The Fonmon Winter Shoot - back out in the field!

Hi everyone!

So, last weekend was the first shoot of the Field season (at last!!) – the Fonmon Winter shoot, a Marked Forrester round which I have never shot a full round of before. The final round of the Welsh Masters last year was this round, but we only shot a half because the weather was so bad. That meant that whatever score I shot would be a new pb by default!

As it is an Animal round and not part of a series like the Masters or ranked, I had hoped to take Vasquez and shoot as Bowhunter. That style suits animal targets as it is a hunting setup, but my arrows for that bow were in the middle of being refletched and I didn’t have enough of them finished yet. If I’d lost the fletches on more than 1 of them I wouldn’t have enough to finish the round.

They’ve been finished now though and they look the business! These arrows are going to be shot at dark animal faces and 3D targets, I wanted them to stand out and be visible – so I went with blaze orange zebra-stripe wraps and matching vanes/nocks – check them out, no way I’ll miss those in the target!

So as the arrows weren't ready, I took Maya with me – my Freestyle Unlimited setup. I had spent some time in the weeks before setting Maya back up for outdoors and getting sightmarks ready for the Glamorgan Championships in a week’s time so this was a good road test. 

We got to Fonmon bright and early, and boy was it cold! It was only about 1 degree but the wind chill and shade on the course made it feel far colder - it was a good idea I decided to wear extra layers just in case! It did have its good side though, the ground was frozen so it was the first time I’ve ever been around Fonmon without being knee deep in mud!!

I went around the course with Geraint Thomas and Dave Home and put in a fairly steady performance, finishing on 865 which secured me 2^nd place and a silver medal – result! Geraint won the day, with an incredible 940 points – 10 points (2 spots) short of the Welsh record! He had a slow start as it was a new setup and he had to dial his marks in, but cleaned up the 2^nd half. If the bow had been setup from the start I think he would’ve broken the Welsh record with ease. 

The standard of shooting was high!

As it was a Forrester round, the targets are animals with coloured spots for the ‘super-kill’ high points area that are smaller than the spots on regular targets. I used the day to test my cuts and I was spot on all day, and the targets where I missed the spot were quite close, not miles out so they may well be spots on a regular face. It’s given me a confidence boost to know my estimations have improved , so I’m really looking forward to the regular Field/Hunter rounds that are coming and hope to break 530 points this year to claim my Grand Bow Master title!

The next shoot is the Pentref March and Glamorgan this weekend as I mentioned above. They are FITA 24 target Mixed rounds, and the targets are much bigger – and closer! 12 of the targets are unmarked, but my range estimations are usually pretty good so I am hoping to put in a decent score and maybe get my next arrowhead award. We shall see!