Try something for the first time - Barebow

Tip of the Day
Experiment - try shooting barebow, it becomes great fun after some brief initial frustration. Probably best to start at one distance short of your usual maximum.
My daughter who started shooting after a beginners course in May had achieved two second class scores. To achieve her classification she needed a third and we thought we had run out of tournaments before the end of the outdoor season. At the last minute we found a Western series of rounds taking place about 25 miles away from home. A quick phone call to the organisers secured her a place wherupon I discovered that there was a senior shoot taking place at the same time. Only problem was that it was for barebow only. Having never shot barebow before and somewhat worried about making a fool of myself, I opted to shoot rather than sit and watch all day.

How glad I was that I took part. After a disastrous start at 60 yards, scoring a max of 11 and a minimum of "nil point" on consecutive ends, I finally achieved a score of 41 in the final end at that distance. C'est la vie! Fifty yards resulted in a marked improvement, only missing half a dozen times or so out of 4 dozen. No world beating scores but certainly enough to satisfy me and encourage me to try again.

Coupled with that and the excellent encouragement from the skilled barebow archers at the shoot, the experience certainly makes me believe that mystique should be cast aside and barebow shooting given a go.

My next attempt at doing something for the first time will be field archery. I had been wondering about how to find out about field archery locally so at the barebow shoot I was delighted to meet a chap from a local club who shoot field regularly. He invited my daughter and I along and we are both really looking forward to giving "field" a go.

And to cap a great day, my daughter, shooting a Short Junior Western, achieved her third second class score with which we are both mightily pleased.

Jargon

Barebow - archery without techno trimmings. No sight, long rod or clicker. Only a button allowed.

Field archery - walking through countryside, usually woodland between targets set up at various distances, some of which are known aand some of which need to be estimated / worked out!

Western rounds - imperial round of 4 dozen arrows at each of two distances

Short Junior Western - 4 dozen at 30 yds and 4 dozen at 20 yds