The Welsh Field Masters Tour 2013

 

Hi everybody!

The Welsh Masters Tour 2013 kicked off on Sunday 21^st April, with a Marked Animal round at Llantwit Major Archers course at Fonmon Castle. Everything is set up properly and it was a chance to debut a change in fletching.

I’ve ditched my usual config of white wraps and blue fletches, they keep getting scagged/shot up by close groups and start looking grubby very quickly. Also the wrap is a weak point as if the fletches get hit in the target, they rip the wrap off. I have gone for smaller, tougher fletches glued straight to the shaft and went with Bohning X-Vanes in hot pink to make them really stand out on the target!

I picked Chris up in the morning and we headed down there nice and early for a bit of practice and to confirm our marks.  To everyone’s surprise, it looked like it was going to be quite a decent day for weather. It was a little chilly, but crucially the wind held off and while it did rain slightly it was fairly light and only at the end of the second half.

In the Marked Animal round, the targets are pictures of animals with a ‘wound’ area, and a ‘kill’ area that is worth more points. If you miss with your first arrow, you are allowed a 2^nd and 3^rd attempt but the first arrow that scores a hit is the one that counts. The kill area is usually quite large so it is usually a high scoring round.

Got him, right in the pro-kill ring!

I went round with a few other compound archers who kept the pressure on all day, and on the last target of the first half I had an arrow that was cutting into the ‘kill’ line, but not through it as you have to in IFAA so it was only a wound and I dropped 2 points. (20 kill 18 wound with the first arrow). That was on Target 1, a 55 yard 30 degree downhill shot that I didn’t take enough of a cut off for the angle so the arrow went in high – I made sure I wouldn’t make the same mistake the next time around!

We broke for dinner, and then went back out on the course and I shot a clean second half – finishing the shoot on 27 kills 1 wound, 558 out of a possible 560! This was a new personal best by 10 points and only 1 line cutter away from equalling the Welsh record! This was only good enough for 2^nd place however, as Dave Home was on perfect form and shot a clean 560 – taking the gold medal and the LM Archers 560 Trophy. 

I had a really good day and was thrilled with the result, just one arrow a few mm off a perfect round. The bow is in good tune, my marks are spot on and my new Carbon One arrows are flying very well for me so I think I will be sticking with these for the foreseeable future.

The next shoot now isn’t for a few weeks time, a Hunter round at Dinefwr which combines my favourite round at one of my favourite courses, so I’m not going to put any pressure on myself by chasing a score – I’m just going to relax and enjoy the shoot for what it is, a day out in the woods shooting with good friends.