Druids Shoot Report 23rd & 24th June 2012

It was time for the Druids Summer Solstice  shoot and I had booked in immediately after my previous shoot at Druids. Initially I had planned on camping on the Saturday night but having seen the weather forecast decided that may not be a good idea especially if I wanted some sleep.

So with a wet 3Ds being my last shoot I was hoping this weekend was not going to be a re-run but regardless I was going to shoot. So having driven through a few wet patches it was time to check-in and grab a cup of tea and a chat with some old friends before we were off to our designated target.

Saturday I would be starting on target 18 and on arrival at the target it was a nice open shot across the field and a good way to start the day. Today I would be shooting with Jenni and Andrew from Blackcat Archery and Paul who had not really shot for a while. With the cards exchanged we had already started the entertaining banter that showed today would be fun.


With the sound of the car horn starting the shoot it was time to take that first shot of the day at long open Blackcat and 3 arrows later I finally hit it. Well at least I didn't blank the first target of the day and things  could only get better. So with the first target out of the way it was off to another open shot at a Bear leaning on a tree and much better luck the first arrow was in and then it was on to the fun shot of the day past the flying Goose promising us entertainment for the Sunday.

Now the fun shot for today was 3 Deer standing behind each other, see below, and depending which you nominated and shot the point scoring was different. Simply going fog number 1 would bag you normal scoring whilst number 2 would add and extra 10 points to your score with number 3 adding an extra 20. Hitting the wrong target would not score at all.

So with number 3 being the one in the middle it was time to take a pot shot, after all what did I have to lose, so with the first passing it bum and the second skimming its belly I finally squared it in the rump with the third and bagged a 24.

Now which one to go for - oh to hell with it number 3

It was not time to enter the woods and not a moment to soon as it began to drizzle and staying dry looked good. Working through the woods we were blessed at being under cover when it did rain and the sun coming out for the open shots. I was having a storming time in the woods racking up first arrows with only the occasional second or third and those were kills so not to bad.

Then as we moved back towards the open field and the last three targets before the tea hut the heavens opened and with 2 compound archers in the group in front we were asking them to take as long as they needed to shoot the Velociraptor but alas they were quick to shoot and even quicker to score so we were going to have to shoot it in the rain.

As the rain eased slightly Jenni made the fatal mistake of saying "Look it's clearing up" well it didn't after that and with two targets before tea I blanked both as the string slipped off the glove. Not to worry a cup of tea would solve everything and so it did.

Following the tea break it was back into the woods for while and some excellent shots before venturing out into the second field and the potential to drizzle but with a quick 3 shots we were back into the woods and a shot at a Snake wrapped around a piece of wood before some more of Paul's excellent Hessian faces.

Then it was time for target 13, a Lion, and a large patch of stinging nettles behind. With an arrow flying over the back stop and into the nettles it was my fist loss / breakage of the day and as luck would have it the weekend. So with only 4 targets to go we were almost finished and it was time to put the lion behind me and finish with a some good shots.

By the end of the day I'd had an excellent and enjoyable days shooting with a great group of fellow archers and a cracking, i.e. excellent, course. So it was off home and already looking forward to Sundays shooting.

Having missed all the heavy rain Saturday night I headed back to Druids through a few showers but by time I arrived the sun was out and it was going to be a fine day. So traditional tea and off to the peg and today I would be starting at the furthest target number 35. On arrival I met with Adrian and Dylan, From South Wilts, and exchanged the cards before the car horn started the day.

Today target 35 was a long standing bear and a 16 was a good start to the day and moving on it continued with the Mountain Lion before 3 stupid misses on a Cobra and then it was out into the field with the Velociraptor, a bedded deer and a howling wolf face before moving back into the woods and by-passing the tea hut. 

Moving through the woods it was obvious that the course layers had been out in the night and subtly changed the course because although it was superficially the same as Saturday it was different. The net result was we had a complete, well it may as well have been, different course and for some reason slightly more difficult.

So with the different targets and angles we moved through the first part of the woods heading for the open ground and was managing to score a fair few 16s but nothing outstanding but as usual that did not matter because I was having fun shooting the course and chatting to Adrian and Dylan.

Having finished the second wooded section it was back out into the open and some brilliant blue skies and it was beginning to get warm. With some well laid targets even Adrian with his compound was missing some and so as we shot another 3 in the open it was time to get a tan as well and remove some of the clothing.

Then it was back into the woods for another shot at the snake on the pole before an owl, leopard and a bear face before heading to the tea hunt for a well deserved burger and tea.

So having filled up it was one more target in the woods before heading out into the open again and an otter. The Puma had been replaced by a long open deer and moved further into a dip at the bottom of the field.

Then it was time for the fly goose a moving target. Three arrows from the same peg and boy was this going to be interesting. Having watched the people in the group in front I thought I'd shoot it at the end of the run. This was a mistake because having drawn and shouted go it took a long time to be released and reach the end of its run and I was simply not used to holding 80# on my fingers for that long. Tried the second aiming for the middle but again it was slow and to long. Finally with the 3rd I decided to shout go then draw and aim at the start releasing in my normal time and almost bagged the bird.

With the fun of the moving target out of the way it was off back into the woods for our final 14 targets. Because of the rain Saturday night it was still wet and very slippery making moving around rather entertaining. So with different targets from Saturday it was another fun and interesting set of shots. 

On reaching target 28, Zebra, we bumped into Paul and had a brief discussion how it always seemed a shame to shoot such beautiful pictures but then I decided a 16 would be a good option before we moved onto a Honey badger and then a Canada Goose face. Now the interesting thing about this is that I simply could not see the face from the red peg when stood in my normal position and hence needed to lower myself doing the splits. This still left a branch partially covering the shot but hey I decided to go for it and as my feet were sliding further apart I hit something that was not the target making one hell of a racket and turning everyone's heads near by. I thought for sure the arrow would not have survived but these new Ash ones are tough and it went on to shoot for the rest of the afternoon. 

With only a few more targets to go we quickly cleared them before finishing on a Deer and a 20 for me before we picked up the target to return it to the tea hut and storage.

So with another excellent days shooting over and done with it was time to pack up and hand in the cards then plan for the September shoot which I'll have to book.

So thank to Jenni, Andrew, Paul, Adrian and Dylan for an entertaining weekend and to Druids for laying on another cracking course.


First 24 of the day

Oh that is a long way

That was luck

Jenni ponders the distance

A couple in flight

Wound By the skin of it's fangs

Finish on a 20

Saturday 23rd June

Target				Target
		Me	John			Me	John
18	Leopard	4	-	38	Velociraptor	10	-
19	Bear	16	-	39	Flamingo	-	-
20	Three Deer	24	-	40	Honey Badger	-	-
21	Tortoise	16	-	01	Deer	10	-
22	Bobcat	8	-	02	Deer	8	-
23	Boar	16	-	03	Wolf	16	-
24	Panda	14	-	04	Raven	16	-
25	Mini Bear	20	-	05	Boar	10	-
26	Bedded Deer	16	-	06	Goat	4	-
27	Puma	16	-	07	Water Vole	16	-
28	Wolf	16	-	08	Pig	8	-
29	Ibex	-	-	09	Goat	10	-
30	Otter	24	-	10	Deer	4	-
31	Hyena	16	-	11	Snake	16	-
32	Deer	14	-	12	Deer	10	-
33	Cobra	16	-	13	Lion	-	-
34	Tiger	16	-	14	Goat	8	-
35	Mountain Lion	8	-	15	Bear	16	-
36	Standing Bear	16	-	16	Leopard	16	-
37	Deer	10	-	17	Swan	8	-
		276	-			186	-
				Total		462	-

Sunday 24th June

Target				Target
		Me	John			Me	John
35	Standing Bear	16	-	15	Deer	16	-
36	Mountain Lion	16	-	16	Boar	4	-
37	Cobra	-	-	17	Otter	14	-
38	Velociraptor	4	-	18	Deer	10	-
39	Bedded Deer	16	-	19	Puma	-	-
40	Wolf	4	-	20	Flying Goose	-	-
01	Goat	16	-	21	Panther	10	-
02	Fox	16	-	22	Bedded Deer	10	-
03	Frog	14	-	23	Wolf	4	-
04	Squirrel	16	-	24	Tortoise	14	-
05	Carp	16	-	25	Bobcat	16	-
06	Komodo Dragon	-	-	26	Mini Bear	10	-
07	Frog	14	-	27	Boar	4	-
08	Deer	16	-	28	Zebra	16	-
09	Pig	4	-	29	Honey Badger	14	-
10	Goat	-	-	30	Goose	-	-
11	Snake	16	-	31	Leopard	10	-
12	Owl	14	-	32	Spider	16	-
13	Leopard	-	-	33	Ibex	14	-
14	Bear	-	-	34	Deer	20	-
		198	-			202	-
				Total		400	-