This was my first time shooting the national triple crown series. I enjoyed the experience. I do have some questions and suggestions that I hope you will take the time to consider.

1. The bino rule needs to be done away with. We are shooting at small rings that are not visible by the naked eye. We are also shooting under some poor lighting conditions. For someone with poor vision or very bad astigmatism it is a big disadvantage not to be able to see what they are aiming at. These are afterall targets not real animals. We are shooting for score and when we have no idea where to hold on an animal it makes for a long day.

2. Shooting times should be assigned. A casual start may work with smaller shoots but with this many people if there were shotgun starts on 4 ranges with 2 sessions per day for lets say the MBO class. things would run much smoother. 8 hours to shoot 30 targets is excessive to say the least.

3. At what point does the IBO stop a shoot due to weather?

4. Arrow speed vs draw weight and arrow weight. It should be an arrow speed rule. maybe cap it at 290 I dunno but not everyone can get 320 to 330 out of their bows and there is a distinct advantage with more speed if you can control it. A speed limit would balance the field and give the advantage to the archer who works on all aspects of their game rather than eeking out every ounce of speed.

These are merely suggestions not criticisms. I hope you take the time to kick them around an maybe make some adjustments. Thanks

guess not [:' (]

The binocular rule will probably not be changed in the forseeable future. The tergets are standard and consistent.
There are readily available pictures if a shooter is not familiar with the placment of the scoring rings.
The fix for too much time on the range is four starting points(at this time). The format for IBO is the trail range with the variety that brings. We did find thru the course of this summer the way to alleviate this problem. We had one combination with three starting points in Nelsonville. MBO & FBO ranges. Thats where the waits were.
Range B had a problem with spacing in the open on Sat. We have noted these problems and the possible fixes for them that we tried this summer. Gene has this information and will be applying them for the National Triple Crown next summer.
Weather, well that was not a good experience. The answer to your point is radr and lightning detectors. We clear the ranges when the lightning is inside 12 miles.
We did that Saturday afternoon. Ranges were closed for 1 1/2 hours. The second time we came close again but it did not crack the wall. We monitor that very carefully.

Some would say speed is part of this game. The reality is that a few of the top shooters are shooting fast bows, but most are not.
How fast is Tom' s bow?
Darrin Christenberry is shooting a blistering 284, from his mouth yesterday. (Congratulations Darrin, you desrve it).
Derry Null is in the 280' s,so is Jeanna Allbritain, and Rodney Huffman.
All winners.
Working on yardage is the key, speed may ge you a line but thats it.
That is some explanation, but the board and the triple crown clubs will be looking at these things as well as others this fall, looking to make things better for the shooters.
Once again, that is some explanation for now. BUT we will be looking hard at them starting right after the world.
ken12
ken12

Actually not. Let' s take range I for example. It was set up as a 20 target course. It was a huge bottleneck. If that range was broken into two 10 target courses things would have been better I agree.


I still do not understand why you wouldn' t reconsider the bino rule. Cards are fine but in many cases inaccurate or incomplete. ( not showing all sides).
This rule is just plain silly. I guess we could always add a visually impared class.

I dont understand how clearing the range will help against lightning or storms. Everyone will still be outside standing around the checkpoints and vendors waiting and there is a heck of a lot more metal poles sticking in the air around the checkpoints than in the woods.

What binocular rule are you guys talking about? I thought binoculars were legal to use.

hello dark archer, i shoot the mbo class as well, and aside from the backups on the I range, i thought the ibo did another outstanding job. shooting on the same ranges where the peers are shooting can be a little time consuming, but they still need to shoot. the real problem with the 20 target range is that all peer groups had to shoot I range on saturday, and K or J. we took 7 hours to shoot I range, but that was with the rain delay. we heard the sirens, but werent sure if they were responding to an emergency, or calling us off of the ranges. we were told by a shoot official of a 4 wheeler. there was however a little confusion at the check in tent, as i overheard the conversation on the 2 way radio that gave the all clear. we went back up the mountain to target 6 after the all clear, and that was when we really got pounded. we never heard another siren, and were not told to leave the range. common sense took over, and we acted accordingly, but we were never advised or directed to leave the range again after the initial stoppage.

as for the binoculars, i use brunton 8x42, they are very old, but still work well. i did not have any targets that i could not see. i dont know what kind of bino that you are using, but there were shooters that could not see with the glass they had. perhaps an upgrade in optics might help....

i too would like shoot times assigned, but only as a tee time like the world shoot. i understand everyone cannot get there to shoot on friday, but late commers could be assigned at the check in tents, but, if the ibo goes to a tee time for the triple crown, keep in mind the rain. if you have a commited time to shoot, you have to shoot at that time, with the current method, you can sit in your hotel room and watch the weather and plan accordingly. shooting on friday is a good thing. we shot 10 friday, 20 on saturday and 10 on sunday. i took quite a while to shoot i range, even with the downpours, but i never shot an arrow in the rain. i just camped out under my lighting rod umbrella and waited it out.

speed is really a moot point. if you have the archers advantage program at home, play with the number on there. there is an advantage to speed, there is no argument there, but, the gains are not as sugnificant as you might think. the difference between 310 and 285 are minimal. the rule allowing you to shoot 5 grains or speed is a great idea. it allows shorter draw archers to shoot into the 280 speed range without using the 5 grain per pound rule, which greatly levels the playing field. i shoot 288 and have no problems on the ranges. as ken stated a little hard work on yardage estimation goes a long way. hang out on the practice range and watch people shoot and warm up. a lot of really good shooters there, but the range estimation is the real game.

pulling people off of the ranges has got to be a difficult task. i know ken would rather see 1500 happy dry shooters than one person get injured by a lighning strike. i feel the same way. a little rain and thunder are not bad, but the lightning is a no brainer. pull the shooters off of the ranges. if they go stand by a vender booth, or a check in station, maybe they need a little more guidance. we stayed under the bike rack pavillion until the all clear.

i agree with your concerns, and i know ken takes your suggestions very seriously, because he doesnt always have all the answers, and he just like us gets a great deal of knowledge from the shooters and this message board.

Thanks for the reply Keith.

I spoke with Ken earlier today and he assured me that they are working towards solutions to their problems. I was not beating up on the IBO I was just trying to make some suggestions from someone new to the situation but I guess they have already been thought of.
I shot in the peer groups on Saturday so I know first hand about how things were going.

And as for the optics, it is not an upgrade in optics I need it is an upgrade in my vision. I see 20/50 with contacts. I can barely see my sight tape and as for the targets.....LOL. My optics are great Leica...but my vision doesn' t allow for much detail. Fortunatly I had a great group of guys to shoot with who gave me an idea where to hold on the animal.

Thanks for your feedback. See ya out there.