[English Longbow] Ever get one of those days where it goes too right?

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
Ok recently I've been going up and down with my shooting, on some days I'm shooting new PBs and some days I'm just shooting badly. e.g. other day I shot a short Windsor and where I should be shooting over 700 I just broke 500, though in my defence it was very hot and humid and for some reason at 50yds I was aiming lower than what I do at 40 and still going high.

Anyway my handicap currently is 62/61 which is generally what I shoot to, very occasionally I might break a 60. Last night was just a practice and someone suggested doing a round (Long National). So after sighters (which were one end of misses at 80yds, and another end with 1 arrow on target) we started. Not excepting much after sighters and landed to manage 5 on the boss, by the end of the 4 dozen I was getting 2-3 on the boss. At 60yds I didn't miss (6 on is normally a challenge)

So by the end of the shoot, I noted my score to put in records thinking I hadn't done too badly but hadn't expected much. Look it up on archers mate and I shot to a 55 handicap (Score was 253 beating old PB by over 100points). Which shocked the hell out to me, so has anyone else had one of those nights where your shooting as just gone so right its bazaar?
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
The question you need to ask yourself after you finished the round was, did you have fun? :D
I generally always have fun whether I shoot well or not. Last night was no different from any other weekday evening except the uncomfortable heat we seem to be going through atm. Though admittedly at one point I did notice that I couldn't hear anyone around me at anything more than a whisper so I'd obviously really just blocked everything out.
 

grimsby archer

New member
This is what we call "inconsistent"
The law of averages says that if you shoot enough arrows inconsistently, every now and then you'll get a run of arrows that land together.
The term "luck" comes to mind
 

ghound

Member
This is what we call "inconsistent"
The law of averages says that if you shoot enough arrows inconsistently, every now and then you'll get a run of arrows that land together.
The term "luck" comes to mind
Well done Raven, that's good shooting. I don't think it's luck, just that you found your concentration and were in a zone !! Sometimes you have to be a bit ignorant and ignore some of the usual slagging and banter on the shooting line to concentrate and find your zone.
 

micholly

New member
Well done mate! Definitely not just luck - you aimed for a good score and you got one.

Try to think about what happened that night that put you in the zone to shoot better. It might have been the fact that your weren't expecting to shoot a round that night or you might have been thinking about something or equally thinking about nothing.

I had a similar experience. I went to a fun shoot back in May, first time i had shot outside of the club. My score was miles better than i had been shooting, and it has taken me until now to get anywhere near it again.
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
This is what we call "inconsistent"
The law of averages says that if you shoot enough arrows inconsistently, every now and then you'll get a run of arrows that land together.
The term "luck" comes to mind
If it was an end or a dozen then yes I'd agree with you that it was luck. But over a whole round is more than just luck.

Or to quote a golfer, "People say I'm lucky and I am. The more practice I do the lucker I get".

Now I probably won't be shooting like this again for a while as its still hard to believe I did it, its only 7 points behind my National PB. But shows in the right frame of mind what is achievable.
 

DavidH

New member
This is what we call "inconsistent"
The law of averages says that if you shoot enough arrows inconsistently, every now and then you'll get a run of arrows that land together.
The term "luck" comes to mind
I'm pretty sure luck had nothing to do with. Any longbow archer who is getting 6 on every end at 60 is pretty consistent in my mind. Raven's made the point that he was very focused on that day for whatever reason. Getting in the zone is something we would all like to switch on at will but it just doesn't happen that easily. Well done Raven
 

backinblack

Active member
It was just a club shoot, final score was 258, more than 100 over my previous PB.
Blimey! If you can find out what it was bottle it and sell it.

To be honest I'm going through a similar thing at the moment with my recurve shooting. I've not shot so well for about 3 years but it doesn't feel any different to me...it's weird but I'm going to try to enjoy it while it lasts.

Good shooting and I'm sure it was no fluke - ultimately practice pays off.

Best,
Backinblack
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
Well done raven, that's a big improvement. I have our BLBS championship York this weekend so looking forward to that one.
Not got one this weekend, but next weekend is a 2-way York in Yorkshire that I shall be attending.

To be honest the score could have been higher, I was doing nicely at 60 till the guy scoring told me that despite never getting a 1st class on a York before (I'd told him this before), that I'd just got a Bowman score, so after hearing that I shot 3 misses at 60yds. Doesn't really matter though.

backinblack what it seems to be is shooting, not knowing that previous PBs are, not expecting to shoot a great deal and shooting in your own time not keeping up with everyone else.
 

ghound

Member
Not got one this weekend, but next weekend is a 2-way York in Yorkshire that I shall be attending.

To be honest the score could have been higher, I was doing nicely at 60 till the guy scoring told me that despite never getting a 1st class on a York before (I'd told him this before), that I'd just got a Bowman score, so after hearing that I shot 3 misses at 60yds. Doesn't really matter though.

backinblack what it seems to be is shooting, not knowing that previous PBs are, not expecting to shoot a great deal and shooting in your own time not keeping up with everyone else.

If you can hold that form in a comp then you will have a result!
Happily my comp scores are starting to match my practice, this was something which had been annoying me but i think having some comp experience has really helped bring the scores up.
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
Holding it so far at the club, 2nd Bowman score achieved. Long Metric 35 @ 90m (not great), 106 @ 70m, total 141. 31 hits 1 gold.
 

ghound

Member
Holding it so far at the club, 2nd Bowman score achieved. Long Metric 35 @ 90m (not great), 106 @ 70m, total 141. 31 hits 1 gold.
I had a tough day myself Raven at the BLBS York due to the high winds, only had 71 hits, it was that bad the other guy on my boss who's a master bowman only scored 38 hits !!
 
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