1 Point

I enjoy all forms of archery, I really enjoy eliminations in World Archery but for some reason I tend to miss the World Archery events. Thankfully this weekend I got to shoot a 720 at Tukkies after a very late registration.

So on Thursday I decided to try out a 10 degree offset on my bow. I saw a few guys with it, a few international archers and wanted to try it out. Off to Magnum to get it sorted.

Saturday morning was the first time I arrived almost early for the 720. That was until a fun run was taking place, and by the looks of it, it was more a gentle, casual stroll. It took quite some time to finally get to the range. Once I finally stopped there everything looked good, mother nature was kind enough not to have the winds interrupt early morning shooting.

Elimination done RIGHT!

Our ranking session went quite well, I kept it mostly in the gold with the occasional shot in the red due to either creeping, or jerking. When all was done 72 arrows behind us. I ended up tied with Sean Nel, a staff shooter for Archer's Edge.

First round I got a BYE. Second round I got Mr. Nel, he was ready for the day and started off very strong! In the end we both ended with a 139. This is where I got to shoot another shoot off, I got my shot off and hit the 10, Sean hit the 9! A good tough round.

Third round I ended up against Folkers Heroldt, an archer who has been shooting for quite a couple of years entrenched in archery. The previous time we ended up against each other I lost the round. So now we were ready to shoot again. Folkers showing that experience trumps almost everything else opened with a perfect round. It was a long hard round but I finished on a 141. Folkers did a great 142.

As I got ready to pack up, I heard I somehow ended up the Bronze medal match. Somewhat caught off guard I did what I do, I shot. The match was hard and my opponent was fierce! I just managed to get a 140 and he got a 141. A hard match, but a fun match. I lost with a single point.

So this is how you learn.

De Voetpadkloof IFAA Field

This was my first trip to Mpumalanga, the rumours about the course were partially true. I decided I want to shoot this course for a few reasons.

Isiyala Lodge

1. I want a challenging course to see if I can handle the angles. 
2. I wanted to explore a bit more of our country. 
3. I also wanted to get out of the city for a while.

Isiyala at a distance

Objectives achieved! We drove to Isiyala Lodge the Friday morning, about 200kms East of Johannesburg. As we arrived at the lodge it was really a tranquil site. The same day we decided to explore the surrounding area and ended up at the outdoor expo, they were not officially open but we could still get a few snacks and drinks.

Saturday morning we arrived at the range, there were quite a few people at the event and the course looked quite intimidating. So I headed to the practice range and after 3 shots I heard the awful sound of a nock being destroyed. As I approached the target I saw it was not one of my arrows, but that of a fellow archer who had his arrow destroyed. After this, I decided to get ready for the first day.

The unfortunate arrow that wanted to share the same spot as mine

The morning was not too chilly and the course had 14 targets. As I received my card I was quite happy seeing I was starting at target 15. After the announcements, a few groups were not complete so a slight reshuffle was in order and I got moved to target 9 at my dismay.

Target 9 was one of the last targets in the mountain, this was a long walk with short legs. After I eventually reached my target it was a bit of a shock since my first target was 55 yards away further up the mountain .having seen how difficult it could be when it came to angles I decided to replace my Nikon Prostaff 5 with an i3 with the angle calculations. Ranging the target was about 2 yards less. Starting the competition with my backtension was okay.

The bunny at a bit of an angle

Our second target was the short range bunny. I still don't know why it is referred to as the bunny. This target gets shot at 35, 30, 25 and 20 feet. The first two pegs were at a high angle while the second two was about eye level. Half shot okay we moved on.

The rock; the 1st time round

Now the 80-yard shot arrives, everything is perfect, on full draw dot hovering perfectly over the target's centre and as I released it hit me! My sight was at 24 yards! My first fatal mistake, also my first arrow that got destroyed due to a bad shot. My carbon arrow hit the first rock and shattered... Eventually, I decide to switch to my thumb release die a bit more control with the wind and difficult shooting positions. This helped.

We went around and started ascending the mountain again. Shooting a few targets as we head up the mountain. Once we finally got on the mountain the wind started a gentle tease. It progressively just blew harder and harder.

My last shot for the day was a 60 yard shot on a rock with the wind blowing like the lost Capetonian wind. At the end of the first day, I can honestly say I enjoyed the course even with the ups and downs, we had a strong group and it was a great group to get some pointers from.

So after 112 scoring arrows, we went our separate ways to come back the next day with the Hunter round.

The day started quite well since I ended up in the same group as a fellow PSE archer, another lefty and massive Jan. I adjusted a few sight settings the previous day and moved my pin ever so slightly. This seemed to have made a positive change to everything.

The course as you can see is quite rocky, so the recurve archers had a hard time when they missed, with the strong occasional winds and the angles of the targets it was really one group I felt sorry for.

A tight field grouping

This is why I trust my Carbon Core arrows, if my sight is correct they hit the centre, every time! I had quite a few perfect rounds as we went around on the Hunter day and felt quite positive.

After the second day and a few changes, I can honestly say things went much better due to 3 changes that I made the after the 1st day.

1. Sight adjustment
2. Only using my Fang4 thumb release
3. Using proper glue for fletching!

I used Gorilla glue which worked well for the first few days, but after that, it just did not stick anymore. I switched that out for Glue Meister which I found at the Rand Show in Johannesburg, but I cannot find much of it online. That seems to be keeping my fletches in place even after severe punishment. 

PSE Dominator 3D Max & Evolve 35

A 65Y shot

So with all those changes, I went up 15 points from the previous day. A good, yet difficult shoot.