This week was a week of ups and downs. On Monday evening I received a bow in the mail that I had traded for. I've always shot higher wrist handles a little better than the straight low wrist bows and this bow is the type I seem to shoot better. The bow I got was new in the box, and my bow was a year and a half hold. I figured it was a win/win for me.
I quickly threw a rest on it and shot it in the yard. It felt pretty good, but I had no intention of shooting it until next week. On Thursday night after my softball game, I was really aggravated, so I decided to try to get the arrows to group. Within minutes, I was shooting 7-arrow groups in the white on a 5-spot target from 40 yards, never missing, I destroyed a few arrows, but I couldn't stop shooting the bow because I couldn't miss with it. It amazed me even more that I was shooting with a pin and a verifier. The sight I had on the bow was about 25 years old.
As I sat at work on Friday and muddled through the heaps of stuff on my desk, I figured I would shoot the bow on Saturday at the New Hampshire State IBO Championship. Heck, I knew there was good terrain there, and I figured that would really put me to the test. I had to add a lot of weight to this bow to get it to shoot. With the bow I've been shooting, I've been holding 9 pounds at full draw. With this bow, I'm holding just shy of 18 pounds, a drastic difference for me. I ended up with 9 ounces on my 27' front bar and 18 ounces on a 15' back bar.
New Hampshire IBO State Championship
Wade, Doug and I met my dad at his house at 6:15 to go to the shoot. Since it was only a 2-hour drive, we figured we would get going at a decent time. The forecast looked like it was going to be good, and I couldn't wait to give this bow a test, even though I knew it wasn't tuned to give peak performance. You can't learn much if you wade into things, so I jumped in all the way and figured I would see what happened.
It was nice when we got to the club. It was still a little cool from the night before, and there weren't any bugs as I thought there might be. When I shot my practice arrows at the bales, the bow didn't feel as good as it did the night before. I didn't shoot horrible groups, but they definitely weren't as good as they were at home the night before. I think some of it was because I had a pin and no lens and the verifier. I haven't shot a pin without a lens in a moveable sight since 1997. Although I've shot a rack of pins many times, I haven't shot a moveable with a pin in over 20 years. I chose to do so because I didn't have a good lens for the housing that I was using with the sight. There weren't many people at the target butt when we got ready to go out. There were only six of us, so we were broken up into two groups of three.
The Round Starts
I started on a black boar behind the clubhouse. When I looked at it, I knew it was going to be all but impossible to see the target. It was a black target set about 20 yards into the woods on the side of a hill, and it was at a pretty steep angle. The sun was directly in front of us, so I knew from my experience over the years, that it would be impossible to probably even find the target in my sight picture. Unfortunately, my card got drawn as the first shooter.
When I pulled the bow back, I didn't even know if there was a target in the hole. I let down and asked Jacob if he could hold my umbrella for me. It was a tiny umbrella that I keep in my quiver, really tiny. He held it for me, and it didn't make a difference. After letting down again, I realized I was going to have to imagine where the target was in my mind and attempt to shoot the shot like one of my blank bale shots in the basement. And that is what I did. When the shot broke, I just hoped to hear foam. I heard it hit the target and was happy. I couldn't see where it went until I got into the woods on the way to retrieve the arrows. I high it low and left, catching an 8 right on the line. I knew I was really lucky. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don't.
As I continued into the round, my shots just weren't feeling the same due to the new bow. After about eight targets in, I began feeling the groove. I realized that I wasn't aiming with the shot in my back. I was holding it in the top of my shoulder for the first seven targets. Once I realized this and got it into my back, I became a different shooter with this bow. The pin would hit the middle, and my shot would break almost instantly. Unlike the last few years, I wasn't letting down a gazillion times, and I wasn't having many issues. I did have some problem with glare from the verifier in my peep sight. Shooting the pin made it difficult for me too. The target seemed a long ways away, and I had a hard time trying to narrow down my aiming point. Although I knew I was in the 10-ring, I didn't know where I was in it.
Halfway through the Round
When we got halfway through the round, we realized that we had missed two targets along the way. We met someone on the trail, and he told us that we had missed a caribou and the baboon in the box. We couldn't figure that out and laughed about it. "Baboon in the box." What the heck was he talking about?
Well, two targets later, we found the baboon in the box. It was a cool target set, with a baboon set on a little sad berm on what I think was a pistol range. It was a great-looking set, but the location of the target and the lighting made it almost impossible to see the target. This was another one I couldn't see. I decided to hold in the dark hole and just execute a good blind bale shot. I couldn't believe it when the arrow landed in the middle. I got lucky again. I realized I should have played lotto this week. My luck was on point today. Once again, I drew that target first just like the boar earlier in the day.
After the baboon in the box (I like that term, it just makes me laugh), we came upon an elk. I thought it was a country mile away, but Jacob and John informed me it was a miniature elk and was made to represent an elk at long distances. Since I had never shot it before, I couldn't judge according to target size. I did my best using the ground, but I also couldn't get away from the fact that it was an elk. Well, Jacob and John smoked it, and I barely caught a 10. Here's a picture of the mini elk. My dream is to shoot a 6x6 that has a body that small. Packing him out at 11,000 feet would be my dream. I love elk hunting.............and it's only a few moths away. Hopefully, I don't see a herd of minis run by me, but if I do, I know I'll put one through its lungs. I'm not sure Jacob is as excited as me about this mini elk, but it does make him look like a giant.
The rest of the day passed quickly, and I realized the higher holding weight on this bow is good for me. I can break a much cleaner shot. I'll need to really work on it. It keeps me honest, and I can't afford to lose any back tension. The bow aims well, and I look forward to doing some more experimenting with it. I'm hoping this initial test is a good sign of what's to come. It feels really good in my hands. Here's my card for the day. I believe I can attribute the rough start to the new bow. After I got rolling and gained confidence, everything seemed to fall into place. I have to admit that I did get lucky on the three targets that I couldn't see. I did what the great Terry Wunderle once said,"If you can't see the target, put the pin where you think it needs to be and worry nothing about execution."
Those targets did remind me of one of the very few times I ever saw a target set like that at a national event. It was a bedded buck in a dark hole in the woods. I had three targets left to go in the IBO National Triple Crown. If I 10d out, I would have my first national triple crown title. I was in the top peer group, and we were at the end of the second day... three targets left. I could't see the target, so I did what Terry Wunderle said to do. When the arrow released, I felt good about it. Stepping away from he stake, I saw that the arrow struck the target where the body and the neck connect. It's a shot I will never forget. I didn't lose that triple crown because of any type of bad shot or bad yardage estimation. I simply lost because of luck. A few of the others did the same thing I did, and they got lucky, just as I got lucky today. Looking back on it, I just wish luck didn't play a part in it. I wish the target was in the field, where we could all see it equally well. Since that wasn't the case, I took it on the chin. I figured it was a lost opportunity that I would never get again. It still bothers me. I don't mind losing if I lose due to skill or superiority, but that one loss has always bothered me because it was simply lost due to a matter of bad luck.
My Take on the Day
When I came off the range, I saw a variety of people. Actually I saw a variety of moods on the course throughout the day: some happy people, some pissed off people, some angry people, some laughing people, and some mind-boggled people. For some reason people like to talk to me about courses. It's probably because I usually listen and let them tell their stories. I've always tried to listen to see what I can learn, and if I learn something, I try to store it away to use in the future.
John Cislak was in front of the club when I came down the hill to turn my card in. He asked me what I thought about the course, and he was pretty proud that this was the first course that he had set on his own. We all know how difficult it is to set courses...........it's not fun, and it's damn hard, especially with limited help.
I told John that I thought he did really well with addressing some of the concerns from the previous year. The shooters were not required to walk up and down steep hills, and the footing wasn't made purposely bad on the stakes. He also knocked it out of the park with changing distances from the stake I shot. I had to use my entire sight range and really think about judging my yardage. This course was set to see if people can judge all yardages. Sometimes courses are easy if they're all long. You see a number and get in a groove. This course had every number form short to long: it was awesome.
It's always good to hear the bad with the good, too. So I told John it was hard to find some stakes and, it was difficult for shooters in different classes to shoot because they were shooting from many different angles. I'd imagine this was done in an effort to make shots more challenging for each stake, instead of having the traditional straight forward stakes. This definitely took some imagination, and I understand the thought process behind it. Since he didn't have a lot of experience of setting a state championship type course, he didn't realize that it might cause some issues with destroying arrows, and we all know arrows are expensive. He acknowledged to me that he hadn't really thought about that. Here's an example of a couple of shots, just so others who might be first-timers setting a course know what to avoid that might make some people a little annoyed. The last photo of the stakes is from left to right and the target is in the woods to the right. It's our job to be constructive and help people set good courses for us. Instead of jumping down John's throat, I just gave him some suggestions for next time.
When luck plays into the game, it can be really disheartening, like stated above in my story about the national triple crown. I'm a firm believer that luck should never play into it. If I win, I don't want to win because I got lucky and someone else didn't. I want to beat someone at their very best. I also want to get beat when I didn't get lucky. I want the guy or girl to beat me when he or she makes a great shot on an open, unobstructed target that can easily be seen. Without having a lot of experience at really competitive, big events, it's easy to sometimes think that shots like these are difference makers and really tough. They are both, but they shouldn't decide the winners. We can do a lot of other things to make courses tough without luck playing into the final outcome. John did't purposely say, "I'm going to do this to screw people over." Instead, he thought those shots were really tough. Now, he has a better idea of how to better use the terrain to create the challenge.
I've been shooting national events for the better part of 30 years. In all of my years of shooting nationals and world championships, I've never seen more than one angled target on a course, and the angle is usually accidental. Without having that national type experience, it's easy to find different ways to make the shoots difficult. John did his best at that. He made it difficult. He just chose a different method than many people are used to.
The Ridiculous Drama
In the past, I would probably engage in the drama, but it's just old at this point. John tried his best and asked my opinion. We had a very civil conversation and I commend his efforts. When I walked inside, Jacob an Eric were having a conversation about a few things. I sat down and listened and offered a few thoughts. Everything was very civil and went well.
I passed a lot of people along the way that said they would never shoot another IBO event and they can't wait for ASA to come to town next year. Folks, it's not the IBO, let's not attach the name to the issues you're having. Everyone must step in and help each other. I've lived archery in New England for the last 30 years. From the beginning, there are only a handful of people who have been on the ride with me. We've seen all of this happen in the past. It cycles through, and it always happen. Build and organization up, then try to tear down the same organization with a few years. Most people probably don't even know that we had ASA for a few years, big events. I actually won the ASA Trifecta (triple crown of Northeast ASA). Amazingly, we had all of the same shooters in the IBO Triple Crown. There are only so many shooters in the region. The more we bicker and cause issues with each other, the worse it will get. Friendships will be lost, and people will dislike each other simply because they don't agree with each other. I've seen it all. I've lived it, most of you have not. In the last 30 years, New England archery has appeared with a big boom and went out with a fizzle. It has always happened with new leadership. The old guard leaves and the new guard comes in. The old guard gets sick of running things and steps away. It's nothing new. I love shooting my bow. I'll go shoot wherever there's a shoot that I feel like going to and have time to go to. I'll also voice my opinion because that's what I do: sometimes people like it and sometimes they don't. People many times don't like my straightforward honesty. I've always told it like I see it. I don't really care if people like me or if they don't. I could really care less.
Many years ago, I started buying my own targets. I ended up buying over 60 targets and have 100 acres with awesome terrain to put them on. I did this to get away from all of the drama. I practiced on my own range and went on to win national 3d events and outdoor target events. It was nice. If anyone wants to come over and shoot, you are always welcome. I love shooting with people other than myself. I will also personally set up a course for anyone who tells me he or she wants to come shoot. I'll set it with the proper stake for your class. I welcome all archers.
When a shooter like Jacob Slusarz speaks, I tend to listen. I've seen some phenomenal professional archers come out of New England, some target and some 3D, but Jacob is both. While he competes at the highest level and is one of the best dot shooters in the world, he is trying to gain as much experience as he gain to become an unmarked pro in 3D. He bleed archery. I take great pride that many of these shooters have come from our area, especially Jacob. He is the new blood in an era that has the most competition there has ever been: he is the best of the best, the best this region has ever seen in all venues of archery. I want him to succeed. I would like to listen to his suggestions and frustrations. If he succeeds, we all succeed. Instead of casting fingers and playing the he said, she said game, let's put our region on the map by doing everything we can to promote this kid. We also have Ben Lambert and Sean Roberts, the winners of the SPM IBO World Championship Class the last three years..........from our region. These guys speak for all of us. We need to listen to them and take their advice. While they are not "better" than all of us, they are why we do this. We all do it to be the best we can be. I'm competitive and like to compete. That's why I usually don't go to the R100 or the TAC. While those events draw huge numbers, they draw them because many people don't want to compete. They simply aren't competitive people. They don't want anything to do with an ASA or IBO regional tournament. Those shoots just aren't for them. What can we do to get those numbers? We can't do what we're doing right now and argue with people because they don't agree with us. We also can't act like passive aggressive instigators. It doesn't accomplish anything in the end. If we want more people to compete in tournament archery, 3d archery, we have to introduce them to it and show them how much fun it can be. That's on us. We aren't the TAC and we aren't the R100. We are a very small community of target archers who like to see how we stand up against other people.
Numbers have been declining in some areas, NFAA has declined for many years, but the last few years they have been coming back. ASA was always second fiddle to the IBO and now people think they are setting records, but they aren't. The IBO still holds the largest attendance records. I shot the IBO World one year when the winer of MBR won just shy of $10,000. I shot the ASA back when the shooter of the year won a guaranteed $50,000 in PMR. Right now ASA seems to have the attendance numbers and a lot of that is due to a few issues within the ranks of other organizations. I've been a member of both organizations for a long time, although I don't keep one of them current because I stopped going to national events. I support everything archery. Archery is in my blood.
It's not a good idea to cast stones at glass houses. I learned that a long time ago. The glass breaks from both sides.
John, thank you for asking my opinion and thank you for listening to what I had to say. I appreciate your professionalism, and I appreciate all of your hard work. I would be more than willing to help anyone if they ever have any questions about setting courses that will stand the least likely chance of making people upset. While I understand everything you did, I also understand some of the people whom seem a little upset right now. Good job on addressing all of the needs that had to be taken care of from last year. That was outstanding. I guess the third time is a charm, and I'm sure you will knock it out of the park next time.
Good luck to everyone who is going to the IBO Triple Crown's second leg this coming weekend and the Kentucky ASA in a few weeks. Also, good luck to my dad at the National Senior Games in New Mexico this week. I'll be routing for all of you. Let's all try to set these last few events that are left just like the national events. I would love to see Jacob, Ben and Sean be the three podium finishers in SPM, and I would love to see John Vozzy take the first place prize this year and improve upon his awesome second place finish last year. Let's do our best to give these guys the best practice they can get. These guys represent our region at the highest level. I will be routing for them, will you?
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