South Wilts Shoot Report 5th September 2010

The South Wilts Pre-Champs shoot is a must for getting back into shooting paper face and there less than generous Wound lines. Now I've mentioned before that I prefer shooting 3Ds, but then again I suspect most Field Archers would, but the Nationals were only two weeks away and I needed some practise especially because this would be my first and only outing with my new Gary Evans bow. Having only shot a few dozen arrows on Saturday it was going to be an interesting and, yet again, educational day. As usual I was expecting a good days shooting on a well set course with a number of tricky shots.

Starting the day with the traditional Bacon Butties and registration we found that we would be shooting with George and Joe Spears again, just like last year, and it was off to our first target of the day number 31. This was not going to be too bad only 10 targets to the first break and an early lunch. Turning on the traditional phone app I recorded the root as a Google Earth File (next it will be a GPS enabled camera) we awaited the starting horn.


Target 31, our first , was a Deer through a V in the trees and fortunately it had a large bum because you could not see the front end. With the first shot high the second and third scored. Three arrows was going to be the general rule for the day not because I required 3 arrows but because given wound line it was not always easy to say if an arrow was in or out. Ok if I had put them in the middle, kill, this would not have been a problem.

Moving on from the large Deer our next shot was a small Jay from a reasonably close distance always trick for a longbow and it proved too trick for me today although you could say a scared it and ruffled its feathers (oh for 3Ds). With the Jay out of the way we moved onto another longer target this time a Prong Horn through a gap in the trees; typical open ground either side of two trees. By this time I had worked out that the arrows were flying with a fairly flat trajectory and as coincidence would have it would appear to be spined exactly for the bow. So this is the way to do it build your arrows and buy a bow to match.

The Prong Horn gave me a 16 and then it was off for some "Crispy" Duck the one with the reflection in the water. I was expecting the usual result of this target and an arrow in the reflection but as luck would have it I scored a 20 and then we were on to another long Deer over open ground and I was still getting a flat trajectory. This was definitely difference to my old bow and would / will take some getting used to.

With the Deer despatched it was onto a very very very short shot at a Stoat. As can be seen from the photo the Red peg is almost on the target. The result of this was that I could put the arrow point in the 24 but as the rules say I have to shoot with a consistent draw. So I pulled back to my normal draw and leant forward placing the point of the arrow almost on the target and released. Following the shot a good portion of my arrows was still behind the bow, as it had hardly moved, whilst the rest was buried in the 24. Given the same shot again I think I will lean back next time and to hell with the score.

With the stoat out of the way and a lesson learnt it was time for a Javelina and another 16 before moving onto a tricky and very deceptive Deer. This was placed through the trees and over a small pond in a large ditch. We knew their was something difficult about it because it was manned by a marshal all day and this was because if you needed to shoot from the Blue you could not be seen from the Red. Unfortunately this one caught me out and having shot 3 arrows I walked away with nothing.

Oh well a couple more targets and then it was time for an early lunch. Our next target was a crouching Rabbit quickly followed by a Mountain Goat and then lunch.

Having filled up early on Burgers and Tea it was off to Target 1 a Turkey that was all feathers and no, nice, wound lines. Moving on was a large walk Black Bear partially hidden by the undergrowth and only a 10. A medium length Deer down the path followed and then onto a Reindeer through the over hanging trees. Now traditionally the trajectory for the longbow often causes problems with overhanging trees but I was beginning to become really impressed with the new bow and its flat trajectory although I still had / have a few issues with where exactly I need to point the arrow.

Next we were onto the sitting March Hare and a 14 before a tricky Wolf through the trees and then a Deer, that I completely messed up, and then onto a stinker of a shot at a Skunk. Small target from a reasonably long distance given its size.

Oh well a Fox next and a 16 followed by another Deer and another 16. As I've mention the bow was impressive which is more that can be said of the archer with half the targets complete I'd to many 3rd arrows or blanks for a descent score but then again that was not the purpose of the day.

Target 11 was small Squirrel from a close distance, not as close as the Stoat, and another 24 I was doing well on some of the smallest targets.



Next a Javelina and a 20 was I on a roll only one way to find out. What would I get on the next Brown Bear another 20 well this was looking good but a Ptarmigan was all it took to return me to the 3rd arrow shots. this was quickly followed by an Antelope and a 14 and then Boar over some of the classic South Wilts ditch filled terrain and another miss because I was completely stumped by the ground.

A long Brown Bear down one of the paths followed and then another Turkey. Three arrows because I was not sure what was in and what wasn't gave me a 10 before we moved onto a nice long shot at a Puma our penultimate target before the second break of the day. All we needed now was to kill a Mountain Goat and then it was off to late lunch.

Following another Bacon Roll for John and a coke for me it was off out for our last 10 targets of the day. To start our final run we had a Turkey down a ditch and another three arrow before finding I had a 10. On up out of the ditch it was time to shoot another Deer quickly followed by a second Deer and then onto a Prairie Dog.

With Alan out of the way we moved on to what ended up a rather difficult Goat before it was back to the tiny targets and a small Quail. With the Quail cooked it was back to the long shots at a Black Bear through another V in the trees and a 4. What was happening my good start for the afternoon was ending badly it must have been the Coke.

Three targets to go and still a chance to get a good score but little did I know there wasn't a snowball chance in hell of that. The next easy Deer on gave me a 10 whilst the Fox that followed provided only a 4 but to cap it all our last target of the day was a long, downhill and very deceptive Stag. This last target cause everyone a problem and proceeded to be the bane of every bodies life with only John managing to score. Up until this point George had managed to hit all the targets but it was not to be a perfect round.



So with the final target out of the way it was back to the Tea hut to wait for the results and see it we won anything in the raffle. After a great days shooting John won the Cub longbow gold whilst I became accustomed to my new bow. With the Nationals only 2 weeks away I will take the bow target shooting next week and then some more weekend fun.

Target				Target
		Me	John			Me	John
31	Deer	10	-	11	Squirrel	24	-
32	Jay	-	4	12	Javelina	20	16
33	Prong Horn	16	16	13	Brown Bear	20	16
34	Duck	20	-	14	Ptarmigan	4	16
35	Deer	16	16	15	Antelope	14	20
36	Stoat	24	14	16	Boar	-	16
37	Javelina	16	16	17	Brown Bear	10	16
38	Deer	-	16	18	Turkey	10	16
39	Rabbit	4	8	19	Puma	16	4
40	Mountain Goat	16	16	20	Mountain Goat	16	8
01	Turkey	10	16	21	Turkey	10	10
02	Black Bear	10	16	22	Deer	-	10
03	Deer	8	16	23	Deer	4	14
04	Reindeer	10	10	24	Prairie Dog	10	20
05	Hare	14	20	25	Goat	4	24
06	Wolf	16	16	26	Quail	14	8
07	Deer	4	16	27	Black Bear	4	16
08	Skunk	4	-	28	Deer	10	16
09	Fox	16	10	29	Fox	4	14
10	Deer	16	14	30	Stag	-	8
		230	240			194	268
				Total		424	508