Author Topic: Any archers among us?  (Read 19315 times)

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #50 on: 14 March, 2012, 03:55:19 pm »
Ooh - a bow without block & tackle.  Proper archery :thumbsup:
Getting there...

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #51 on: 14 March, 2012, 04:07:13 pm »
I like the neatness of the take apart bit. When I used to shoot in australia, transporting a full-on flatbow by bike was awkward.

<i>Marmite slave</i>

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #52 on: 14 March, 2012, 04:09:04 pm »
Cool bow, Lee  :D

I accidentally bought a second hand compound outfit from a friend of a friend late last year to replace the one I lost in the burglary.

I must put some pictures up...

Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #53 on: 14 March, 2012, 04:11:18 pm »
Damn, I checked this thread hoping for news about Tony.

LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #54 on: 14 March, 2012, 04:16:13 pm »
Cool bow, Lee  :D

I accidentally bought a second hand compound outfit from a friend of a friend late last year to replace the one I lost in the burglary.

I must put some pictures up...

Accidents will happen (as Elvis Costello wrote, in his song about never intending to buy another Bow)

LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #55 on: 14 March, 2012, 04:19:09 pm »
I like the neatness of the take apart bit. When I used to shoot in australia, transporting a full-on flatbow by bike was awkward.

Agreed.  As a teenager I used to have a Bow in a long, thin bag as tall as I was. PITA.

I reckon I could stuff the Bow and accessories into my Ortleibs (and I'm going to try in order to combine 2 hobbies.  It would be a nice ride out to the Amport club on a sunny Sunday morning)

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #56 on: 14 March, 2012, 04:30:20 pm »
Cool bow, Lee  :D

I accidentally bought a second hand compound outfit from a friend of a friend late last year to replace the one I lost in the burglary.

I must put some pictures up...

Accidents will happen (as Elvis Costello wrote, in his song about never intending to buy another Bow)

As well as Bow, I believe he wished to avoid Chelsea too.
Getting there...

LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #57 on: 20 May, 2012, 11:06:33 pm »
Well, proof that you can get a modern Recurve, 12 arrows, a quiver and a change of clothes onto a bike and cycle 45 miles to/from a competition.

I managed to prove spectacularly uncompetitive in the competition but, if there had been an award for the person with the highest score (who cycled farthest to/from the event), I would have got first place.



That's a 68" Recurve (take-down bow) in the right pannier and an arrow tube for 12 x 28" arrows in the left.

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #58 on: 21 May, 2012, 07:50:08 am »
Cool!

Can you ride no-hands and loose off arrows like an Injun in a Western?
If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #59 on: 21 May, 2012, 09:12:07 am »
Cool!

Can you ride no-hands and loose off arrows like an Injun in a Western?

I don't see why not, and it may get me a bit more respect at junctions.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #60 on: 21 May, 2012, 09:30:20 am »
Yeah.  When everyone is creased up laughing at your falling off, you should be able to sail through... ;D
Getting there...

BrianI

  • Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Lepidopterist Man!
Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #61 on: 23 May, 2012, 08:04:27 am »
as an update, I treated myself to a new bow a few weeks ago, a Samick Outland American Flat bow.
68", 40# and shoots like a lovely thing!   :thumbsup:

Much nicer to shoot than my old take down recurve bow, although not quite as forgiving for a bad shot.

LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #62 on: 23 May, 2012, 08:34:39 am »
as an update, I treated myself to a new bow a few weeks ago, a Samick Outland American Flat bow.
68", 40# and shoots like a lovely thing!   :thumbsup:

Much nicer to shoot than my old take down recurve bow, although not quite as forgiving for a bad shot.

I've shot the club's Longbows and Flatbows, they are fun but I'm certainly not talented enough to shoot them accurately over 30 metres.

I like the sound of arrow hitting target at 80 metres more than roaming around looking for arrows in the grass.  I need a sight for that (although there are some amazing barebow archers in the club who clearly don't).

I guess Compound / Recurve / Barebow is a similar spectrum to Carbon Racing bike / Touring bike / Fixed.  It's all archery but each variant has it's own challenges.

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #63 on: 23 May, 2012, 11:48:40 am »
I guess Compound / Recurve / Barebow is a similar spectrum to Carbon Racing bike / Touring bike / Fixed.  It's all archery but each variant has it's own challenges.
That's a really good way of putting it.

I used to shoot bare flatbow. If I took it up again, I'd go for a sighted takedown recurve, for the reasons you've given.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #64 on: 16 April, 2013, 09:00:39 am »
I got tired of all the "we'd prefer it if you wore a green top and cream/white trousers" approach to Archery in England, too much committee, not enough fun.

+1

Some time ago, I decided that I didn't want to shoot much in the way of competition stuff.  I just like keeping my hand in and having some shits and giggles with a variety of fun toys.

The whole dress code thing was just the crowning turd on the dung heap - Archery in the UK is too much like crown green bowls to be any fun.

The Archery club I joined in the end is very much a Jeans and t-shirts type club.  A definite and conscious reaction to the other, more formal, club in town.
There's a mix of Bows, genders, abilities (and disabilities).  You can compete or just "plink" for relaxation, no pressure, very relaxed.

I've had a few issues with "target panic" (or "Gold Shy"), that Archery affliction that must not be mentioned, but I'm getting through it and back  to a fairly decent level again.  I shot a PB for 20 yards last night which makes me think it's all behind me. (Only someone who has experienced "Target Panic" will know what I'm on about (although it affects other "target" sports such as Golf, Darts, Snooker and so on)).

Anyways, it was a great decision to take up the sport again, I love the amount of focus it demands, that it's impossible to think about anything else in those moments leading up to the shot.

Note.  The moments immediately following the shot are normally full of thoughts such as "you heavy-handed donkey..what a crap shot", but there's always that next shot.

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #65 on: 16 April, 2013, 09:39:24 am »
I joined a local club when I returned to the UK. They were mostly so far up their own bottoms that I only went half a dozen times before I jacked.
It's a shame because it is a great sport but does seem to have more than it's fair share of Knobs. :(

LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #66 on: 16 April, 2013, 10:17:57 am »
I joined a local club when I returned to the UK. They were mostly so far up their own bottoms that I only went half a dozen times before I jacked.
It's a shame because it is a great sport but does seem to have more than it's fair share of Knobs. :(

It's worth shopping around like I did, to find a club that suits.

I really can't abide the whole "Shhhhhh...rules before fun" thing.  I appreciate there's a safety aspect to shooting sports and etiquette that needs to be observed in competition but, please, it's possible to have a bit of banter and fun along the way if it's just a club evening..

If background laughter disturbs you or puts you off your shot then my club isn't for you.


Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #67 on: 24 June, 2013, 09:29:46 am »
Julian and I spent a day at Wye Valley Archery this weekend.

As a London archer, used only to shooting indoors or out in sports fields in nice weather, it was completely different to anything that I'd done before.  No stuffy competitions, no stupid rules and regulations about what you have to wear, no whistles and no silly old nonsense about what kind of bow you can and can't use.

Instead, there were a whole bunch of people, from little kids with loaner bows, right up to hairy bikers with war bows and everything in between.  As long as you observed the basic safety rules, you could shoot what you liked, how you liked.  The owner, Lee, made us hugely welcome and took us round the course personally - cracking jokes and giving us hits and tips as we went.  He was using a lovely one-piece hunting recurve, but he shoots all sorts and I was fascinated to see his son, who shoots a high-poundage hunting compound bow off his gloved fingers!

There's a regular target range and a 'roving' range (complete with knights of various nationalities to engage) but after a few ends on the GNAS targets, we went off into the woods to play.  The 3D course is awesome - it's packed with all sorts of real world archery challenges, shooting a variety of animal shaped objects at unknown ranges, with elevations, dead ground, multiple targets and other obstacles designed to make you think like a hunter, not like a target archer.  For instance, when you walk into the woods for the first time, here's the very first thing you're confronted with:



The life size foam rubber targets mean that you can shoot at them all day with surprisingly little damage when you pull the arrow out.  Bit of luck really, the big ones are many hundreds of pounds to replace.

They're marked with a kill zone which corresponds to where you'd need to put your arrow to drop them if they were real.  Although to be fair, if they were real, you couldn't do this:

 

And you're unlikely to do this:



Although I have a lovely little Samick SKB short bare bow pulling 45lbs - I can't shoot for toffee with it.  So instead, I used my Martin target compound setup with a regular scope.  Not a field or hunting bow, but it let me be pretty accurate - although I left the posh carbon arrows at home because shooting in the woods is a great way to break and lose your best gear:



Julian shot a hired recurve bow without sights:



...and had no problems making sure that Harry Potter wasn't getting his mail that evening:



It was just the best fun that I've had out in the woods for ages.  Lots of the fun of hunting without the tiresome necessity of clearing up gibbly bits afterwards.  Hell, I even got to shoot Bambi.  Repeatedly.  From 40 metres.  Being horribly vain, I had to pose for one of those American bowhunting 'look what I shot' photos:



Sorry - that was gratuitous   :D

So if you're in the market for a splendid day out just over the M4 bridge into Wales, I highly recommend giving Lee a call.  He caters for all ages, standards, individuals and groups.  He even says he'll do sessions for birthdays and stag parties, which I think is a great way of having some fun with your mates for not an awful lot of cash.

It's a shame it's such a long drive for us or I'd be down there much more.  All I need to do now is to work out how to justify another day down there as a 'team building' jolly with my colleagues...
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #68 on: 24 June, 2013, 09:35:21 am »
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cu_0h2GZXJQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Cu_0h2GZXJQ&rel=1</a>
Getting there...

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #69 on: 24 June, 2013, 09:42:35 am »
That last photo.....

That's a scary grin....... :o
Not fast & rarely furious

tweeting occasional in(s)anities as andrewxclark

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #70 on: 24 June, 2013, 10:02:21 am »
Nice outfit, Charlotte.


Looks like the course is carefully set up to avoid you needing to spend hours hunting for the arrows that missed. I used to go to a similar setup in Oz - but it had targets located in evil places (such as up a tree). Misses meant much time combing the woods.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

BrianI

  • Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Lepidopterist Man!
Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #71 on: 24 June, 2013, 05:46:32 pm »
Nice hat, Charlotte!
Shame about the bow with training wheels though!   ;)
The club I shoot at has a full 14 target course of 3D's much fun!


LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #72 on: 25 June, 2013, 09:30:50 pm »
Looks like a good setup.

Kudos to Julian for going Barebow (especially if you ended up with as many arrows as you started out with).

Charlotte, you should check out Air Rifle "Hunter Field Target" shooting and take your Air Arms TDR along (although you may need a single-shot converter).
Exactly the same challenge, you aren't told the distance and the targets (knock down Squirrels, bunnies..etc) are placed in not so convenient locations.

Our archery club are talking about visiting a 3D Field range at some point.  Wish I had my old Compound with it's 5 pin hunting sight (and flattish trajectory) but I can easily make do with my boingy recurve.

At some point I'm going to have to scratch my Compound Bow itch I think.

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #73 on: 25 June, 2013, 09:57:34 pm »
Do you think we could fit a 25m range in a garden?  Backstop could be a problem . . .
<i>Marmite slave</i>

LEE

Re: Any archers among us?
« Reply #74 on: 25 June, 2013, 10:29:00 pm »
Do you think we could fit a 25m range in a garden?  Backstop could be a problem . . .

Depends entirely on the length of your garden :-)

20 Yards is ideal.  You can then shoot Portsmouth rounds (my favourite).

Backstop netting is available.