When we hit the road after Shane and Dad finished shooting in Kentucky, we had no idea what we would do that night. We could drive through the night and be home early the next morning, or we could get a room somewhere and go the rest of the way after getting up.
Well, as we continued driving, I made the choice for us and decided we would drive through the night. With a lot of things on my mind, I found it easy to drive. The mind can do amazing things when it is occupied, especially when thinking about a missed opportunity.
As the miles piled up behind us, I briefly thought of going to Guan Ho Ha to shoot in the NY IBO State Championship. Then again, I figured I'd be exhausted, so I didn't give it much thought. When we finally rolled into the driveway at 6:00 a.m., I decided I would try to catch a quick hourlong nap and head south. Rhit Wilcox, the archery directory at Guan Ho Ha, always does an amazing job with his events, and I wanted to reward his efforts by being present, especially since I have the duty as an IBO State Rep. to make sure everything is set up correctly and things are operating smoothly. With the travel schedule I have in the summer, it's hard to make it to all of the events, but I do my best to promote the organization in any way I can and participate in all of the events I can make it to. While it wasn't the most intelligent decision I've ever made to attend this event after going on a full day with minimal sleep, I knew it was the right thing to do. I also wanted to give Barney (my new purple PSE Supra X with M2 cams) a trial run. Although I had it sighted in, I had never shot it at a 3d target before heading to the tournament. It would be a trial and error kind of day.
Surprisingly, there were a lot of people around the registration area and at the practice butts when we arrived. I figured we would be after the crowd, probably near the tail end of people registering to shoot. This made it easy to find a group to shoot with, and I was lucky enough to shoot with three beautiful women. The only downfall was that they would all be shooting off the red stake, so I wouldn't have any arrows to listen to, and I wouldn't be able to watch anyone navigate the blue stake with me.
We started our day down under the pavilion, where a large deer welcomed us from the other end of the lane. Glancing at it, I knew it was a good one, and I also knew I better put my yardage judging cap on. It appeared that I was in for a tough day.
After shooting a great shot on the target, my group made its way through the course. We came across some long shots, some short shots and some shots that made it difficult to pinpoint a number. When we came upon a large deer down a fairly steep hill, I was a little stumped for a number. I put my sight in what I thought was a "safe" area and executed one of the best shots I shot all day. The arrow landed just over the 10-ring at 12 o'clock for my first 8 of the day. I felt great about the shot and realized that you're going to shoot 8s in this game, so you have to take it on the chin and keep marching forward.
However, when you glance at the next target and realize it's a bear of a shot, it can wreak havoc in shooters' minds if they're not mentally prepared. The next target was a bomb of an uphill shot, where a leopard stared at us from the top of the hill. Uphill shots are always tough and will tell you if your draw length is too long, so many people never figure it out until they shoot a shot like this one. When I drew the bow, I locked the shot in my back, got the pin to the middle, and relaxed just enough while pulling to get the shot off as quickly as possible. I know I can't afford to hold for any length of time when shooting uphill shots of that difficulty level. I graded my shot as a solid 10 on a scale of 1 to10 and felt good about the result.
The next shot might've been the most difficult one of the day for me to get a number. It was a large black bear set up a graded hill and you couldn't see its legs . It was on a flat spot just over the top of the hill. I knew it was close, but I didn't know how close. After setting my sight, I felt confident I was going to smoke an 11. When my shot broke, the arrow pierced the 10 line at 12 o'clock. It's amazing how close shots take so many points from people in tournaments. I always laugh when I hear people say, "This is a gimme." There are none of them in this game. You have to focus on every shot and get every point you can get. It doesn't matter if the target is in your face or a long way away, you need to focus on your process and not get fooled into not running your mental program on that "easy" shot.
When we got off our first 10, I felt pretty good about the results. I had shot one 8 and a couple of 11s while barely missing four other 11s. I couldn't ask for anything better than that after being up for 29 hours without any sleep.
Moving along and going across the road to shoot our next 10, I felt good about my start when I got an 11 on the javelina. After talking to John, Paul and Mel, I got my focus back and started this 10 where I left off on the last 10. As we got a few targets in, I could feel the lack of sleep setting in and my focus was waning. Then, in a four target stretch of relatively easy targets, I shot three 8s. As we neared the end of the course, I struggled to get back into a mental place that would allow me to get to the end of the day. The exhaustion was real... I could suddenly feel it.
With 10 targets left, I dug deep and searched my soul for something to keep me focused and on my feet until the end. Navigating from the impala to the big deer that followed, I knew my hold was gone for the day. Between being exhausted and shooting uphill, I had everything I could do to try to hold the bow. However, the bow was forgiving and guided the arrows into the 10-ring.
After shooting a handful of great shots in a row, ending with the long uphill bedded buck, I gained confidence and stored it into my memory bank in case I ever have to pull it out in the future if I encounter a similar situation at a national event.
Then, I got the unfortunate draw on a downhill boar. At the time we shot it, it was all but impossible to tell where my pin was on the animal. After letting down two times, I realized it wasn't going to get any better and I needed to get my shot off and take what it was going to give me. Finally, I put the pin in an area I thought might be near the vitals, and it fired. I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I thought the unfortunate target setting had led to my first 5 of the day with one target left. However, the arrow got lucky to catch the 8-ring line. It was one of those shots that you can't do anything about except put it where you think the 10-ring is and pull until it fires. I did that part well.
When we got to the last target of the day, a bomb of a stone sheep, I felt confident I would end my day on a good note. After all, my bow had done it's part all day, and I did alright helping it. There was a dark spot at the top of the 11 that I could see really well, so I put the pin there and the shot fired. The arrow pierced the 11, and my day was done. I got off the course with four 11s and two 8s, having shot the other 8 on the first target, an impala, when I didn't have enough number on it.
After adding the cards up, I learned I was sitting at 4 down. I took that as a moral victory considering I was shooting a brand-new bow with which I had never shot a 3d target, and I was beyond exhausted.
My Final Thoughts
I can't tell you how good of a job Rhit Wilcox did with this course. He gave us everything a 3d shooter would want to hone their game. He gave us uphill, downhill and sidehill shots. He hid yardage well, and he mixed the yardage up. He gave us close ones, and he countered them with tough long ones. There wasn't one thing this course didn't have.
It wouldn't have mattered if I was well rested or not, this course challenged my shooting skills, judging skills and mental skills. I had to use all of them to the best of my ability to survive. I never felt like I was struggling at this shoot, but I did feel like my aiming lacked any type of stability. I found a way to ignore the shake and continue shooting my shot.
Barney (my new bow) did his job today. This bow really impressed me. It felt good to be shooting a 37' bow with a 7' brace height on a 3D course. I think this bow will do great things for me going forward. I look forward to getting more time behind it. For being it's debut, it surprised me in many ways. The bow shoots well and is very forgiving. I guess you would say it's what we are all looking for when choosing a bow.
I had the pleasure of shooting with Teresa Penner for the first time. I can't tell you how impressed I was with the way her day went. For a period of time, I didn't think she would ever shoot an arrow that would score less than double digits. It was truly impressive to watch from afar. When people are shooting that way, you begin rooting for them and don't want them to ever miss. I found myself doing that. On the last 10 targets, she began running out of gas, but she still held on to finish it off. I had a great time witnessing her shoot her personal best score, and I'm glad I got to see it. Way to go, Teresa. That was some phenomenal shooting.
I'll be heading to Vermont this coming weekend to get more miles on Barney and try to decide which bow to bring to Franklin next weekend. Barney did well in his debut. Can he continue marching to the same tune? I'm pretty sure he can, but you never know until you give a player some more playing time. It didn't feel like new-bow syndrome to me. It felt more like I was returning to a platform with which I had a lot of success in the past. It was like going home. I look forward to the future.
I'll see all of you on the tournament trail. Good luck to each and every one of you. Shoot straight and keep them in the middle.
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