Target Archers...

MJBlazek · Post by **MJBlazek** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:03 pm

I have an idea for an event I would like to run buy some target archers to see what they think.

AndrescalledAJ · Post by **AndrescalledAJ** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:18 pm

As a Target Marshal I'll take a listen.

Kilkenny · Post by **Kilkenny** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:25 pm

Run it fast or it might get shot full o' holes :wink:

What's on your mind ?

MJBlazek · Post by **MJBlazek** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:34 pm

Well I would like to set up a "hunt" event.

I think I want to call it "A hunt of Kells"

The premise is a bunch of "Irish" animals have been let loose on the grounds of our Shire and the owning lord of the grounds has arranged a hunt to gain favor with his neighbors.

So throughout the fields and woods where this will be held are certain spots where a hunter, or group of hunters, will "spot" and try to take down the game.

I am even thinking of having a boar spear range.

Now the fun part of it is that the animals, or "game" will be life sized depictions of the animals from the Book of Kells.

Each hunter gets a limited number of arrows in their quiver, and at the end of the hunt some one would be sent around to tally the points for each archer. They would not be allowed to retrieve arrows/bolts until after the hunting was over. They would only be allowed to retrieve missed shots.

Then at the end of the hunt, there would be a feast featuring food made from the ingredients of some of the animals that were "Hunted"

On another note...)I just noticed I use the term "on another note" alot)
for something different...
Has anyone ever run a "Volley" shot at a target event, where say there are a dozen or so "invaders" (foam dummy heads) a distance off in a field and the archers fire in a volley at them. If they hit the "invaders" they get extra points for the event. ( They would not count towards a "royal rounds" points, just for the local event)
More points for a head shot, than a body of course.

Thoughts on either?
Any thoughts on either of these?

Cian of Storvik · Post by **Cian of Storvik** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 9:53 pm

Archers like to shoot things. The worst archery events were ones were you were allowed to shoot only a couple of arrows at a time. This was horrible if you had a bunch of archers and only one could shoot at a time. It means lots of standing around watching other people shoot.

The best archery events are ones were you can shoot until your arm falls off. Also, requiring a minimum qty of arrows may drop the number of people that show up. but it depends on the archers in you area. If you say "To compete, archers must start with 2 dozen arrows", in this area you would be excluding a lot of people.

I ran a successful archery event where the range was set-up that all of the targets could be shot without fear of cross-fire. So they were all usable at all times, the only rule was you had to have a warranted archery marshal with you at the time, or you could shoot alone if you were a warranted marshal. And you could shoot as much as you wanted. You could shoot the same target a hundred times if you wanted. And only your best score would count for each station. There was no theme to it. Archers were supplied scoring books with colored illustrations from period manuscripts, and golf pencils. The only requirement was you needed atleast 6 arrows to be competative, and a suggestion that you bring 12 if you were a hot-bow archer and could empty a quiver in 30 seconds.

Archers especially like things that have action. Balloons popping, target bobbing, animals skittering. Shooting static targets gets old quick.

In the one I ran several years ago there were like 8 stations;
-A distance shot (maximum of 3 arrows between retrievals). A yawner, but I thought people would be interested in knowing the absolute furthest they could hit something with their bow and arrow set-up.

-A wand shoot (Hit the 2" wide stick at 100 yards gets you 5 pts. Hit the wand at 50 yards gets you 1 pt.)
-A castle window shoot (A target on a pole 20' in the air, painted to look like an cruciform arrow slot). Hitting the cross was 2 pts. Hitting the line outline of the cross 1 pt.
-A balloon tree shoot. Shoot as many baloons attached to these wooden faux treas as you can in 30 seconds.
-A trick shot. At your ready, hit the center of a target (as many arrows as necessary), Immediately nock a second arrow. 3 seconds after hitting the target a small contraption behind the target launched a nerf soccerball about 10' into the air. Which you had to hit in mid-flight. Once it touched the ground it was considered dead. You got like 1 pt. for hitting the target and 20 pts. for the ball.
-A stuffed animal shoot (a field of stuffed animals for people to shoot at with a tiny "Barney the dinosaur" in the middle that got you extra points for hitting it. The shoot was called "Die! Barney Die!" 6 arrow maximum each time. Barney was nothing but a wad of stuffing blowing across a field by mid day.
-A tournaquin (which had a critical failure and was tossed from the event half way through).
-And a royal round station. <-which got the absolute least attention that day.

Some people told me that they shot the same stations 10 or 15 times (especially the one that popped the ball in the air, and the castle window). And the distance shot too. Everyone wanted to be able to say they could go the furthest distance. 3 out of 16 archers actually hit the 100 yard wands too. I was thrilled.
And the point system was very arbitrary and made no sense, but it didn't matter...everyone seemed to enjoy the shooting.

Once again. Moving targets. Things that pop and throw confetti. Tricky shots, and just being able to shoot until your hearts content are the ones that people like.

I've decided not to persue marshaling anymore (The kingdom lost my warrant a few years ago and I was told I had to start the whole process over again if I wanted to marshal again), but I always thought it would be a good idea to have an archery event with a performance station where you could shoot for distance, check your arrow speed (with a special gizmo on a tripod), spine check arrows, and do some paper-tests to see if you're using the optimal ammo for your bow.

Another idea that I thought would be neat idea would be to have an R/C car that can run over rough terrain, and have a stuffed animal attached to the top, and let the archers try to hit it while you drive it around. You would need an assortment of bird blunts for the archers to access and a beefy RC car or build a special box that you would protect/hide the RC car. It was just an idea though.
-Cian