This week was a rough one. It was really hard to find a nice day to practice. If it wasn't raining, it was extremely windy. I shot three different bows in an attempt to find one I felt confident enough to shoot at the Massachusetts senior games. I changed my mind three different times, each time thinking I would shoot a different bow. None of the bows gave me that "can't miss" feeling. I knew I would have to be at my best just to keep the arrows close to the 10-ring. In practice when my bow is shooting well, I usually average between an 890-896 on the 900 round. A bad night of practice would usually fall in the 880-885 range.
On Friday night, I decided on my Elite Victory 39. I haven't shot the bow in two years, and it had all sorts of dust caked on the riser. I've also never shot the bow outside. I used to use it for 20 yards only and shot it in the winter leagues. It always worked well in the winter leagues, and I won a few Vegas tournaments and 5-spot tournaments along the way with it. The has always felt comfortable in my hands.
I decided to shoot the bow because I wasn't getting a lot of drift from left to right with it. When I executed good shots, the arrows usually landed in the 10-ring. Unfortunately, I was having a few issues holding the bow steady. I started with a 3X lens before going to a 4X. On a whim, I threw in my 6X and put a black dot in it. Instantly, I started pounding the 10-ring. Everything felt awesome. Strangely, the night before, with the same setup, the bow just didn't feel that great. I moved the stops into the middle of the range, put it on 60 pounds and called it good.
Vermont IBO State Championship
I headed to the Vermont IBO State Championship on Saturday morning with my dad, Jeff Wagoner and Wade Chandler. I was exhausted on the ride to the shoot, so I rested my head against the seat and slept for a little bit.
When we arrived, the rain started coming down, and it was cold. The temperature was hanging around 45 degrees, and the rain made it feel even colder than the already raw temperatures. I didn't want to wait around for very long, so I shot a few practice arrows and headed onto the range. I was put in a group with my dad, Jacob and his dad. It was awesome to have a group composed of fathers and sons, especially a group that can relate to each other in many ways.
Jacob and I got off to a good start, but John struggled when his bow tipped over. After his bow tipped over, everything started hitting low and right. After dealing with it for six or seen targets, John began compensating and finished the rest of his day trying to figure things out on the fly. It's always disappointing to see people struggle due to equipment issues that arise through no fault of their own. I was impressed with his comeback after an unfortunate incident. He remained focused and made the most out of a bad situation.
Dad had a pretty good day. He was slow and steady throughout the day. He never did too much, but he didn't do too little either. He kept the truck between the lines and didn't smash through any toll both gates.........although I'm not sure Vermont has any of them. I like it when Dad has a good 3D shoot. He ended up in the mid 270s, which is an average day for him. It's definitely not one of his best, but it's also far from his worst. I was also thankful for the hand warmer he gave me early on. My hands were so cold that I could't feel my fingers on the trigger. The hand warmer helped a lot.
I started off making great shots. My bow wasn't holding that steady, but my shots were breaking when the pin was in the 10-ring, and the arrows where finding their way into the 11s. I haven't spent one day range finding since going to West Virginia. As I muddled through the first 10 targets, I felt really good about the results. Without putting in any range finding practice, I was seeing the numbers fairly well. When I got to the tan leopard without spots, I knew I had set my sight for too much yardage, but I shot the arrow anyway. I found myself doing that throughout the day. I knew I had too much yardage and did it anyway. I just didn't trust my guesses. I very rarely do that, but I couldn't avoid it on this day. I ended up shooting nine 8s, all but one of them were high, some barely out of the 10-ring. I was highly disappointed, but I couldn't expect much more since I had neglected the range finding practice for the last few weeks. I've also spent so much time trying to get a bow to feel good again, I have shot way too much. My shoulders and back are tired, and I didn't give them a sufficient amount of time to recuperate from all of the work. I need to pay more attention to that in the coming weeks. While trying to get ready for the two different shoots, it made me do things I don't normally do. That won't be happening again in the near future.
When all was said and done, Jacob, John and I all struggled. All of us were glad to get on the road toward home and put it behind us. Jacob and I lost a lot of points on targets you would never see at a national event. I try to ignore stuff like that because it's targets that will never be seen in big moments. Sometimes you're the bug, and sometimes you're the windshield... we both happened to be in the swarm of bugs that smashed the windshield. Although I was far from my best, I figured I would probably still be near the top. I've shot enough courses to get a feel for the difficulty level of it and where people should shake out. I forget to take a picture of the card. Here's a picture of me shooting one of the hardest shots on the course. This course did have some of the trickiest yardage I've seen in a long time. This target got a lot of people. It's a long uphill deer. I had the yardage. It's the only arrow I shot to the left or right all day.
The Massachusetts Senior Games
I had a rough night sleeping after getting home from Vermont. My blood sugar levels went dangerously high, and I got about an hour of sleep. My blood levels were in the 400 range. There was an air bubble in the hose, and the insulin wasn't delivering. I knew it was going to be a long day. It's never good when you have a minimal amount of sleep, and it's even worse when you're dealing with health issues.
Unlike most places, we were able to practice a little bit before the round started. I sprayed arrows all over the place and knew it was going to be a long day. I didn't shoot one end of 60 in my practice ends...from any distance. That's never a good sign.
During my last practice end at 60 yards, I pulled out my Stan Black Jack. The last three arrows I shot ended up in a tight group at 7 o'clock in the 10-ring. The bow also held much steadier, which made me much more comfortable and more relaxed.
My first scoring end went well. With exception of the first arrow, the rest of my arrows went cleanly and the shots seemed somewhat effortless. During the next end, I battled a little bit of tension and monkey chatter. I took the punches on the chin and kicked and bit as I fought my way through the six arrows. After scoring them and walking back to the shooting line, I knew I needed to put the hinge back in my bag and pull out the release I've been using. My first shot was effortless and took out the scribe of the X. I haven't made a shot that good in as long as I can remember. I implanted that in my head and stroked off some more good shots.
In my last few ends, I could hear something on my bow when my shots broke. I started with my scope housing. I thought it was the lens in the housing that was rattling around. I tightened it up and shot another arrow. I heard the noise again. This time, I tapped the sight and released the sight bar was loose in the dovetail. I quickly tightened the knob. The sight was extremely sloppy, and I figured that was some of the reason for the drifting groups. After tightening the sight and getting into the next end, I could still hear the noise. At this point it was beginning to unnerve me. I found that the weight not the end of the stabilizer had loosed up. When I tightened it, I finally felt good about things. However, the sound continued. When I fired my last arrow from 60, I found the origin of the problem. My draw stop had loosened up and was loose in the slot. As I walked to the target to score arrows, I considered my options: I could hang it up and quit for the day; I could tighten it and continue shooting, but I knew the bow would be out of time because the stop was somewhere in the middle of the range, so getting it back to the same spot would've been next to impossible; I could leave the stop out and shoot it with the one stop on the bottom. That's what I did. I decided to totally remove the stop and shoot the bow without one on the top cam.
For the first end at 50, I had Barry Gates spot for me. As he spotted for me, I got the arrows to move toward the center. As the ends at 50 continued, my shot began feeling incredible. I could feel my shot and didn't feel like I could miss. A very slight breeze was a nuisance during almost every end. Although it was a breeze, it would give a quick twitch every now and then. I dropped a few arrows at 50, and two of them were directly related to the breeze.
By the time I got to 40 yards, I realized something: I execute much better shots when I don't have such a solid wall. My shot is easier to repeat when the cams have some give to them. Without the top stop in the cam, that's the feel I got on the bow while pulling through my shot. It simply felt better and made it easier to get my shots off. I think I missed three arrows at 40, and every one of those arrows was due to the nuisance wind. It just got me at the wrong time. Here's a few pictures of me shooting today.
My Take on the Day
This was definitely not one of my best performances. I stayed focused and never gave up. I tried learning something through my struggled, and that's exactly what I did. I came to realize that I think I shoot a cam system that has a little bit of give on the back wall better than I shoot systems that have rock solid walls. I'll need to continue working on that to see if that is truly the case or if it's just in my head.
I heard all of the chatter behind the line today. I could hear everything people were saying when I was shooting. This tends to happen to me when I'm struggling. When I'm in a groove, I don't hear anything around me. It's amazing how when we're struggling, everything is magnified. I felt good that I got through things without too much damage.
I also changed the weights on my bow four times throughout the round. I took 3 ounces off the back, put two back on, then ended up with just one ounce back on the original stack. I started with 6 ounces on my front stabilizer and ended with 5 ounces. I kept moving things around to get a decent hold. I never really accomplished that, but I did get it too hold well enough to shoot the arrows in the 10-ring. Although I had a horrible day, I ended up shooting the highest score of the tournament of all archers. It definitely wasn't a great score, but on some days, you never know what might happen. While I'm not proud of the score, I'm satisfied that I figured a lot of things out during the journey. Here's the card for the day.
Here are some great guys. My dad, Everett Hanson and Leon Sepuka. I met Leon about 20 years ago at the first leg of the IBO Northeast triple crown in Merrimac, NH. We have remained friends since that day. I met Everett through my father. These guys make shooting fun and remind me that shooting a good score really isn't what it's all about it. It's just about making memories and having fun with your friends
Stars of the Week
I have a few stars of the week this week. Let's start with Rob LeLacheur. Rob has battled many demons over the years and found archery has an outlet. Archery gave him the ability to see that you can conquer anything if you want it bad enough. Rob is a recovering alcoholic and had done a great job for many years staying away from addictive things -- except archery. Archery has given him the ability to realize that it's not all about winning. It's more about finding yourself within your bow and the flight of your arrows. He has also learned that if you work hard enough, anything is possible. Just as Chuck Weeden and Ron Sargent got their first big New England wins at state shoots this year, Rob pulled it off this week at the Vermont IBO State Championship. Next time you're out and about make sure you talk to Rob. If you're battling any demons, Rob can tell you that you can beat them. He is living proof. Don't be afraid to approach him. Great job, Rob. We are all glad to see you get a big win. Way to go!!
Joe Ricard gets a star of the week award this week, too. Joe got his first big win at the Massachusetts Senior Games. He won his age bracket 40-45 in only his second ever outdoor target round. Joe has sought me out for some advice, and I have gladly given it to him. I like to see people improve, and I appreciate the work and the journey. I love trying to save people time by helping them avoid the pitfalls that took me years to figure out. I'm happy when these guys find success. Great job, Joe!! Nice job today. Here's a photo of Joe as he and Barry Gates shoot in their round. Of course, Barry is the ass backward guy.
The last star of the week goes to Aron at Exit Archery and our new shooter Matt Fernicola. Matt got introduced to archery a few weeks ago, and Aron set him up with a bow this week. Matt is looking great, and he has already figured out out to shoot them in the bullseye.
Oh, Team No 10 Todd beat Team Triple J once again. It might be because team No 10's leader drives a Chevy and Team Triple J's leader drives a Ford.
Wow thanks for the compliment and honoring me Todd! It was totally my pleasure taking up Archery finally and having good people like you and Aron to help me! You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for helping me get started and for sharing your expertise!
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