2017 Gator Cup @ the Easton Foundation

This was my first outdoor target shoot. We shot from 50 meters at 80cm targets, We shot six arrows per end and we shot 12 ends. So including the three practice round that's 90 arrows today.  I had not shot since Thursday's 3D league at First Flight which I won by the way. I had left to drive here at 5:30 in the morning and should have arrived around 2 pm so I could practice and was on schedule to do that until I got on I-10 and I hit a traffic jam which caused me to take 3 plus hours to travel 5 miles. Then when I got to what I thought is the end it is not they were forcing everyone to exit the interstate. Seem some bozo rolled a fuel truck over. I hope he is OK but wonder if he has any idea or cares just how many people he stole hours of time from.
I shoot with Kevin Polish a pro with Prime and Justin, We only had the three of us on bail 29, I shot target B. I did not shoot very well I shot 556 out of 720 which put me in last place 71st with only five archers after me who apparently did not start. I had a lot of trouble with focus due to the heat I believe. I missed the whole target three time but did at least hit the paper, I did not lose any arrows. It was strange on two of the ends where I missed I also shot an X and several nines. Justin thought my misses were due to wind but I am not sure. I started making myself drink between every end and do what I could to cool off. I also did some breathing to relax between ends. All of this helped but not enough. I wore a white tech shirt to help with the heat and I believe it did help, I wish I had had a 'Frog-Tog' which may have kept me cooler.
It is a beautiful place and I will likely shoot it again. I just want to shoot better. I am tired of last place.

Nuse River 3D Bowhunters Club shoot

Sunday I shoot the Nuse River 3D Bowhunters Club shoot. This was a very good shoot with cooler weather than we had Saturday. I got in a group with three very nice and good archers, Gary, Jammie and Sammie. Shooting with these three gentleman was both pleasant and challenging. I again shoot everything upper 12s but with much less success than on Saturday. Some of my shoots were high again also some were right of my aim. I did have some dead on shoots where I aimed so I do believe my tape is good and that it is me. What I do not understand is why I mostly hit where I aim at the range and miss so badly on the 3D course. I do feel it is me and need to find out what I am doing or not doing and fix it. I had one major mistake on the 5th target I ranged the target and forgot to set my scope, so I shoot under the target and lost my first arrow in at least 5 events. In spite of this I still managed to shoot a 175 tying Saturday best score. I shoot for the 14 on the bonus but missed for a 5. I had the range but shoot a bit left. The photo of the selfie is where we all shoot a 12, mine was an upper but I had called it.

 
There was one sort of unique target on the course they had put a bobcat up a tree sort of out on a limb setup so we could lower the cat down to score and get our arrows. This was pretty cool and interesting to shoot. I had a good time and did not wear out too much which I was worried about haing been pretty worn from Saturday.

ASA 3D Qualifier at Quewhiffle Creek Bowhunters

Today I shoot the ASA 3D Qualifier at Quewhiffle Creek Bowhunters. It was a good shoot and I had fun. It started out pretty comfortable but got pretty warm later, still I did pretty well physically. The new sight tape was great but I still did not shoot as well as I had hopped. I verified the tape on the range before I shoot and found I could have moved the sight marker a tiny bit but I did not have an allen wrench of the correct size so I could not move it. I will correct this problem. Still most of my were good. I shoot almost every thing upper 12 aiming for the place where the IBO 12 and upper ASA 12 ring touch. This had been working very well in practice and did several times today but I was shooting very high on some targets and I am not sure why except I feel sure it was something I was doing wrong but some shoots were dead on where I was aiming. I subtracted yardage from what I ranged because I was shooting high and next shoot so low I go a 5. After this I shoot what I ranged and worked to make sure I was not doing something wrong with my form. I shoot a 175, not great but still my best outdoor 3D score. Also I had no misses and shoot the whole round with one arrow.

Indoor 3D at First Flight for league

They set up 10 3D targets on the indoor range. Some foam animals and some paper animal targets at different ranges. The shoot was unknown, no range finders but this was not too hard, we knew the back wall wa 20 yards so judging the other targets was not difficult. In spite of this it was challenging and fun. Some of the targets were very small. We were in groups for scoring but all shot at the same time at different target then as a group would go to each group member's target and score. This is different from regular 3D but worked very well and kept us moving along. With my new sight tape I felt better about my scope and shot pretty well. I broke 200, well I shot 200 which is an all time high for me, also I shot five 12s.
It was fun.

Sight Tapes - accurate and verified.

Hired John from First Flight to teach me to make sight tapes for my outdoor target bow, the blue Prevail and my 3D bow, the red Podium. I wanted to be able to create the tapes, mount them and then test them. This is what we did.
For the blue Prevail he used a long tape measure he owns to get exact distances from the target. With the half yard error that is possible in rangefinders this makes sense. I would not have thought of this. We shot at 20 yards adjusting my sight until I was shooting an inside the Proline group on a target one size small than what I would be shooting at a field event. We recorded the analog number from the scale on the sight.
Then move to 30 yards using the old tape to guesstimate the yardage but here we were just making sure I would hit the target. We repeated this out to 70 yards then we worked with adjusting the sight until I was shooting an inside the proline group again on a target two sizes smaller than I would be shooting at a field shoot at that yardage. We recorded the analog number from the scale on the sight.
At most of the yardages I was checking the distance with my range finder, it was alway close but a little different.
We then measured the distance from my pep to my sight on Johns draw-board also the height of the pep above the arrow. We measured the draw weight of the bow, it was in the 48 pound range which surprised me I thought it was 50 plus a little. We then plugged all the numbers into Archers Advantage and printed a tape. Applied the tape to my sight and went out to 20 yards to test the tape, it worked well, we then shoot an arrow at 10 yard interdentals and each range was correct all the way out to 70 yards. The tape goes out to 110 yards and should I ever get the chance I believe it would work at those ranges also and if I get the chance I will try.
We did more or less the same thing with the 3D bow except we used my rangefinder to measure the distances instead of the tape because that is what I will be using at a 3D event. We did shoot out to 60 yards because I will not likely have to go over 45 yards for the near future at 3D and it was getting a bit windy and my Full Bore arrows get blown around pretty easily. When testing we tested at 20 yards then John said pick an 3D target, he has over a dozen in the woods at the back of his property, so I picked a javelina and ranged it at 20.1 yards, set the scope to 20 yards and center shoot the 10 ring. We then jumped back to 45 yards and shot the target. John again said pick an 3D target so I picked a dark brown bear and ranged it at 40.3 yards, set the scope to 40 yards and shoot the 10 ring just a tiny bit high and right of center.
For the first time I believe I can trust my sight tapes. This has caused me so much frustration for the last couple of months. I was about ready to give up on 3D and field archery because it just not fun when you cannot trust your sight. Being able to shoot the marks then make a tape and test it is so much better then what I have been trying to do.
I must admit I am looking forward to shooting both bows where I can use my new accurate and verified tapes.

My new green Prevail came in last Tuesday but I did not have the sight yet so the build could not be finished. The sight came in Friday so I took the bow to First Flight and later in the day when the crowd subsided John finished the build of the green Prevail.
John had a lot of customers which I was glad to see because I really want them to succeed. I offered several time to help with things but John usually declined. Then he asked me if I would put Spin Vanes on a dozen arrows a customer wanted, I agreed because I really wanted to help and John was snowed. John sold at least one bow and some other things while I was putting the vanes on.
John did finish the build on my new bow setting the draw weight to 51.7 pounds, draw length to 31.5" checked the timing, set the rest height, added a nock and d-loop, swapped the pep sight that I had ordered which was the wrong size for the right size and installed the pep based on a measurement from the blue Prevail which turned out to be perfect he then tied it in as I requested with purple serving.
The bow looks great and shoots very well it only took about three ends to get it sighted in. I am not using at this time the scope that I will be using because the 4x halo lens has not come in yet. S
o I am currently using a scope with a green fiber and 4x lens. When the new lens comes in I will replace this black scope with the purple on I bought to go with the sight.
I am very happy with this bow an how it is shooting.

NCFAA shoot at Big Buck Archery Club

I went to the shoot a Big Buck Archery Club. It is a beautiful place but not easy to find. They really need better directions and a couple of signs would help.
I shot the course with two extremely nice and pleasant young men Justin and Ryan. They were both good archers but also were very kind to me with my difficulties in getting around. I enjoyed shooting with them very much.
Even though I thought I had a good sight tape I did not. It was pretty good at short ranges but at over 35 or so yards it was still off. At the 70 yard walk up I set my sight at 80 yards and was still low, below the target low, still on the bail but low.
Since I could not trust and use my sight I did not enjoy the shoot that and because I found the place physically challenging I did not shoot the second 14 targets which were just a repeat of the first 14.
I would go again but would bring my walking stick and only if I can get a reliable sight tape. I will see if I can hire John to make for me or better yet teach me how to create accurate sight tapes.

Took my Olympic Recurve to the range tonight - I will likely usually do this because I want get better at shooting this bow. Tonight I was terrible. My sight was setup for the 30 pound limbs and was way way off for the 42 pound limbs. I wanted to shoot the 42 pounds limbs because they shoot better with my 550 spine arrows than they do with the 30 pound limbs. I need to get 660 spine arrows for the 30 pound limbs. I wanted to shoot for a pin with the recurve bow but I only scored 32 in the first session. most of my arrows hit very high close left to right but high. It took my five or six adjustments of the sight to get them closer and five or so more to get the sight right. For the second session I was shooting a bit better hitting two or more arrows that scored on each end. I needed a score of 100 and and got 101 which was very poor but good enough to get my first pin. I will get the 660 spine arrows so I can use the 30 pound limbs and work on my form. I really do not want to buy more arrows but want to improve with this bow and this was what I was advised to do so I will do it.

Pin night at the range - I shot well enough to get my pin but I was not pleased with how I shot. I am consistently shooting 8s, 9s and a few 10s but do not seem to be able to do any better. It is frustrating. I will keep working on this but do not know what to do. As far as I can tell I am doing what I have been instructed to do but I am not improving. I believe my bow is in perfect working order and is properly setup and that my arrows are the correct arrows so ti must be me something I am doing wrong, some problem with my form. Whatever it is I am unable to detect what it is. I really wish I could find a coach. I am still having trouble with early releases due to having my thumb over the thumb release knob as I draw. It happened three time tonight on the last arrow of the scored event cost me 10 points. Due to this I scored 262 tonight.
Tomorrow night I plan to shoot the Olympic bow - I found out I can earn pins for both bows. That should be fun and more challenging for me.