Stickbow Target Archery Forums

This event was formerly a two day event at a single site. That required some long travel considering the length of the state, which limited turnout. This year as an experiment it is being held at six sites as a one day event. Four of them were shot this weekend and two remain.

I shot it at the lovely Nevada County Sportsman's Club layout, over three of their four field courses in mixed woodland at about 3000 feet in the Sierra Nevada. There is plenty of elevation change and shooting between sunlight and shade, a challenging layout. There were 65 shooters, all but one with compounds. I shot my Edge longbow, and I expect there will be a couple of dozen stickbows at the other sites.

I shot pretty well, though well short of my personal bests and of Larry Yien's record pace of a few years ago. I made 168 on the Field Round, 159 on the Hunter Round and 206 on the Animal Round, total 533. I made the first shot in my group at the 80 yard target and hit the 5 spot, to much amazement and aclaim!

My bow draws 42 at 30" and a I shoot Wapiti Archery tapered Port Orford cedar shafts. They are the successor producer to Rogue River Archery. I leave the shafts full length and use 100 grain field points for 480 grains total weight. I shoot three fingers under and have a point on range of about 57 yards. - lbg

Well done LBG! Back when I was using one anchor point and shooting a 43# Bob Lee Classic (long riser) recurve I was struggling to hit 140 every time on a 28 target course. With 480g wood arrows that's good shooting. That field course sound like fun too!

What do you think of the multiple sites for a state wide shoot? With travel costs getting so high I suspect we may be seeing more of this. I think it would increase attendance at the "Nationals" if NFAA turned the Sectionals into mini Nationals.

Dave

longbowguy, thats the same setup I shoot concerning the bow weight and Wapiti arrows. I use a 30" arrow with 125 gr. pts. What spine arrow do you shoot? I'm going to order a new bow and I hope I can get 50-54 to fly for me.

Thanks lads;
John, I use 50-54 left at 32" with 100 grain points. After I snap off a couple of points and repoint them they still fly well at 30 inches and less. Naturally, I do not use the short ones for matches as I gap aim off the arrow point at 45 to 60 yards and the sight picture is slightly different. - lbg

lbg, its Biff here. You know I shot it at Pacifica. Only 20 shooters showed up. Its been 2 years since I shot this venue. I was not happy with my Field score of 154, or my Hunter score of 150. I was able to capitalize on "tricks of the trade" that I have learned from 3-D and got a 230 on the Animal round.
Shooting at round target faces actually is different. Also putting 4 good shots together in a row is very difficult. They say that Pacifica is the more challenging range, but really I can't blame anything on the terrain, I must shamefully own all my own mistakes.
Personally I don't care having all the hosts, but a lot of people didn't likeit. "It's gotta be a level playing field and we all have to shoot on the same range!" That sort of thing. I think that the cooler weather at Pacifica was to my advantage.What does suck is now having to wait for all the results to be tallied from across the state.
Well done lbg. I guess we'll know how we came out in a couple of months.

Biff: So you are telling me that you beat me by one point? That's rude! But I entered as a senior and I expect your entered as adult, so maybe we both won. Actually, I doubt it. I can think of several guys who could do better on a good day, one of them a world record setter. Nice score on the animal round. Too bad about the small turnout. Field archery is such a fine sport for those who do the work to learn it. - lbg

But lbg look at your field and hunter scores. I wasn't even tripping on the total scores. It's just that you clearly can do better on the round faces than I can. I just got thrown a bone on the animal round because I was able to shoot for "center of mass" and have it work for me. Fortunately we are in 2 different age classes.

Just to finish this off, the results are in. Bender did take first in Adult Longbow, and I took first in Senior Longbow. - lbg

Well, done longbowguy the fact that you are on a field course speaks volumes.
Field archery is a very tough game to play and to have yourself and Bender going head to head has to be a rush.
Keep on working at your game and you will find that your scores will climb.
It is a shame that the Florida guys cannot meet up with the West coast shooters???????
Over here in Florida we will be holding the IFAA North American field championships in December it would be great if we could get a good sized longbow group to take part in the shoot.

Dana:
Good to hear from you. Well, you Floridians could come to California. We have lots of field courses in very scenic locations; and you could make a grand tour. The NFAA 3d Marked in May would be one event to consider. 70 targets, many at long range. The California Traditional Rendevous, in Spring and Autumn can also make the basis of a good family vacation.

Perhaps something will work out some day. Maybe in Dakota. - lbg

Actually, I would love to join you lads in December. But alas, I am retired on insufficient income for much air travel.