Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
06-08-2007, 02:38 PM
#1
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Mississippi USA
Posts: 15,296
Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
Just wondering--hunting is #1, but I love the chance to socialize and fling arrows during the summer at different places. So far I've shot at the TN Classic, the ASTB Children's Hospital Benefit, the Jerry Pierce Memorial, the Howard Hill Southeastern Classic, and several times at Lost Tribe. Plan on shooting at the State Games of MS next Saturday, the AL State Championship in August, a few more at Lost Tribe, and maybe more if I can swing it. Am I the only one here that will travel to shoot foam?
Chad
Chad
06-09-2007, 09:38 AM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 9,175
RE: Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
I used to go to tournaments all the time. Sometimes I'd do one on Saturday then shoot another on Sunday. Field archery and 3D, even did a FITA shoot or three and was on the Hoyt National Shooting Staff for a while. One season I managed to win tournaments in seven different styles - Recurve, longbow and selfbow in traditional, then pins/fingers, pins/release, moveable sights/fingers, and barebow in compound. I've got a big box of trophies and plaques in the attic and a bag of award pins that must weigh a good 5-6 pounds. Got quite a collection of robinhoods too, about half of 'em done with recurves and longbows.
I was a pretty decent shot, once upon a time. No brag, just fact.
All the fun I had shooting pales in comparison to all the friends and acquaintances I made over the years though. Most of those guys from my heavy tournament days are either passed away now or, like me, are not shooting much, staying close to home and not travelling to tournaments any more. I still go to the tournaments at our club, mostly just to help run the show and harass everyone. [8D] I can't imagine a better or more fun group of folks to hang out with than archers. Especially traditional archers.
I was a pretty decent shot, once upon a time. No brag, just fact.
All the fun I had shooting pales in comparison to all the friends and acquaintances I made over the years though. Most of those guys from my heavy tournament days are either passed away now or, like me, are not shooting much, staying close to home and not travelling to tournaments any more. I still go to the tournaments at our club, mostly just to help run the show and harass everyone. [8D] I can't imagine a better or more fun group of folks to hang out with than archers. Especially traditional archers.
06-09-2007, 10:41 AM
#3
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Mississippi USA
Posts: 15,296
RE: Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
All the fun I had shooting pales in comparison to all the friends and acquaintances I made over the years though.
Got a fellow to go to a couple of the bigger tournaments with me this year--before the first one was half over, he told me "Man, I wish I'd started doing this years ago!". He wasn't going because he felt he wasn't "good enough". He's relatively new to trad, going on his second or third year, but he's doing fine. He got past worrying about how he'd look on the course, found out that on his worst day he's still not the worst shot out there, and saw how much fun it is!
Sad thing around here is all the local clubs have shut down. Not too many years ago we'd have to decide which shoot we wanted to go to on a given weekend, sometimes we could shoot one on Sat. and another on Sunday, never had to travel too far to find a club.
Now it takes me 2 1/2 hours to get to the place I call my "home" club (I'm in MS, this club is in TN). Don't know of any shoots I can get to in less than 2 hours, and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better, which brings me to another point.....
If you have a local archery club, SUPPORT IT!!!! I don't mean just pay your dues, wear the t-shirt, and show up for a tournament--help out! Help set targets, help pull targets, give the guy at the registration desk a break--any little thing will help. One reason some clubs close is you have a few guys trying to do everything for a long time and they burn out. A little help goes a long way, especially when lots of folks will put in some time. It doesn't matter if you are the only stick shooter there, at least you have a club and that gives you a chance to convert others, or for others with the same interests to find it. When you have no club at all, it stinks! Believe me, I know!
Ok, I'll get off my soapbox.......
Oh yeah--congrats on the years of great shooting and supporting the sport Art!
Chad
06-09-2007, 10:54 AM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: In a Tarpon Boat
Posts: 846
RE: Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
Have never shot a Traditional tournament but have shot some 3-D and Spot tournaments using my compounds.
Don't know why I didn't shoot any traditional tournaments as it woud have been great.
Would have loved toshoot a tournamentwith you and Arthur, Chad.
Maybe, some day...
Can't even shoot my 50lb compound, now that I'm injured.
Sag.
Don't know why I didn't shoot any traditional tournaments as it woud have been great.
Would have loved toshoot a tournamentwith you and Arthur, Chad.
Maybe, some day...
Can't even shoot my 50lb compound, now that I'm injured.
Sag.
06-09-2007, 01:10 PM
#6
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location:
Posts: 35
RE: Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
I use to shoot a lot of competitions. I have gotten away from them for the most part when they stopped representing the type of shotsI get in the woods.
I shoot in maybe one or two a year, I am a Investigator with the Houston Police Department so I shoot in the anual Texas Police Games. I only get to see these guys once a year, if lucky I run into them when we hunt the same ranches.
I spend a lot more time practicing on 3D targets I own that are shot from Treestands, Ground blinds, up hills, down hills, placed in the brush, in the shadows. I figured out a long time ago that very few of my shots were taken on level ground, in the open across areas that look more like a golf course.
When we started shooting, it was called "Heavy Tackle Shoots" meaning hunting gear. We didn't have 3D targets then, we used card board cut-outs of animals, life size, with the kill area drawn in pencil in the correct area. You could not see the area 7 to 10 yards away.
We set them up on dirt banks, and shot broadheads for score. We had treestand shots, kneeling shots, leaning around tree shots. We had a lot of fun, and by hunting season we were ready.
Now the only time I can do things like that are when I take my three - four 3D targets to the woods. I guess 3D shoots have their value, if for no other reason than the fellowship, and it makes people shoot their bows past the hunting season.....
I shoot in maybe one or two a year, I am a Investigator with the Houston Police Department so I shoot in the anual Texas Police Games. I only get to see these guys once a year, if lucky I run into them when we hunt the same ranches.
I spend a lot more time practicing on 3D targets I own that are shot from Treestands, Ground blinds, up hills, down hills, placed in the brush, in the shadows. I figured out a long time ago that very few of my shots were taken on level ground, in the open across areas that look more like a golf course.
When we started shooting, it was called "Heavy Tackle Shoots" meaning hunting gear. We didn't have 3D targets then, we used card board cut-outs of animals, life size, with the kill area drawn in pencil in the correct area. You could not see the area 7 to 10 yards away.
We set them up on dirt banks, and shot broadheads for score. We had treestand shots, kneeling shots, leaning around tree shots. We had a lot of fun, and by hunting season we were ready.
Now the only time I can do things like that are when I take my three - four 3D targets to the woods. I guess 3D shoots have their value, if for no other reason than the fellowship, and it makes people shoot their bows past the hunting season.....
06-09-2007, 05:07 PM
#7
Boone & Crockett
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Mississippi USA
Posts: 15,296
RE: Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
I spend a lot more time practicing on 3D targets I own that are shot from Treestands, Ground blinds, up hills, down hills, placed in the brush, in the shadows.
I can understand your point--I probably wouldn't shoot nearly as many if they were all like the ones you described. Try to find an all-trad shoot--seems that they are usually set up as hunting shots vs. the wide-open ones you have seen. I have shot in a few "mixed" tournaments (compound and trad), and don't care for those myself. Nothing against compounds, it just a different game and the targets are set up a lot differently.
Chad
06-10-2007, 03:43 PM
#8
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location:
Posts: 35
RE: Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
Chad,
Consider yourself lucky if you have clubs like that. I understand the liablility, however I have seen other clubs over come this. I thinks three or four treestand shots in the course of shooting thirty targets not out of the question. In Texas there are very few traditional only clubs, in fact I have been very active until the last few years in target and 3D shoots. It is all about money. You might find a special shoot that is stickbows only, but the majority are the mixed shoots.
I understand and agree that thereare good things to be gleened from 3D shoots, if they are set up properly. I don't want anyone to think that the only way you can be sucessful in the field is by shooting in 3D shoots. The Wensels are a good example, they will tell you straight out, we are bowhunters,not archers.They will tell you they don't shoot competitions. I will submit that they practice more than most of us. Nobody in their right mind would question their ability, as shooters or hunters. That brings up another point that gets overlooked far too often....We have a tendency to put far more emphasis on shooting skill than in hunting skills, and woodsmanship. It use to get passed down from father to son....seldom any more.
I have known far too many bowhunters who were not great shots, but had an ability to get within the range that they were deadly. Sure, it feels great to stack them in the kill at forty yards, but I thought we were special because weselected shorter range weapons,to get closer, to make that sure kill, or take no shot at all.
Now all that stuff I just said will not be applicable to those of you who are not hunters first, but are archers. They are two different games, played two different ways.....If you fall into the archer camp, no offense was intended, if you call yourself a bowhunter, then maybe you should take a second look at what's important. No, don't stop becoming a top shot, just become at least as good a woodsman as you are deadly...Nuff Said!
Consider yourself lucky if you have clubs like that. I understand the liablility, however I have seen other clubs over come this. I thinks three or four treestand shots in the course of shooting thirty targets not out of the question. In Texas there are very few traditional only clubs, in fact I have been very active until the last few years in target and 3D shoots. It is all about money. You might find a special shoot that is stickbows only, but the majority are the mixed shoots.
I understand and agree that thereare good things to be gleened from 3D shoots, if they are set up properly. I don't want anyone to think that the only way you can be sucessful in the field is by shooting in 3D shoots. The Wensels are a good example, they will tell you straight out, we are bowhunters,not archers.They will tell you they don't shoot competitions. I will submit that they practice more than most of us. Nobody in their right mind would question their ability, as shooters or hunters. That brings up another point that gets overlooked far too often....We have a tendency to put far more emphasis on shooting skill than in hunting skills, and woodsmanship. It use to get passed down from father to son....seldom any more.
I have known far too many bowhunters who were not great shots, but had an ability to get within the range that they were deadly. Sure, it feels great to stack them in the kill at forty yards, but I thought we were special because weselected shorter range weapons,to get closer, to make that sure kill, or take no shot at all.
Now all that stuff I just said will not be applicable to those of you who are not hunters first, but are archers. They are two different games, played two different ways.....If you fall into the archer camp, no offense was intended, if you call yourself a bowhunter, then maybe you should take a second look at what's important. No, don't stop becoming a top shot, just become at least as good a woodsman as you are deadly...Nuff Said!
06-10-2007, 10:48 PM
#9
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 9,175
RE: Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
The better woodsman you are, the closer you can get to game, so the less of an archer you need to be. The less of a woodsman you are, you're not going to get as close to game so the better archer you need to be. Being an archer and a master woodsman are two different things but they are NOT mutually exclusive. You most definitely CAN do both. ALL bowhunters should try to be both.
Quite frankly, 3D is not such a good game for turning folks into archers. One lousy arrow at each target, maybe 30-40 targets? Bah! You don't hit, you don't get another chance to correct your mistake and you just get left wondering how you screwed up. Field archery though...
4 arrows per target, for 28 targets, 112 arrows total for a full round. You miss the first arrow at a target, you've got 3 more to shoot. You get the chance to not only figure out how you missed, but to learn how to hit at that distance. When you learn how to hit the target at different distances, it turns into a game of consistency, trying to put all 4 arrows into the spot. That kind of game will definitely make a shooter out of you.
We talk about the fun and the people but that's only part of the good things that come from tournament shooting. Another side benefit of going to tournaments and meeting new folks is it can expand your hunting opportunities. You often run across folks looking to fill up a lease, or maybe looking to swap a deer or javelina hunt for wild hog or exotics, or vice versa. Getting together and meeting folks - what the yuppies used to call 'networking' back in the day - is something that hardly anyone thinks about when they think of tournaments, but smart folks work it.
When you turn your back on tournaments, you are turning your back on some good times, both on the range and in the woods.
Texas is a big place and you might not be anywhere even remotely close by, blackwidowbowman. But if you're in the Dallas area, I've got a few places that you can check out. There's the Texas State Longbow Assn over in Fort Worth, but they have only one shoot each year. The State Longbow Championships.
Collin County Bowhunters in McKinney has one or two traditional tournaments every year, and a whole bunch of traditional shooters hang out there.
The club I belong to, Denton County Archers (east of Denton & south of Hwy 380) is all-traditional, but do allow compound shooters on a limited basis. We have 5-6 all-traditional shoots a year, plus a weekly fun shoot every Thursday evening during daylight saving time. www.dentoncountyarchers.com
Unfortunately, our insurance won't allow us to have treestand shots. But we do have a deep gulley on the property that'll allow us to simulate treestand shots.
Quite frankly, 3D is not such a good game for turning folks into archers. One lousy arrow at each target, maybe 30-40 targets? Bah! You don't hit, you don't get another chance to correct your mistake and you just get left wondering how you screwed up. Field archery though...
4 arrows per target, for 28 targets, 112 arrows total for a full round. You miss the first arrow at a target, you've got 3 more to shoot. You get the chance to not only figure out how you missed, but to learn how to hit at that distance. When you learn how to hit the target at different distances, it turns into a game of consistency, trying to put all 4 arrows into the spot. That kind of game will definitely make a shooter out of you.
We talk about the fun and the people but that's only part of the good things that come from tournament shooting. Another side benefit of going to tournaments and meeting new folks is it can expand your hunting opportunities. You often run across folks looking to fill up a lease, or maybe looking to swap a deer or javelina hunt for wild hog or exotics, or vice versa. Getting together and meeting folks - what the yuppies used to call 'networking' back in the day - is something that hardly anyone thinks about when they think of tournaments, but smart folks work it.
When you turn your back on tournaments, you are turning your back on some good times, both on the range and in the woods.
Texas is a big place and you might not be anywhere even remotely close by, blackwidowbowman. But if you're in the Dallas area, I've got a few places that you can check out. There's the Texas State Longbow Assn over in Fort Worth, but they have only one shoot each year. The State Longbow Championships.
Collin County Bowhunters in McKinney has one or two traditional tournaments every year, and a whole bunch of traditional shooters hang out there.
The club I belong to, Denton County Archers (east of Denton & south of Hwy 380) is all-traditional, but do allow compound shooters on a limited basis. We have 5-6 all-traditional shoots a year, plus a weekly fun shoot every Thursday evening during daylight saving time. www.dentoncountyarchers.com
Unfortunately, our insurance won't allow us to have treestand shots. But we do have a deep gulley on the property that'll allow us to simulate treestand shots.
06-11-2007, 07:30 AM
#10
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Mississippi USA
Posts: 15,296
RE: Anybody Else Shoot Tournaments?
I agree with Art, but have a bit more to add........
Hunting and tournaments are different, but I don't know of any better practice for hunting than 3-D (the type courses and clubs I shoot at). I don't have any close--I have to travel over 2 hours to get to any of them, but it's worth it to me.
3-D is different than hunting, but it's as close as we can get for practice. You have pressure, you have unknown distances with unfamiliar terrain, you trees/limbs/bushes in the way, you have shots you may have to kneel down, stretch out, etc. for, you have the pressure of your peers watching you shoot........a lot closer to hunting than shooting in the back yard. Some shoots even have moving targets.
I agree the best shot won't always be the best hunter, and vice-versa, but I don't see why anyone serious about the sport wouldn't want to be as good at both as they can. I don't measure my improvement by the number of dust collectors I can bring home--my main competition is myself. There are lots of shots at tournaments I wouldn't consider in the woods, but they are confidence builders and help me know my limitations. Ilike see if I can make the long shot through the bushes or thread the needle between two trees....... on foam.Those shotsmake me more confident of my shooting in the woods.
My goal is always to shoot at least 80%--that's averages out to a kill shot on every target. At the bigger tournaments, 80% won't get you in the top 10 in the longbow or recurve class. The winner of the recurve class at the Howard Hill this year averaged almost straight 10's--he shot a 494. That was 50 targets, 5-8-10-12 scoring. The winner in the longbow class wasn't far behind with a 473. I know both of the winners, and both are accomplished hunters. These were NOT wide open, flat ground shots.
My guess is that at least 80-90% of the folks that show up at all-trad tournaments are hunters first, and knowthat as far as scores go they don't have much of a chance of winning against the serious target archers--but they still show up time after time.
Most folks use their hunting bows and hunting arrows. I shoot the same set-up for tournaments as I do for hunting, minus broadheads. I could probably add some points to my score card if I got a lighter bow, lighter arrows, no silencers on the string, etc. but 3-D is hunting practice to me. I shoot the same bow and arrows if I'm hunting rabbits or moose or 3-D. The only exception is bow fishing, and I use a recurve for that--don't have inserts for my reel on my longbow.
You don't have to shoot tournaments to be a good shot, and you don't have to be a really good shot if you are good enough to get really close--but I don't see any reason not to work on being a better shot, plus the other benefits mentioned that go along with tournaments.
Chad
Hunting and tournaments are different, but I don't know of any better practice for hunting than 3-D (the type courses and clubs I shoot at). I don't have any close--I have to travel over 2 hours to get to any of them, but it's worth it to me.
3-D is different than hunting, but it's as close as we can get for practice. You have pressure, you have unknown distances with unfamiliar terrain, you trees/limbs/bushes in the way, you have shots you may have to kneel down, stretch out, etc. for, you have the pressure of your peers watching you shoot........a lot closer to hunting than shooting in the back yard. Some shoots even have moving targets.
I agree the best shot won't always be the best hunter, and vice-versa, but I don't see why anyone serious about the sport wouldn't want to be as good at both as they can. I don't measure my improvement by the number of dust collectors I can bring home--my main competition is myself. There are lots of shots at tournaments I wouldn't consider in the woods, but they are confidence builders and help me know my limitations. Ilike see if I can make the long shot through the bushes or thread the needle between two trees....... on foam.Those shotsmake me more confident of my shooting in the woods.
My goal is always to shoot at least 80%--that's averages out to a kill shot on every target. At the bigger tournaments, 80% won't get you in the top 10 in the longbow or recurve class. The winner of the recurve class at the Howard Hill this year averaged almost straight 10's--he shot a 494. That was 50 targets, 5-8-10-12 scoring. The winner in the longbow class wasn't far behind with a 473. I know both of the winners, and both are accomplished hunters. These were NOT wide open, flat ground shots.
My guess is that at least 80-90% of the folks that show up at all-trad tournaments are hunters first, and knowthat as far as scores go they don't have much of a chance of winning against the serious target archers--but they still show up time after time.
Most folks use their hunting bows and hunting arrows. I shoot the same set-up for tournaments as I do for hunting, minus broadheads. I could probably add some points to my score card if I got a lighter bow, lighter arrows, no silencers on the string, etc. but 3-D is hunting practice to me. I shoot the same bow and arrows if I'm hunting rabbits or moose or 3-D. The only exception is bow fishing, and I use a recurve for that--don't have inserts for my reel on my longbow.
You don't have to shoot tournaments to be a good shot, and you don't have to be a really good shot if you are good enough to get really close--but I don't see any reason not to work on being a better shot, plus the other benefits mentioned that go along with tournaments.
Chad