it was an arrow that had obviously given up on the idea of being shot and having failed to get lost decided the only way out was suicide and simply exploded 5 targets into the second loop as it ricocheted off a branch.
On the first loop around the course we noticed that a lot of the yellow pegs were closer than the reds but on starting the second loop this did not mean they would be easier shots and in many cases were substantially more difficult with less of the animal visible through a smaller window. As it happened the lunch time burger obviously did it’s job and on our second loop I managed to hit more of the targets and with only the single suicidal arrow without incident.
With the 20 targets passing quickly it was back to the tea hut for another cuppa and to hand in the cards. With a score that was better than some NFAS 40 target shoots it was not to bad and as I walked up to hand my card in there standing inches above everyone else's was another of my errant arrows and so I was only down one deviant and a single death although I may try a bit of Frankenstein resurrection using one I have previous broken.
On a day where the weather had been exceptional and the factor 50 was mandatory England won the first test I’d had a thoroughly enjoyable day shooting with a bunch good of guys, that referred to me as the young man, on a course to match the weather.
Not having any flu flus I did not get chance to take pot shots at the fun 3Ds but I will make some for next year because I’ll be keep the Sagittarius shoot date free.
Predator / Prey
Bobcat
Where’s the Badger
Head Shot
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