First 3D Archery Shoot of the Year

April 5 & 6

Our first local competition was this weekend! The kids and I ventured out Saturday morning to start our weekend. Three rounds of 15 targets each on the Saturday and 2 rounds of 15 targets each on Sunday. Unfortunately Kyle ended up having to work and missed out.

Saturday:
It was a warm day with intermittent clouds in the sky. We arrived out at the range at 11:00, a little later then I was hoping but we still had plenty of time to get our rounds done. We did a couple practice rounds at the bags before heading off on our rounds. We started with C loop because it tends to be a little easier walking and I figured it would get the kids warmed up for the other two loops. They both did good and had fun. The weather was a little bi-polar, it was nice and sunny then we got rained on, then it hailed, then back to rain, then sun and it just kept doing that on and off the whole day. I scored a 110/150 and Pheonix scored a 41/150. After we were done C loop we stopped to have some lunch then we made our way to A loop.

Eating lunch- Easton was apparently a pirate
 

mommies 10x

It was a little better, we both scored better even though having to climb a few more hills and is a slightly more demanding hike for them then C. I scored a 125/150 and Pheonix got 46/150. We made our way to B loop as soon as we were done A. This loop has always been notorious for being difficult. It is a more demanding hike and usually the shots are much harder. I found that the shots were not as difficult for me as they were in previous years but course was more difficult to walk for the kids than in previous years. One area in particular had me grinding my teeth and swearing under my breath. They had a stone sheep set up on the side of a steep hill that had a pond at the bottom. For me it was nothing, but for the kids, dangerous. Easton froze up and I had to carry him across the hill then have him sit down so I could help Pheonix get across to her peg. After, I just had them sit while i crossed over to get our arrows then had to help one at a time get to the top of the hill. After that Easton was done, he was scared of any hill we came to and was tired; and this was only #4 on the course. It wasn't a fun loop this last one so I decided that this was the loop we would cut out even though it was our best scoring loop, 126/150 for me and 48/150 for Pheonix.

Sunday:
We got out at 9:30 and was walking our first loop by 10 so we made it out in decent time. They shut down the courses at 2:30 on the last day. The weather was much nicer! Sunshine and blue skies but windy. We started with A loop. The kids were not as well behaved as yesterday but they did alright on this loop. It went quick and I scored 126/150 and Pheonix scored 51/150. We stopped and had lunch after that loop and Pheonix wanted to try out her new release we had bought her. Currently she shoots her bow bare with fingers. We had some time so I said OK and we went over to the bags so she could practice. It took her a little bit to get the hang of it but she after a few shoots she did. She was just a little out of control with it so I told her she wasn't going to use it on the course  because she needed more practice and we were needing to get going on our last round. She pouted but listened. We made our way to C loop and apparently so was everyone else. The loop took us twice as long as it did yesterday and both kids were starting to get tired and whiny. By the end of C loop my nerves were frazzled haha. But I did score a 131/150 and Pheonix scored 48/150 so Sunday was our best shooting days even though we were all tired. I was able to hand in our score cards at 2:00. I ended up placing 2nd in the Women's Bowhunter Release class and Pheonix placed 4th in the Mini Cubs (8 yrs and under).

It was a successful weekend and our next shoot is April 19 & 20. But we will only be going to that one if Kyle has it off because it is a 2.5 hr drive!

She was very happy when she
got an 8 and mommy got a 0

Nikita