Wondering how many started the new year off with a shoot? I just got back from McCord Air Force Base New Year's Day Trad 3D Shoot. In spite of a low, dark shy, I went. Drove to Tacoma in 45 minutes, very light traffic on the freeway. Checked in and got on the course. Went solo, as the morning groups were just finishing up and getting to the lunch hall. that was a good thing though, as being solo, I shot more and went faster. It was a 30 target course, but with about 6 or 8 double setups... i.e. two deer or bears or whatever. All told, with repeats on some of the longer targets, I probably shot 50 arrows. By the time I was roughly 2/3 of the way around, the rain started, but not badly, and by the time it really got rolling, I was done and up on the clubhouse porch under shelter... well dampened but not soaked. My arrows fared worse than I, however.
As to shooting, I was really pleased. In a 3D setting, my new Hill Black Bear was not a problem to shoot (it's been seeming a bi heavy for me on the range at 55#)... the extra concentration or intensity of having an animal in front of me, plus having the walks between targets to rest the muscles, seemed to make everything work OK and I really wasn't aware of a problem. The good news is, I shot better than usual. This club/course leaned toward what are, for me, longer shots. There were more 25 to 35 yard shots than 15 to 25 yard shots, plus the usual few 40 yarders for elk and buffalo. Fortunately, the first few targets were well backstopped, and by the time I hit the targets that were free standing in brush, my eye was cranked in and I only had to brush pop for four arrows total, losing none. I hit most animals, even the longer ones, and made a surprising (for me) number of kill zone shots, including a few beauties that ended up in the camera for my "Good Shots" bulletin board.
Now... feathers.. .Yikes! My poor feathers have been reduces to about 1/3 of the total working area they started out at. I tried to pull them back up and dry them with a hair dryer, but they're kind of sorry. Any suggestions or is this just something you accept as part of the game and schedule a re-fletching session? From what I've read, none of the arrow protection stuff is really much good. It's enough to make a guy want to shoot vanes.
But, with all, a great start to the new year.
Dick in Seattle
Topic: New Years Day Shooting (Read 1166 times)
