First club competition with the longbow

Berk

New member
We had our club's novice shoot yesterday, with the rest of us having a fun handicap shoot at the same time. The rounds were the New Western, Long Western, Western and Short Junior Western (have you spotted a theme yet?).

I don't have a handicap for my longbow yet, as this was only my second round shot with it, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. I decided to dive straight in with the New Western, shooting with another archer also doing his first 100 yard shoot. We had great fun, loads of laughs on the line and easy to find arrows as I was aiming at the top of the leylandii behind our field. The field captain did try and tell me that we'd had the six sighters already, but I figured that I had 4 dozen sighters at each distance.

I started off abysmally, unless you score in roman numerals in which case I scored 6000 each end, but by the end of 100 yards I was getting the arrows in line with the boss, and even hitting it occasionally. I fared a little better at 80 yards and overall scored 67 points, only 5 points off a first class score. So I'm really pleased with how it went, considering it's only my fourth outing with the longbow and second time shooting a round with it. I had a few firsts too, my first 100 yard club shoot (including with the recurve), my first gold at 80 yards (guaranteed to be a lucky shot) and my first broken arrow.
 
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Deleted member 7654

Guest
Nice one :)
I've never understood the obsession with wanting to hit pro kills and golds every time... If I wanted to stick arrow into a tiny target everytime , I'd walk up to it and bang 'em in with a hammer.
Del
 

BillM

Member
Welcome to the club. As a wise man said, "a long journey starts with the first step". Just relax and enjoy the longbow and don't have too much in the way of goals for the time being. Learn to shoot the bow first then decide what you want to achieve. I simply shoot my longbow for fun and have held some Scottish Records in the process. Enjoy.

BillM
 

Corax67

Well-known member
Welcome to the joy of longbow - reasonable goals and expectations are best summarised as "if I hit anything other than grass it's a bonus".

As you enter more competitions there is no better feeling than the first time you manage to hit a flag from atop a target boss - it's a right of passage for all longbow archers :)




Karl
 

little-else

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
I like your attitude, it bodes well for your continued success. I much prefer to shhot at the longer distances, less disappointment when your score isnt in the hundreds
 

Berk

New member
Cheers everyone, I had great fun shooting my new longbow at the club comp. My only regret is that it took so long to finally decide to buy one (and then save up for it), especially as we're heading indoors soon. I think we've only got two outdoor shoots left this year, a halloween fun shoot and a clout in November (that I really am looking forwards to so long as it goes ahead).
 
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