Fleet Ibex Shoot Report 15th April 2012

It was time to visit Fleet Ibex again and see how it had changed since January. The loggers had almost finished and we would see what would be left of the wood and as it turned out a whole lot of space. On arriving it was one of those cool, well damn cold actually, sprint mornings with an icy wind whistling across the fields. This is not normally a problem because once into the woods the trees break up the wind and things warm up a bit but not today.

So as always it was the traditional start to the day with a bacon roll and a cup of tea and then onto the friendly banter with the fellow archers. With everyone registered it was off the the targets and find out who I would be spending the day with and it would be David and Alex, longbow and cub HT, and with John missing we would be in a group of 3.

So with the horn sounded it was time to start shooting and a 20 was a great start and unfortunately as it turned out for the day things could only get worse although you could say I had an absolutely smashing day with 5 broken arrows two of which were cause by the target legs. A fraction to the left and they would both of scored but there is always a positive for every broken arrow I have Fred, from Westcott, gets a new one. So it was quickly onto the next target a badger and a 4 before an interesting Bedded Deer behind a tree stump which covered part of the kill. But as luck would have it I grazed the tree stump and into the kill; it's handy having a heavy bow at times.

At this point little did I know how my day was going to change with the next Mini Bear providing a, what would be the last good score for a while, before moving onto a Prong Horn and a slow downward spiral  but hey-ho that's part of the fun if I was out for perfect scores I would not be shooting longbow.

With a richocett providing once on the node for the Prong Horn it was off to start some smashing times.



With a Walking Bear next I managed to break two arrows one one the debris remaining from the logging and one on the Bears leg. Must have clipped the front leg and although the arrow was in the bank behind touching the leg the fletchings were by its bum. But I must admit it was a great shot but then again you expect little else from the Fleet Ibex Course Layers.

As we were only doing 2 large loops on the course it would be a few stops before lunch and most of those were not so good as far as my scoring was concerned. But after about 20 targets David mentioned that I seemed to be catching my hat on most of the shots so time to change tactics and start taking it off for the shot which I must admit improved my scores for the second half but not as dramatically as I would have hoped.

So after a quick spot of lunch, I'd brought my own today, it was off for the second round of 20 and slightly more success although my brain was still obviously not in gear because by the time we reached target 30 and a pair of Rabbits, 1 arrow at each, for some reason I decided to shoot the right one twice so 2 hits but only one scored. We also had the classic long Elk that was longer than it looked and a rather interesting shot at a Spider or fly and after watching the Compound Archer in front take a shot at the fly (see below) I decided having broken 5 already I'd chicken out and go for the Spider. David also shot the Spider for points but decided to try the fly after with the inevitable results.

Having finished the course my satisfaction at my shooting was not at all high but I must say given the amount of trees missing from the Fleet course there layers did an excellent job rebuilding trees from discarded logs where there was not one appropriate for the target. So in all it was an excellent days shooting with David and Alex made all the more fun by a wood that let the biting wind through at all possible times. Roll on May I'm looking forward to it already.

Through the branches

Who nicked all the trees !

Something about this shot stinks

Left : Should I be worried.
Right : Yes .... Ow ... Ow. Make that a No

Over ?
Under ?
To hell with it Over.

I think I'll go for the Spider

(Tree) We can rebuild them

dd

Target				Target
		Me	John			Me	John
07	Frog	20	-	27	Standing Bear	20	-
08	Badger	4	-	28	Bobcat	16	-
09	Bedded Deer	20	-	29	Standing Deer	10	-
10	Mini Bear	16	-	30	Rabbits	16	-
11	Prong Horn	4	-	31	Bedded Ibex	4	-
12	Walking Bear	-	-	32	Boar	-	-
13	Wolf	-	-	33	Elk	10	-
14	Turkey	-	-	34	Standing Deer	10	-
15	Mini Bear	4	-	35	Turkey	20	-
16	Baboon	10	-	36	Spider & Fly	-	-
17	Ibex	4	-	37	Leopard	10	-
18	Skunk	16	-	38	Javelina	14	-
19	Standing Deer	-	-	39	Frog	10	-
20	Standing Bear	16	-	40	Wolverine	-	-
21	Deer	-	-	01	Cobra	16	-
22	Bedded Deer	4	-	02	Standing Deer	10	-
23	Standing Deer	16	-	03	Turkey	10	-
24	Bear	10	-	04	Standing Bear	4	-
25	Fox	-	-	05	Javelina	20	-
26	Pheasant	-	-	06	Leopard	14	-
		144				214
				Total		358