Before I get into that, I'd like to give a plug to the amazing artistic talents of this lovely lady. Check out her website http://www.jennieanderson.co.uk & / or her facebook page http://www.facebook.com/JennieAndersonArchaeologicalIllustration
I'm sure you will agree with my summation of her skill and her amazing work.
OK, on to the activities of the day. We met up with Andy, who owns the facility, and who was very kindly giving up some of his Sunday afternoon, and also letting me play with not one, but two of his precious longbows.
First off, a few test shots on a lightweight 30lb bow. My technique was reasonably good for a complete novice, and I was able to achieve full draw with this bow.
After shooting off the full complement of nine arrows, Andy decided I was ready to move up to a more serious weapon. First though, a few tips, just to make sure I didn't then go and hurt myself.
A few minutes later, after a few more sets at the indoor targets, and we went outside for some serious archery. I was now on a 70lb bow, and whilst I came very close a couple of times, never quite managed to get full length draw on this bow. (on a side note, Jennie's brother shoots a 110lb bow, and the world record is something insane like 215lb). Firstly, we shot artillery style, like what you see in the movie Braveheart, the idea being to put as many arrows into the air as quickly as possible. Andy could have his third arrow launched before the first one landed, the best I could manage was two in the air and would be only just grabbing the third when the first one landed. I love this shot Jen took just as the arrow was being launched.
Shooting back down the hill on the second artillery firing, I managed to shoot about 200 yards, maybe a little more. The second style of shooting is known as lobbing.
The idea being that the archers fire in a very high arc with the idea being that the arrows land immediately behind the edge of a castle wall, to hit defenders either on the wall (on the palisades) or just inside it (guarding the gates). Our wall was simulated by a stack of hay bales, and we were firing from about 40yards away. One of my arrows landed behind the bales, in the middle of the stack, less than 1.5m from the 'wall'. Needless to say, even if it was beginners luck, I was also rather proud of myself.
After the field archery we went back inside to the indoor range. The expectation was my style would have improved significantly, and I would find the target shooting easier. The reality however was my muscles were getting fatigued by now, and any potentially improved skill was offset by lack of muscle control, and my accuracy was if anything worse than at the start. I did however manage to hit a bullseye on one of the targets.
It was however behind the one I was actually aiming at. Still, you have to claim a shot like this, even if it was an accident.
The final session was the woodland shoot, in amongst the trees. I was not particularly good at this, though I did claim that this was because their targets were endangered animals, and being a good enviro such as myself, I could hardly hunt endangered critters. I'll include two photos from this part of the day. The first shows me shooting through the woods, and if you look closely you may be able to find the arrow about halfway between me and the target (which I missed). The second photo, showing a slightly damaged target bear. At most my efforts may have tripped up the bear, if he could run in his fragmented state, Jennie however, speared him in the arse, thrice, in quite a neat line.
Many thanks to Jennie for organising the day, and especially to Andy of Black Cat Archery, for such a fun afternoon, and helping me do something I'd wanted to do for years.
No comments:
Post a Comment