Yesterday was filled with videos of shooting recurve bows.  Tons of theories are out there about how best to practice and what method works fastest and best.  Shooting into a cup and stepping back after mastering 3 consecutive shots into the cup.  Shooting at a string suspended down range to get your “up and down” in order, forgetting about left and right shots for now.  Concentrating on a “spot” on the target and forgetting about everything else in the equation.  And the list goes on and on.

The bottom line comes back to “practice”.  Consistently doing the same thing over and over and over again and doing it lots and lots of times.

In the lessons I’ve had (5 so far), they have taught me to raise the bow, pull back the string, anchor my thumb under my jaw, touch the string to my nose and upon release, pull my releasing hand back and touch my shoulder.  The bow holding hand should be “resting” the bow and not gripping it, when the shot is made, the bow will tend to fall forward, at which time I am to keep the bow from hitting the ground by lightly clasping the bow with my index finger and my thumb.

All of this seems easy, and it really is, but in reality, there are a lot of things taking place all at the same time that have to be repeated each time you do it, or the arrows are hitting all over the place.  Last night was no different for me.  I would have two arrows firmly planted in the target right next to each other and then the third arrow would fly over and take out the center of the target next to mine.  Very frustrating.

BUT(T), not to be discouraged, I challenged Squirrel to a win or lose for a soda!  Best score wins.

Again, I must say his arrows are tuned to his bow, his sights are tuned to his eye and form and he is ready for competition much greater than to win a soda or not.  I, on the other hand, am still waiting for my coveted arrows and am shooting my self fletched arrows (see above), but I do have my new bow (30 pounds of pure furry) to fling them with.  Also, I am armed with my new found knowledge as discovered from the various You Tube videos I have consumed my day watching.  I’m ready!  Bring on the games!

The game is being shot at a single black and white bulls eye and we are competing with most (if not all) of the rules of engagement as ordered by the Field Archer Association….we shoot from the black line!  Ten Ends (sets, rounds, give-it-a-goes) of three shots per end (or other whatever you want to call them), 30 shots total.

I will list the ends as they proceeded:  S = Squirrel, B = Butt (all scores were witnessed by Conner, who also kept a score sheet on us for comparison, a proper field judging Judge)

End 1:  B 1,0,0 End score 1, Run score 1      S 2,2,2 End score 6, Run score 6

He only has me by 5 at this point, I can catch him with one good shot!

End 2:  B 2,0,0  E 2  R 3          S 3,1,1  E 5 R 11

Two well placed “5’s” and I’ve got him!

End 3:  B 1,0,0   E 1  R 4          S 5,3,2  E 10, R 21

Can you see Squirrel pulling ahead rapidly?

End 4:  B 4,0,0  E 4  R 8         S 3,2,0   E 5, R  26

Oh dear!  One more end to go to the mid point and I’ve got my work cut out for me!

End 5:  B 5,4,1  E 10  R 18     S 4,4,3   E 11, R 37

HMMMM.  One point more than double my score.  But we still have half a game to complete!  I can over take him!

End 6:  B 2,1,0  E 3,  R 21      S 4,2,1   E 7,  R 44

I must do better!

End 7:   B 5,3,0  E 8,  R 29     S 4,4,1   E 9,  R 53

Only 3 more ends and my pain will be over.

End 8:  B 3,3,0   E 6,  R 35     S 5,5,4   E 14,  R  67

I need a perfect game from here on out to even stay close to him.

End 9:  B 3,0,0   E 3,  R 38     S 2,2,1   E 5,  R 72

It’s over for me.  But one more end to complete.  I feel like the JAZZ Basketball team (every game), being paid well, just to show up.

End 10:  B 2,1,0  E 3,  R 41     S 5,3,2   E 10,  R 82

Well, he only beat me by twice my score.  I’d say I hung in there pretty good.  And as for “x’s”, I had none, he had 2.  So he would have won even if we had tied.

I offered up his 50 cents for the soda and also bought Conner one.  But I reminded him that the 50 cents could be “squirreled” away and used to help pay his entry fee into the competition coming up…..he tapped his chin in thought and then looked at his dad and said….NAH!  I’ll save it NEXT time!

Bears Butt

February 6, 2015