I started shooting 15 or so years ago and then had a long hiatus, moved to a different country and started up again about 6 years ago. However, I only managed to get about 15 months or so of regular shooting before my son came along and all the stuff I used to do on Saturday mornings or in the evenings were suddenly not so easy to do. I tried to shoot when I could but It's about a year since I picked up my bow. So far I've been a member of 3 different archery clubs, Cheltenham Archers (England and maybe the best view while shooting you could possibly want), Porstdown Archery Club (England) and Crooked River Archers (USA). When I was shooting regularly I shot recurve FITA rounds, 50 meters outdoors in the summer and 18 meters indoors in the winter. My personal rig is as follows: PSE X-Factor risor Hoyt Vector limbs (34lb long) Sure-Loc Quest-X sight Easton XX75 Platinum Plus arrows, uncut. My draw length is huge so I'm holding about 45lbs on the fingers so even though these are fat and heavy they fly nice, even in the wind. And my personal favorite that's been with me since the beginning when I had no money for equipment, a homemade shoe string and snap keychain bow sling. I think this is one piece of equipment that I'll never replace. That's the basics of it, I have other bits and bobs as well. I wish I could use it more but since my son will be 5.5 next summer I'm wondering if he will want to try out the junior program at my old club.
Archery is a great sport for kids. If he is interested it could become a great way to spend time together.
I've been practicing for my first tournament, which is tomorrow. Last night, I achieved a personal best of 248 (out of 300.)
To paraphrase ol' Gerry Rafferty, Sara, shoot 'em Right Down the Line. (which, of course, doesn't work in real world physics, but you get the idea. )
Well, I am truly an Ironic Archer, having come in both first place AND dead last, in the same tournament. To explain, it was a small club event, so I was the only entrant in my category (Female/Senior/Compound). Thus, I took first in my category by default. Several entrants were kids & teens from our Junior team, which is one of the best teams in the US. So they kicked all the adults' butts. I was not, in fact, that upset to get a butt-whoopin' from the 8-year old, in the next lane (His big sister ranks first in the country in junior outdoor archery.) I scored 235, which was the lowest score there, but I am good with that. I am the least experienced archer there, and for me, that was a good score. I had lots of fun & the other folks were nice. Some of the guys have seen me shoot, from the start and observed how much I have improved. So it was very satisfying.
That's a fancy rig. I love my Sureloc sight, probably the single most expensive piece of equipment I have but the one I'm most pleased with.
Thanks! The sureloc sight is great easy to use and the quick adjust is a dream. The limbs are marked 34 but with the bolts all the way in it's closer to 40. They are great limbs and allow me to shoot a lower weight with more speed. I've been shooting more indoors lately but when it's warmer out I'll be going to further distances. With new arrows I see no problem hitting 70m I got the limbs on sale and the sight second hand. Lucky for me or else I would have had some explaining to do to the wife lol.
My father gave me a bow an older compound and i learned how to shoot it pretty well and have been wanting to test my skills hunting ,so that is my next goal
Good on you! 235 on your first tournament is great in my book! We went with about six or seven archers from our club ot the Zeeland indoor tournament. We ended up filling the last six (or seven) places. But we had loads of fun. It's always nice to shoot together with other folks. You get to learn from each other and our experience is that everyone is genuinely interested in each other's result (not just from competitinon's point of view but, well, genuinely interested). Next goal: getting second to last (overall, that is).
