It was the late May bank
holiday weekend and time for the 2013 NFAS 3D Nationals and
having shot last week at Fleet
Ibex and lost / broken three arrows I was hoping for a less
destructive two days. With the weather looking to be totally the
opposite of last years 3Ds it was looking as though it would be a
cracking weekend at Osmaston
Park, near Ashbourne, a wonderful drive down the A515 from
my parents.With the Nationals spread across the weekend the NFAS organisers had arranged for some glorious sunny weather for this our, expected to be, last 3Ds at Osmaston Park. With the temperatures due to head for, the toasty, mid-teens it was time to dig out the sun cream.
Again this year the traditional longbow archers would be shoot B course, laid by Lyme Valley Archers, on the Saturday and A course, laid by Duvelle Bowmen, on the Sunday with a short walk on Sunday we would be the first out for the long walk on Saturday.
Having chatted with various friend it was time to head out to B course and target 20 where I would be meeting my shooting partners for the day. Saturday I would be shooting with Alan, Jason, Susan and Molly, the Weimaraner, and as usually the aim was to complete the course with no blank, broken or lost arrows. Little did I know that because of the contrast in the woods and the cloudless sky it would be an entertaining weekend for taking photos but at least on Saturday I'd get a couple of me.
So with the cards handed
out and the shotgun blast echoing through the woods was time take
the first shot of the day. Now we had been staring at the target
for a while trying to work out what this black animal in the shade
actually was. As it turned out it was the small bear climbing on a
tree stump. So I kicked off the day with a 10 and then onto a Deer
and another 10. At this point Alan noticed that my first arrow was
bent, recently repaired for the 3Ds, and so it was time to switch
out the arrow and then following bedded ram was a nice 16.Having switched the first arrow it was time for a short run of 16s and 20s as we move through the woodlands shooting some excellently laid targets. Following a series of rams, turkeys and deer it was time for a an interesting bedded deer that provided me with the typical over under and finally in the middle type shots before moving on to a couple of shots at a few prehistoric targets and another nice 16 on a long Dinosaur.
With the dinosaur out of the way is was on through the top part of the woods to an absolutely wonderful shot at a staning Stag. Okay it was my first blank of the but I can appreciate a well laid target even when I miss and from the red peg the dead ground that was obvious from the white could not be seen.
With the blank behind me is was back to scoring with another run of 16s and 14s before final getting my only 24 of the weekend on a little Javelina not long before lunch but first a couple of longer shots out across more open ground.
Following provided by
Hanson on the X course we were off back around the second loop
with some interestingly long shots mixed in with the classic
shorter shots and then it was time for the drunken bear with a
distinct backwards angle. To all intents and purposes it looked as
though this particular targets had been on the beer the night
before.Quickly following this rather long shot it was time for a backwards shot at a mosquito (i.e. the red, white and blue pegs moved further away) and it was a case of go under or over the branch for the shot. As it was I chose under because I didn't want to whack my top limb on the overhanging branches and was rewarded by a simple 16.
With only a few more targets to go before we completed the days shooting it was off to another standing bear, this one having not touched the drink, before a small baboon and finally a pig shot that netted me a 20 one the final target of the day.
With all the targets shot it was finally time to total up the scores and head back to admin having had a wonderful day shooting the Lyme Valley Archers B Course and looking forward to a cold beer and then another good days shooting on the Sunday.
Alan Jason Susan
Molly
Given we were shooting A
Course which was right next to the admin area we would be the last
out to the targets although we would still have a fair time to
wait before kicking off. Having arrived at the peg it was time to
say hello to the fellow archers and do the standard introductions.
Today I would be shooting with Paul (who I shot with last year on
the Sunday), Jean and Clive but only for part of it because he
needed to drop back a group after an incident on the course left
the group behind with only two people.We kicked off the day with a longish downhill shot at a wolf and I started like I had on the Saturday with a 10 and then it was quickly on to a deer and another 10. This was bringing back memories of the previous morning but a third 10 on the trot soon broke that similarity and then it was time to start scoring and hence hitting with the first arrow. With a downhill standing deer bringing the first 16 of the day I was off to a chequered start but even a luck hump shot on a boar would do me.
A Bear, boar, goat and a
deer would take us up to our first tea stop of the day and as it
was still on early in the day a kitkat would replace the burger.With a couple of 20's before tea it was time to see if I could keep this up but as it was not really a 14 on number 1 and then it was back to the 16's again as we moved through the first large loop of the day around the empty pheasant pens.
Another mosquito brought another 16 and then it was time for some longer targets.
Paul Hits a 20
Starting with a walking bear and then onto a Jackalope before an
interesting White wolf and a pesky raccoon. Today's scoring was
starting to look better than Saturdays and I was managing a fair
few first arrows so it was going great as far as I was concerned.
We shot couple more targets and then their was the 3 blasts on a
whistle and all stopped. Once the marshal had wandered around we found the group behind had lost to of it's members and put them in a difficult position as far are scoring was concerned so Clive dropped back and we were now a group of three. We were moving well as a groups of four but with one down the targets just seemed to flow by as we worked our way around the large pheasant pen shooting a fair number of bedded animals and a large dinosaur before heading back for a well deserved cup of tea and lunch.
Following a bacon cheese burger it was time to head off to the lower part of the wood and its views across one of the lakes within the park. taking a variety of downhill and uphill shots along the way. As always in this part of the wood there was a fair few rhododendrons to cause ricochets and irritating deflections and then we were at a long downhill at another dinosaur and probably one of my best shots of the day netting me a 20.
Moving quickly on it was time for another snake and another arrow in the nose of the snake. This had been a trend with the snakes for the weekend always a fraction to high for the kill. Then it was time for another large downhill stag and another successful first arrow before we moved on for the last few targets of the day.
With only the leopard to shoot I was hoping for a reasonable score but as it happens I messed up the easy last shot and simple scored a 4. Oh well it had been another excellent days shooting on another well laid course shooting with an entertaining bunch of fellow archers.
Jean Clive Paul
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