MY FIRST ARCHERY TOURNAMENT
A few years ago I had the opportunity to compete in my first tournament. It was exciting, fun and a bit educational! I was both excited and nervous about my first archery tournament. I hadn’t competed in anything since I was a competitive swimmer. I trained as much as I could but the weather has been very wet and stormy. I don’t mind some rain because I hunt in the rain so I should train in the rain but some days it just didn’t happen. Other days my car wasn’t going to make it on the trail to get to the range. While prepping I was trying to train two to four times a week but it worked out more like two to three times with many of those practices not being very long. I focused my practices on making every shot, and quality shots rather than quantity. I didn’t have as much time as I wanted so I made every shot count!
On the big day registration started at 8 am with a shot gun start at 10 am. Started on the south course on target number 1. I picked the south course for the morning because in the afternoon it can get scorching hot down there. I met the woman and her son I was going to be shooting with the day before. They are lovely people and wanted to keep it fun and relaxed. It’s exactly how I wanted to approach the day! I got to the range at 8 am. I wanted to have time to warm up and ask questions if any came up. I started my warm up and I felt great. I was shooting some nice groupings and practiced a few different distances. I registered for the K50 class. That meant I was allowed to use a range finder to know the distance and my furthest target would be 50 yards. I was surprised how many classes there were. With my bow set up I could have gone into a hunter class meaning my furthest target would have been 40 yards and I would not be allowed to know the distance. I am ok at guessing the distance of a target but I wanted to be sure while shooting in the tournament
Before I continue about telling my story I want to take a moment and explain some differences between the different types of bow set ups. There are a lot of different bows that you can buy. All different sizes, colors, weights, cam systems, designs, draw lengths, draw weights and the list can keep going. Just like the bows themselves the accessories can be just as varied. I have a hunting set up, a shorter bow with a ten inch stabilizer, 5 pin sight and a trigger release. The day of the tournament I saw many different set ups. Some bows with 30 inch stabilizers on the front with smaller ones on either side. The stabilizer does a few things, it helps balance the bow, reduce torque and steady the bow while you aim. Some sights have a single pin that is moveable on a sliding bar to the exact yardage you are shooting. A multi pin sight has set yardages for each pin, for example your 5 pins might be 20 yards, 30 yards, 35 yards, 40 yards and 50 yards. If the target is 45 yards you are aiming in between pins.
Back to the tournament. I went out to my target. I started on the first target on the south course so that meant I would start on the first target on the north course in the afternoon. The morning shoot went very well. I was happy with my shooting and had a great time. We chatted all day about everything including some very serious archery talk …our nails! By the end of the morning the sky started to get dark and on our last target the skies started to open up. We knew there was a good chance of rain but it wasn’t just rain coming down, it was hail! We were getting hail at the end June. We quickly did the last target and made out way back to the parking area and shelter. Then the skies really opened up! Luckily I was in the car with my boyfriend staying warm and dry when they sounded a bull horn to bring in the rest of the shooters. It was coming down so hard we checked to see if there was a tornado warning for the area. I wasn’t sure the tournament would continue.
By one 1:30pm the weather had cleared and we could start the afternoon shoot. The morning shooters who didn’t finish their course were allowed to finish and everyone headed to the afternoon spots. In the afternoon I didn’t shoot as well as the morning. I could feel the difference I started to get tired and could really feel the weight of my bow. The afternoon chats were lots of fun but you could tell the day was wearing on. We finished the course and I was a little disappointed that I didn’t do as well as the morning but I still did well. At that point my feet were aching from the long day and my shoulders were sore but I did it and had a lot of fun! We waited while the other shoots finished and scores tallied. The metals were handed out and then drew names for the raffle tables. It was late when we left but the day was a great adventure! I enjoyed the experience and I am sure I will shoot the tournament again but I don’t see me buying a competition bow any time soon. I have a huge passion for the outdoors and I love all the things that I do. Archery, hunting, camping, fishing. At times I don’t have enough time to do all the things I want to do, so committing to practicing the amount I would like to in order to compete on a regular basis isn’t something I can do at least for now.
