animal tagets

oldnut

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evening all, after reading about field archery on here, i decided to check it out. from all the gallery pics I have seen it would appear that most targets are animal. being a veggie I am reluctant to shoot at them (I know they are not real, I just dont like the symbolism) anyway are there clubs where they shoot at random shapes of various sizes? my local..ish club would be the 'cloth of gold'
 
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Some field archery uses target faces (AGB FITA?)
Regarding rubber critters.
Shoot 'em or don't shoot 'em.
It's hardly "symbolism" The bow is a weapon designed to kill animals and people.
Del
 

oldnut

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hi del, perhaps wrong choice of words, what I mean is that to me shooting at a rubber animal is not far of shooting at the real thing. now, if it was a rubber chap with his swag bag....
 

AndyW

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There's a very nice 3D apple which occasionally makes an appearance on a zombie head but apart from that not really. If you want to avoid animal targets it's going to be EFAA where you can pick to just shoot the circles.
As Del says above the only symbolism is that the targets are supposed to look like the animals they represent as near as they can. I would never ever shoot a live animal as actual hunting does nothing for me but I do think it would be a very sad day if course layers could not get/give the joy of putting an animal target in as near a tableau of real life as possible. A skittish circle bending down to feed in sylvan glade would be lacking.
P.S. Just saw the latest after writing this - so shooting pretend humans not an issue. To answer - yes there are loads of zombie targets, some of them even have a sub dermal "blood" bag so as they appear to bleed.
 

oldnut

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There's a very nice 3D apple which occasionally makes an appearance on a zombie head but apart from that not really. If you want to avoid animal targets it's going to be EFAA where you can pick to just shoot the circles.
As Del says above the only symbolism is that the targets are supposed to look like the animals they represent as near as they can. I would never ever shoot a live animal as actual hunting does nothing for me but I do think it would be a very sad day if course layers could not get/give the joy of putting an animal target in as near a tableau of real life as possible. A skittish circle bending down to feed in sylvan glade would be lacking.
P.S. Just saw the latest after writing this - so shooting pretend humans not an issue. To answer - yes there are loads of zombie targets, some of them even have a sub dermal "blood" bag so as they appear to bleed.
hi any, will check out efaa, the man wih a swag bag was a joke of, but in my opinion some people are more deserving than animals
 

ben tarrow

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hi any, will check out efaa, the man wih a swag bag was a joke of, but in my opinion some people are more deserving than animals
You can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, then there's vegetarians.
What is your interest in field archery if you dont like the targets that many clubs use, the very essence of the discipline? Its like wanting to go motor racing without using petrol, or going fishing without catching any fish
 

oldnut

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I would like to try it that is all. I have no problem with anyone else doing it, eating meat whatever, its just that I would rather not shoot at representations of animals. if there was a shape beside the target I could shoot at or even if I could shoot at a tree stump next to the target that would be fine. surely the essence of field archery is the shooting of an arrow at random sized targets at random distances, I am no asking anyone else not to, its not my business
 

Timid Toad

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Not all field is NFAS
EFAA and ABG/WA offer a lot of rounds with different coloured circular targets. Its just as popular but pretty boring to take photos of, so there's less pics. But seriously, you do know you shot a *weapon*, right?
 

oldnut

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yes I know its a weapon, (in my hands its more dangerous to me!) read about something called roving where you just walk about and shoot at tree stumps, cans any old fly tipped stuff, thats more what i had n mind. I am not trying to be difficult, I do not have a prob with anyone else shooting a rubber targets its just not for me
 

AndyW

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Sounds like you would be happiest doing EFAA. There's not a chance a NFAS club will put you an alternative at the side as that would be twice the work and bosses as well as opening it up to us lot to nominate whichever shot was easiest and we could score the most off.
 

oldnut

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good point, I had not considered the extra work setting out. I will just look around for some where that is already set up how I would like it and if not, I will just stick with target
 

dvd8n

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Most ArcheryGB field is shot at roundels as is EFAA.

Having said that, I know a few vegetarians that shoot at animal faces quite happily, understanding that while it comes from archery as a hunting activity, in this country it's just now just an archery discipline that requires different skills to roundels.

In a way, it's no more condoning the killing of animals than FPS video games condone the killing of humans, sport fencing condones duelling or, to take it to ridiculous extremes, angry birds condones the shooting of birds out of catapults.

You are just shooting at a drawing on paper, or foam rubber animals.
 

ben tarrow

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Most ArcheryGB field is shot at roundels as is EFAA.

Having said that, I know a few vegetarians that shoot at animal faces quite happily, understanding that while it comes from archery as a hunting activity, in this country it's just now just an archery discipline that requires different skills to roundels.

In a way, it's no more condoning the killing of animals than FPS video games condone the killing of humans, sport fencing condones duelling or, to take it to ridiculous extremes, angry birds condones the shooting of birds out of catapults.

You are just shooting at a drawing on paper, or foam rubber animals.
I did one GNAS (as it was then) field round a few years ago. That was 5 color target faces like target archery over variable terrain. All I remember is it was damn hard work. Much harder than shooting a york round having to romp through all those ferns and ditches whilst carrying your kit.
If I remember correctly, we shot all our arrows at each target, just like target archery. If I understand correctly, some forms of field archery, you just shoot one arrow at each target if you hit it, which to me sounds more like hunting. you only get a second arrow if you miss with the first, which is maybe less like hunting, because what animal is going to hang around after you've taken one pot shot at it, whilst you have another?
 

dvd8n

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Field rounds are much like target but over variable terrain. Different ages/disciplines shoot from different pegs. A set number of arrows are shot. The distances are either specified or unknown. In theory the score from roundels should give the best estimation of the best archer due to the fine graduations of the scoring.

However the 'unknown-ness' of the distances is limited as particular faces only appear at different distance ranges and the fixed target diameters lend themselves to distance estimation strategies. Also the multiple arrows from the same peg allow the archer to fix errors in subsequent shots. So it's not really a representation of any sort of archery in any sort of historical or hunting setting; it's target on a slope.

That's not a criticism; just a statement of opinion.

Animal faces are an attempt to simulate archery in a hunting scenario.

Animal faces tend to be shot from pegs in progression, red furthest, then white and blue. You can score a kill or wound. If you miss from one peg you advance to the next. Points scored go down according to distance shot and whether a kill or wound. No, when hunting, an animal would not hang around on a miss, but because the pegs are changing they are effectively new targets each time. But then an animal wouldn't stay still while you got organised and estimated range either :)

Unknown distances are much more unknown because you have much less of an idea how big the faces are so you have to genuinely estimate distances.

However there are loads of different shooting and scoring schemes and sometimes schemes are made up on the spot for different circumstances.

Both are fun in their own way and it's worth trying them both.
 

Kernowlad

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I don't eat meat but do eat fish; shot a field archery club last night (for the first time) and had no issue with the animal targets. Apart from when pulling arrows - they don't half stick in hard!!
 
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