Nationals Shoot Report 17th September 2011

The 2011 Nationals had finally come around and after a disastrous pre-nationals shoot at South Wilts I was hoping that this weekend was going to be significantly better. This year the Nationals were being held at Eastnor Castle near Ledbury in Herefordshire and having looked at the website I was looking forward to shooting in the woods around the castle. Having spent Friday on a Westfield Experience day at the Millbrook Proving Ground it meant I would need to be up early to arrive in time to register and so it was.

I should have been shoot both days but as things turned out I could only make the Saturday and given the way that went maybe it was for the best. So after a 2 hour drive I finally arrive at the shoot and the first priority was to track down a cup of tea. So with tea in hand it was time to register and go and find out who else was around for the pre-shoot chat.

The weather in the morning was glorious with blue skies and the odd cloud but the crowd of archers was smaller this year than previous and to reflect this their would only be 3 courses rather than the traditional 4. The result of this was that the Longbow Archers would be shooting with Compounds and Crossbows on the Y course which was laid by Doverdale Bowmen for compounds.

South Wilts Shoot Report 4th Semptember 2011

With the Nationals fast approaching it was time for the South Wilts pre Nationals Shoot shooting faces for a full round. Now it has been some time since I shot faces and I was soon to remember why I prefer 3D shoots and if the round had of been 3Ds my score would have been half decent as it was; well the less said about that.

Anyway when I set off the sun was shining and the sky was blue but as I approached South Wilts it was obvious that Sam had been doing the rain dance and very successfully at that. The black clouds we rolling about the South Wilts course and I was getting wet just trying to put the waterproofs on. At this point I totally believed that their was some twisted competition going on and that South Wilts were trying to out do Avalon. If this was the case they failed because as it turned out the day was a day of two halves and by the afternoon we were basking in sunshine and blue skies.

Excalibur Shoot Report 27th-28th August 2011

Having never shot at Excalibur previously I was looking forward to a good weekends shooting, especially since shooting with Mark and Scott at Fleet and the description of the targets Mark builds, and so after a long drive we finally arrived in Clacton. Excalibur have a small section of woodland but they use it well fitting 20 custom targets into the small area and generally making it one of the most fun shoots on the calendar.

Mark from Excalibur tends to custom build / modify the targets to the highest quality and as I said we were looking forward to an entertaining weekends shooting even though the weather had been atrocious and the weekend promised rain but after Avalon what's a bit of rain.

Fleet Ibex Shoot Report 14th August 2011

Fleet is always a shoot I look forward to and as I mentioned in the last Fleet report the last thing I did was book myself in for this shoot. With the weather promising to be warm but humid at least it looked like I was not going to get soaked to my underwear like  Avalon.

Yet again I would be shooting my Bamboo arrows, I'm really beginning to prefer these to wood, although I had not replaced the slightly washed out wraps but hey-ho you could still, just, read my name and that was all I needed after all who else shoots 36" bamboo shafts.

So it was time to grab the cards, a Bacon Roll for John and a cup of tea for me before we had the transitional pre shoot chat and then it was off to the first target. We were starting on Target 22 today which for those who know Fleet is out the back-end of the woods. Little did I know as we were walking out that we would be shooting with a celebrity today in the form of Mark Jones (front page of this months NFAS magazine and multiple other shots inside) and his son Scott from Excalibur.

Avalon Shoot Report 16th & 17th July 2011

With the hot spell over and a forecast of some showers this weekend was promising to be cooler and slightly damp and having just returned from a week in Istanbul I was looking forward to some cooler weather and was not going to be bothered by a bit of rain.

But as they say you should be careful what you wish for because on Saturday the it was not raining Cats and Dogs it was raining Elephants and Hippos as the heavens opened at the start of the shoot we we all soaked within a few targets. As a result many an, intelligent, archery packed up and left early and so all that remained were foolhardy and insane.

I'm not sure which of those two camps I fit in but having been soaked within a few targets and having no equipment that would be badly damaged by the rain I decided to work my way through all my waterproofs and stick it out for the day and then try and dry everything before returning on Sunday. Fortunately I do have multiples of some items so the wet and still dripping were left in the utility room to be replaced by new dry versions. The only thing I could not dry was the leather handle on my longbow. Sunday as it turned out was a total contrast to Saturday with only a single short deposit of Elephants and hence by the end of the day even my bow handle had dried.

Raven Shoot Report 10th July 2011

Having originally thought "I've not shot at Raven before" I was proved wrong when John looked at his gold medal and said we have shot at Raven before I have another on of these at home. So it was not to be the first time I'd shot at Raven but it had been 3 years (although I will not be waiting that long again).

So having had a few hot weekends it looked like we were in for a cooler days shooting with maybe a bit of rain but that was completely wrong because from the point we got out of the car the heat started rising and so did the humidity. We were in for another warm day that was going to be very humid in the morning.

The Making Of Bamboo Arrows

As I mentioned in my Wellington Bowmen report I was considering buying some of the Tonkin Bamboo arrow shafts and so I did. Now having never worked with Bamboo shafts before, well not strictly true because I remember using Bamboo garden canes for arrows as a child, I thought I would blog about what I found.

I've been making arrows for a number of years, given the amount I break on field shoots I'm quite good at it, and traditionally I use either Boyton Pine or Port Oxford Cedar (these smell good when the break) so Bamboo was going to be something new. The first thing you will notice is the beautiful red / brown colour of the heat treated smoothed lacquered Bamboo. The second thing you notice is that your shafts are not all identical or of a consistent machined diameter. Given that these shafts are simple cut Bamboo you will also notice that each of the shafts has a natural taper and hence my shafts were approximately 11/32 at one end (pile end) and 5/16 at the other (nock end) give or take and 39" in length.

Jims Jungle Jaunt Shoot Report 3rd July 2011

Well It was that time of year again as the Americans get ready for Independence Day we get ready for a much more important event Jim's Jungle Jaunt in the woodlands near Shacklford. Although Carol and co have not been hosting it quite as long as the US has celebrated the 4th July it is a much more prestigious and memorable event. There were a number of changes this year, for one I was only shooting Sunday, with a new course and only 40 targets it was going to be different.

With the weather forecast saying that we would have a generally sunny day and temperatures in the 20s it was going to be warm again and given the predication for the valley section to be hot and sticky, especially as I entering it mid afternoon,  plenty of fluids were required. After a quick cup of tea and a target change it was off to target 5 to meet up with my fellow archers, for the day, and await the car horn to start.

Wellington Bowmen Shoot Report 26th June 2011

Having spotted a flyer for the first Wellington Bowhunters shoot that would take place around the corner it was an opportunity I was not going to miss a local shoot that would take me no more than 15 minutes to get to (not that I mind driving). The weather forecasters had promised a mini heatwave for Sunday and sure enough the day started with glorious sunshine little did I anticipate how hot it was going to get later in the day.

The Course was going to be the traditional 36 targets over undulating woodland that had plenty of branches and logs scattered across the ground (they had been logging recently) which made the going tough and finding arrows interesting. In addition the woodland provided a marshy area that the course layers had taken advantage of and this was definitely not an area where you wanted to miss the target because it was more that likely that you would never see the arrow again as it buried itself in the smelly mud around the target. At the end of the day I heard more than a few metal arrow archers complaining about lost arrows in this section but from my point of view it was fun if a bit smelly and wet.

3D Nationals Shoot Report 28th & 29th May 2011

May bank holiday weekend had finally arrived and hence it was time for the 2011 NFAS 3D Nationals and as was the way with English weather it was looking a bit grim. Not to worry though because we would be shoot at Osmaston Park near Ashbourne and a wonderful drive down the A515 from my parents.
This would be the first Nationals where John would be shooting as an U16 and he was looking forward to shooting from the Blue and in addition have more competition. Having not been given his trophy at previous Nationals (because it had not been returned) he was hoping he could win one this time and as it happens he did come first and receive his medal and trophy.

This year the traditional longbow archers would be shoot B course, laid by Pines Park, on the Saturday and A course, laid by Wasp, on the Sunday and as luck would have it the short walks to their part of the woods. Osmaston Park provides some wonderful woodland to shoot in and hence promised an excellent weekends shooting once I had found where to enter the park (missed the signs on the A52).

Home Made Arrow Dipper

For those of you who have read my shoot report entries you will know that I have been having a fairly disastrous time with broken arrows and hence needed to make some quickly. I have been considering dipping my arrows as an alternative method of varnishing my field arrows. Given that their are few archery shops in the UK that seem to sell these and given the obviously simple concept I decided to have a go at building one from the odds and ends in my garage. Given that I don't tend to throw anything away, much to my wife's consternation, I have a variety or weird and wonderful things in the garage and any time I can make something from them is proof that my "it will come in useful at some point" argument is correct.

Fleet Ibex Shoot Report 22nd May 2011

Well having had so much fun at Easter I was looking forward to returning to Fleet Ibex for the Pre-3D Nationals next week to get that final bit of practice in before bank holiday weekend. With changeable weather predicted it was still looking like a good day to shoot and as it happened the weather was great bar one rather heavy rain shower that lasted a couple of minutes the rest of the day, as the photo will show, was blue skies with the odd cloud. But enough of me waxing lyrical about the weather as always the most important thing about my blogs is the description of the shoot.

Well today I was joined by John for the first time since last September and hence the competition was going to be tough, given that he usually beats me, but maybe I'd have an advantage given he had not shot for nearly 9 months. But having had 9 months break it was like falling off a bicycle for him and at the end of the first 20 targets we would be neck and neck but more about that later.

Having learnt from my previous shoots that missing the bacon roll and mug of tea was a bad way to start the day we tucked into a a bacon roll (well two for John) before we wandered of to our first target and again we would be starting on 39. Having walked out to our designated starting target we introduced ourselves to Andy and Vicky our shooting partners for the day and exchanged the score card awaiting the sound of the horn.

South Wilts Bluebell Shoot Report 30th April & 1st May 2011

It was time for the South Wilts Bluebell Shoot and this year it was being run over two days, the Saturday and Sunday of the long weekend, and the weather was looking a bit dubious according to the Met Office but in Met Office tradition they were wrong and we were in for another 2 excellent days. This year the Bluebells had timed it right and as we were walking through the woods we were surrounded by the pale blue of there flowers.

I had been looking forward to the South Wilts shoot for a while as it is one of my favourite shoot locations having an excellent wood and exceptional course layers.

Having failed to start the day correctly at Fleet Ibex I decided that a Bacon Butty and a cup of tea was a must so after registering and making excuses for John it was off to grab the required sustenance before chatting to a few of the other Westcott archers and checking if Fred needed me to break any arrows. With the tea and bacon gone all that remained we to wait to be shown to our starting targets and find out who I would be shooting with. Today (Saturday) I would be starting on target 31, half way around the course, and hence a reasonable walk out.

Having reached the target and introduced myself to Mike and Alison all that remained was to await the long blast of the air horn and we could commence our days shooting.

Fleet Ibex Shoot Report 24th April 2011

Given that Fleet was going to be my second shoot of the year I was hoping that I would improve on the Avalon score from last week but today was not going to be my finest hour(s). As the scores below, 4 broken arrows and 2 lost show I was slightly off form. Oh well at least Fred (from Westcott) has a few more arrows as he tend to shorten my broken ones.

I suspect, having thought about it, my problem started because I did not have the traditional Bacon Butty and a cup of tea (I'll remember that for South Wilts next week) but we live an learn but at least I did not break my bow like the FreeStyle archer who snapped his limbs whist shooting on the practice targets or whoever owned the broken longbow I spotted at lunch.

Having said all of that today's shoot at Fleet Ibex was an extremely enjoyable day out, as usual at Fleet, with another day of glorious sun and a course laid to Fleets usual, high, standards. Having missed the Bacon Butty, partly because John was sick again, it was off to Target 39 to start the day. Here I met my shoot partners for the day Simon and Matthew where we exchanged cards and decided who was scoring and who was searching.

Avalon Shoot Report 10th April 2011

Avalon was going to be my first field shoot of 2011 and I had been looking forward to it for sometime. Having not shot much over the winter and just arriving back from a trip the Washington it was also going to an entertaining day. As usual the Avalon guys had set an extremely entertaining course that combined fun and difficulty to make the one of the most enjoyable for a while. In addition to a well laid course we had exceptional weather for early April with clear blue skies, as seen below, and temperatures in the 20s (I'm glad we were under cover for most of it or the factor 30 would not have been enough).

As events would happen John was not feeling up to shooting today so it was going to be one of those odd days shooting without his banter but at least he would not out shoot me as he usually does. As it turned out I was going to be shooting Debbie, Wayne and Steve from Invicta HT archers so I had the honors of the Longbow Archers on my shoulders to prove we can score just the same as they can.

With a good chatty friendly group today's shooting was going to be fun but first a bacon butty and a cup of tea.

We we due to start on Target 6 "The Bees Nest" and following a warning by Clive we avoided the taped area near the Red peg and awaited the sound of the horn to start the shooting. The first target of the day was a Bedded Deer and it was with some trepidation that I took to the Red peg. The first field shot in, ooooooo, months. But as it was a 16 was on the cards and I was off to a good start and shooting coming back to me like falling off a bike.