there were no Zombies!!! Aaaarrrgh :-( But there was a big Velociraptor 3D which I hadn't shot before, which made it tricky to judge the distance.
My shot of the day was bloomin' great Bison at about 50 yards on a V slight uphill, I watched everyone shoot short and a couple of arrows catch the overhead foliage. My philosophy all day had been to avoid trying to work anything out and not to think, just look at the target and shoot. It's tricky to apply this if you are shooting last or you are being held up by a slow group in front.
I knelt, pulled it to full draw put the tip of point of the arrow about on his shoulder, then just smoothly went up a bit until if felt right, the arrow sailed away and an I was rewarded with a satisfying thud as it struck home just above the kill zone.
We were behind a group who seemed to get slower and slower, they had a crossbow and a compound in the group, but they weren't the real problem. There was a lady shooting an AFB, I'll run you through her shot routine.
1. Stand on peg, feet together staring at target... 30 seconds
2. Raise right hand outstretched as if in a Nazi salute, waggle it up and down a bit 25 seconds.
3. Repeat 1 and 2 once more if the mood takes.
4. Adopt a sideways stance the wrong way round., and look at index finger a bit more 5 seconds.
5. Adjust stance, drop right arm and raise left arm which has the bow in it... why she couldn't do all the above using her shooting stance and bow arm, I have no idea. 15 seconds
6. S.l.o.w.l.y knock an arrow, and raise bow. 5 seconds.
7. Aim, loose 10 seconds.
To be fair she wasn't a bad shot, but on one relatively simple shot where we were waiting behind, she missed first arrow, took 3 paces forward to the white peg and started to repeat the entire procedure! At this point a very bad man in the following group shouted out "The target hasn't moved has it?"
I know that's bad etiquette and could "put her off" but she was putting off every member of her group and the two groups behind who had run up against them. They were warned twice by the marshals to get a move on.
I don't want anyone to rush a shot, but they could try and move round efficiently between shots. To me it shows a lack of consideration and is a reason why I don't shoot competitively, there are people who do that sort of thing a gamesmanship. If you do have an elaborate pre-shot routine, maybe get someone to video it and look at it to make it mere efficient in both time and effort.
It breaks up the rhythm of the shoot and you start to seize up at the end of the round having to stand around watching people go through over elaborate routines.
To indicate how slow the group was, after a tea stop, we gave them 15 minutes to get moving before we set off and we'd caught up after one target.
Sorry about the moaning, it was still a great day out, perfect weather, glorious Autumn colours with sweet chestnuts dropping around us and great company.
Thanks to all at Avalon, a great venue if you ever get a chance to shoot it.
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