Stochastic Adventures

Fun at 25 Meters on a 60 cm Target Face

2012-02-09T21:59:00.000-05:00

The guy on the right, Coach J, with the fancy compound was shooting on the same target as I was at indoor league. For some reason, the target on 7B was unoccupied and we ended up with 2 of us on 7A. Then again, it probably worked for the better given that I had something that gave me some pretty spectacular flatulence that probably would've killed anyone too close behind me.

I shot first and somehow, Coach J was able to get 2 of his arrows between my arrows without causing any damage... completely unintentionally, as he had planned to shoot a tad lower.

And who says that you need to be shooting a high-tech setup worthy of Star Trek to shoot well?

I finished the round with 236/300 with my zebrawood longbow, which is pretty darned good considering I've clocked in quite a few push-ups for the week and a few parts of me are pretty talkative. I still have a lot of work on my release and follow-through as well as stabilizing myself throughout the shot cycle. I have an unfortunate habit of torquing and my release isn't quite as consistently powerfully explosive as I need to be, but it's slowly getting better now that Coach R has identified some of my form issues and gave me some ideas to correct them. Having awesome folks at the gym like Slaughter and my former student also help me, not only with endurance, but also with general stabilization in my core and everything else.

Hoggetowne Medieval Faire 2012

2012-02-06T07:19:00.000-05:00

As always, click either the title or here for the full suite of pictures.

TBoF Charity 2012

2012-01-23T08:22:00.000-05:00

As always, click on the title or here for the full suite of pictures.

Me and the furry one. One of these days I'm going to have to take him out to do some real shooting over at Newberry!

I took 3rd in women's longbow, Mar took 2nd in my division, and the 1st place winner had already gone home. I'm surprised I even placed considering I don't have a reliable gap to work with on shots significantly under about 30-35 meters! In a more controlled setting like a field range or indoors or stndardized target butts, I have reliable gaps down to about 18 meters, but anything closer and I'm disoriented. Such is the exchange I make as I put more and more emphasis on rounds such as the 900 and FITA rounds as well as the NFAA field round. It was still a great time with friends I don't see at the shoots I love most or elsewhere!

Adventures in Face-Walking at 70 Meters

2012-01-17T20:29:00.000-05:00

I decided to play with my anchor a bit after realizing that there was A LOT of uncertainty in my gaps at 70 meters with the zebrawood longbow. After some fumbling around with error corrections, I was able to find a pretty good gap at 70 meters with an Olympic (under the chin) anchor, which is just above the target frame, about where the top of a flag would be if there were one. Before I figured out the gaps, let's just say I was extra glad that I had a taller archer with me. As a side note, I do look up to her, having gotten to shoot with her at Gator Cup in 2011. I'm definitely rooting for her as she continues to shoot for the US Archery team!

New Years Eve Party

2012-01-02T12:34:00.000-05:00

Let's see if I can reach 12" circumference in my biceps this year!

The Wickerman before he blazed up into a nice, cheery bonfire... and this was before he had something really neat added to his crotch. I didn't really do much photography, as I was more interested in keeping my sinuses semi-functional and my ears from blowing out. I really can't stand cigarette and cigar smoke! Why, oh why, is it still legal to smoke anywhere? It's up there with excessive perfume and cologne in terms of absolute disgustingness! Heck, excessive stench stuff should also be made illegal or at least less socially acceptable!

Compound Night

2011-12-29T21:51:00.000-05:00

After Tuesday's little adventure with 520 arrows, I knew that I was NOT holding back 30+ lbs at full draw, so I pulled out the Bowtech Equalizer and shot a surprisingly solid score for someone who almost never shoots training wheels. I finished the 30-arrow target round with a 274/300, 4X, which is pretty darned good for me given that I was shooting skinny arrows and hardly ever practice with the compound. I also felt surprisingly good considering that my upper back is still a bit talkative. It was so darned worth it though!

Proud of my Mighty Hog Slayer

2011-12-29T12:14:00.000-05:00

My other half may not be much of a target archer or any sort of athlete or someone who likes to miss his horrendously boring "reality" TV shows involving buying/selling junk but he's certainly well-trained in the art of controlling the hog population one at a time. He got this good-sized sow and I have a feeling that this one will be pretty darned tasty and tender! And if I may add, he shot this sow with a recurve he built himself. I'm certainly proud of my guy, even if I still need to train him to read the actual ingredients (and decipher them) and to not bug me while I'm working out or working on target archery!

The 500 Arrow Challenge

2011-12-28T09:04:00.000-05:00

Originally Coach Rob had set it as a 400 arrow challenge, but someone had shot 500 arrows on the dot last week. I didn't know about it in time to do it that Thursday but vowed to take a day to see how far I could get before either parts started falling off or before *other* things kicked in. I shot all of 520 arrows. I could've safely gone to 600 with good form judging from how my upper back, my limiting reagent, felt, but unfortunately I made the mistake of answering the phone and *someone* wanted to spend quality time with him (which unfortunately doesn't involve testing physical limits thanks to his torn meniscus and general lack of interest in high-intensity challenges) because I spent the weekend severely out of commission... so I got stopped prematurely... just to be nice.

My last un-interrupted endurance run had me running out of fuel somewhere around 300 arrows, which was sometime in April, shortly before my original nemesis at the gym left for his next adventures in medical school. I haven't really had too many opportunities to do these because it's hard to get to the range with a clean conscience on a weekday morning and weekends tend to involve a significant other who thinks 100 arrows is pretty significant and has trouble understanding why someone would voluntarily want to challenge themselves that aggressively. I had an attempted endurance run in August as well, which unfortunately got interrupted and I could tell that 350 arrows would be pushing my limits again. I think there's a lot to be said about my current nemesis at the gym, who has pushed me to my limits and beyond with what can be described as a mixture of CrossFit and Army training... mostly because I know I haven't been shooting as much as I like or should... and the only significant change to my training has been my new nemesis, who has inspired me big-time.

This was my final end, which isn't too shabby for 500+ arrows! As of now, I hold the record at Newberry for most arrows shot in a day, at least as of when Coach Rob posted the 400+ arrow challenge. I may have to defend that title soon though and I'll make sure that my phone is turned off the next time I do it!

Note to self: train the other half to NOT keep interrupting me while I'm actually trying to do something exciting... and train myself to just ditch the phone when I don't want to be interrupted!

Wanna Try These?

2011-12-23T13:46:00.000-05:00

I dug these up in my training notebook and thought I'd put them here as well as on my other blog. I personally favor timed circuits like the one right below, partially because it encourages me to be a bit more aggressive, partially because I have way too much fun playing rough with an intriguing creature with an extremely strong, driving personality who inspires me to push myself that much harder and let him know that I can be just as tough as he is, if not tougher. This was a single pass, which is a bit different from the usual increasing reps I'm used to from this critter, and it inspired quite a bit of grumbling and groaning from the other three people who did this with me.

The next three were all part of a single workout, none were timed and were generally at a relatively relaxed pace. The fellow who gives these circuits is extremely laid-back and doesn't exactly inspire the urge to show off or to be aggressive, but it's still challenging in its own ways. It's a good thing my time as a TA has trained me to decipher all sorts of different hand-writings or I probably would've had to knee-cap someone for writing illegibly. Actually I've seen far worse handwriting than this, mine included, but when there's sweat on my glasses and in my eyes, it does get a little hard to read and remember.

These three circuits didn't feel too tough actually even if other people were convinced that even one of those was going to kill them. Of course, being a lot more focused on form and not having someone barking orders to go faster and harder makes a difference too. They're not too much different from the circuits I do on myself periodically, just a little more emphasis on endurance than bulking up than I tend to do.

So... does anyone want to join me for a bit of running, squatting, push-ups, burpees, and maybe some barbell work? ;)

Height Extremes

2011-12-20T11:41:00.000-05:00

I think *someone* is just freakishly tall. The camera angle sure as heck didn't help either!

Hog-Slayer and Random Camera Cleanout

2011-12-18T13:42:00.000-05:00

As usual, click on the title for the full suite of pictures I've accumulated through the semester but didn't remember or bother to post for whatever reason. Or click HERE

It's probably a good thing that there's no smell feature on the computer yet... This hog reeked really, really badly.

Nothing like playing with Coach Rob's tournament recurve. I'd much rather shoot my longbow!

Did I mention that Coach Rob is also one freakishly tall fellow to have to use something this huge?

Not a common feat. for me...

2011-12-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

18 meters with the zebra-wood longbow. It doesn't get much better than this!

Crooked Camera

2011-11-27T14:47:00.000-05:00

I probably should've fixed the tripod first but I thought it would be fun to see what I looked like while doing barbell rows without the benefit of a mirror or a spotter or floor instructor to correct my form. I typically do about 45-55 lbs total on a barbell row, but if I have a good spotter of some sort and I'm feeling ambitious, I'll go a little more.

First Kill of the 2011-2012 Season

2011-11-27T14:33:00.000-05:00

I took her Thanksgiving morning at about 0720 hrs. She had shown up twice before that morning but never really had a clear shot at her on the first two showings, plus I had my doubts about whether she was a doe or a spike or button, so I waited... and waited. Then she showed up in a grassy lane in front of my tree-stand and stopped to eat the mushrooms there (if you ask me, they're some pretty gross-looking brownish mushrooms that have seen better days, but I *hate* mushrooms myself). No nubs, no antlers, she appeared to be of a decent size, especially compared to the other doe that showed up and tried to share the mushrooms with her. She drove the little one off and went broadside. And then... boom!

Blood-trailing her was pretty difficult because I shot her in the heart, and without a functional heart, well, blood tends not to get pumped around, so she wasn't gushing blood everywhere like a double-lung shot would've. She made it maybe 35-40 meters before dropping dead and I got a bit nervous when Robert saw some meaty-looking stuff on the ground. Turned out the meaty-looking stuff was bits of heart tissue and not skeletal muscle. She's by no means the biggest doe I've shot and she's certainly a youngster, but I figured she was a shooter given that the little doe that came up to her got driven off, she seemed to be of a good size, and well, this season has just been outright brutal with all the bears showing up. So yeah, no fawns were orphaned in the process and I now have some nice, healthy protein in my freezer!

Pic from 2011-Oct-30

2011-11-22T07:53:00.000-05:00

I just got this picture from one of my fellow archers, a brave traditional archer with wooden arrows and a 20 lb @ 24" recurve, at the October 30, 2011 Field/Hunter round at Gator Bowmen.

One of the Best Exercises...

2011-11-15T17:10:00.000-05:00

It's hard to beat the burpee in its overall bang for the buck. Besides the squat and push-up, this one is one of the most awesome equipment-free exercises to do. Just don't do it on a full stomach. I really love burpees!

Coming to think of it, my top five favorite exercises are as follows:
#1 -- Squat
#2 -- Burpee
#3 -- Push-up
#4 -- Dead-lift
#5 -- Kettle-bell overhead swing

Honorable mentions in no particular order: clean and jerk, snatch, bench press (incline, decline, flat), Arnold press, bicep curl, flys, salamander (aka seal crawl), push-press.

If I Ever Wanted to Convert any of my Stories into a Musical...

2011-11-11T18:08:00.000-05:00

... I think I'd love to have these guys come up with the music because I really love how well they blend elements of classical, rock, and metal with fantasy themes.

I just heard this song today and it's already stuck in my head. Both the song and the imagery are just really catchy for me so I've decided to inflict it on others. Recognize any fairy tales or other children's stories in this?

I gotta admit, this song has influenced a few of my characters' quirks in the current story arc. Then again, my musical preferences and writing are correlated, although there's not necessarily any type of causation.

Speaking of stories, I'm now standing alongside a severely wounded grey wolf who's just personally killed a dangerous creature that looks like a bad cross between a cat, a stereotypical alien, and Gollum (from Lord of the Rings) with only her fangs and wits. I guess I'm also standing alongside an aspiring Olympic archer who witnesses her courageous act and is the only person who recognizes who she really is and tries to protect her from her own extremely wolf-phobic family...

Happy Thoughts

2011-11-11T17:34:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when things just suck, I've just got to dig up pictures that put a grin on my face.

18 meters. Stuff like this is very reassuring that I'm capable of some pretty good accuracy and precision.

Set-up for a dead-lift, one of my favorite lifts along with the bench press, squat (both front and back), snatch, and clean & jerk. Of the big lifts, I think my dead-lift is the largest by far with a personal best of 6x155 lbs (too lazy to look it up) but I'd love to see how far I can get on this one. I probably should get filmed and/or photographed doing my lifts, not only so I can see my form, but I think it'll just look cool.

2011 FITA Field

2011-11-06T16:37:00.000-05:00

I shot a fairly strong FITA Field round this weekend in Ft. Meade, FL. My first day I did very well on the longer shots (35+ meters) even if the closer shots (under 30) gave me some trouble and the bunnies gave it to me in the rear end. I think I've re-learned how to shoot instinctively after taking it in the rear several times on Saturday, at least if the number of points I picked up is any indication! I shot a personal best today -- 225. My last personal best was a 205 (could've sworn it was a 199 but apparently I did have a 200+ before). Let's see if I can break 250 next year! I had an awesome time with my fellow barebow archers and we zipped through the targets like candy. I forgot how biased FITA Field for barebow was towards the really short shots and I went in slightly unprepared because most of my practice had been in the 35+ meter range, but not many targets were 35+ meters. In any event, I had a lot of fun seeing folks I normally don't see elsewhere.

Followed-through!

Setting up... and hopefully I calculated my 20 meter gap correctly...

Nothing like showing who's boss at 50 meters! Now if the closer shots treated me a little more nicely...

Calibration round at 18 meters. I guess my shooting style *is* replicatable. I thought I hit something strange and sure enough, I did hit something... my own arrow!

Ahh, the joys of 45 meters! 2/3 exactly where I wanted them. One kinda strayed off but still landed somewhere fairly nice.

Me and Vivian at the start of the second round while we're killing time until it's time to start...

My awesome group this weekend minus the older gentleman who shot with us on Saturday. Barebows rule!

Day 1... kinda took it in the rear end on the bunny targets and other close shots but did extremely well 40 meters and up.

Day 2... learned from day 1 and gave the bunny targets a beating.

Click on the title to see the rest of the pictures...

Field/Hunter Round at Gator Bowmen

2011-10-30T13:47:00.000-05:00

My quasi-protege at full draw after the shoot itself. She held her own pretty well for someone with a 20 lb @ 24" mini-recurve and heavy wooden arrows and ZERO experience in field archery!

Pre-shoot calibration at 50 yards while it's relatively warm. Nothing like the joys of calibration drift! I shot some super-tight groups today but man, they were usually in the wrong place... typically significantly high. Put it this way: my typical spot-on point is around 52 yards so I can aim right below the bull's-eye at 50 and can get some really good shots in there. Today? I had to aim at the bottom of the scoring ring to be kinda high in the 50 yard area. My 20-30 yard shots were ok though, but 35+ was a little weird and the nonlinear nature of the calibration drift made for some very entertaining shots. I certainly shot beautiful groups though even if they were out of the scoring ring!

One Annoyed Spider

2011-10-28T15:06:00.000-05:00

One of my fellow archers and I were calibrating our shots at 60 and 65 yards in preparation for the upcoming field shoot on Sunday at Gator Bowmen and we were both fumbling around quite a bit. My first end at 65 yards led to a spider narrowly missed being impaled. The spider was on my arrow shaft and it looked like it was trying to decide whether to wrap it up in silk or to bite the crap out of it or both. Yeah... I pretty much did the equivalent of using a battering ram on someone's living room window to that spider's web.

In other news, this song has been stuck in my mind -- Ciaran's Well by Tarja Turunen:

For some reason listening to that song gives me a weird combination of fiction-writing inspiration and a stronger drive to really pump that iron or do those push-ups and sit-ups. I really love her vocal style in this song (and in many of her other songs both in her solo career and in her Nightwish days).

Random Archery Feats

2011-10-17T19:32:00.000-05:00

80 yard walk-up target. This was 80, 70, 60, and 50 yards. Let's see if I can replicate this in an actual tournament!

35 yard fan. I don't think I've ever done THAT well on this target ever.

About 70 meters. I'm the black and blue fletch. The compound guy actually got the kill shot but it took them a whole lot more tries to hit him!

FAA FITA 2011

2011-09-25T16:07:00.000-05:00

I didn't shoot particularly well this FITA overall, especially at 60 meters, but I broke state records in the following for adult female barebow: 70, 50, and 30 meters. I probably could've broken the overall record, but I took it really hard in the rear end at both 60 and 30 meters, which wasn't too surprising given that I didn't really practice much at those distances. I had a really hard time at 60 meters because I had some trouble with interpolation between 70 and 50 and swirly winds, but it was still an awesome shoot. I got to enjoy wonderful company, including a fellow barebow archer from the Villages, who is probably evenly matched with me when all's been said and done.

Barebow power!!!

Best group at 50 meters. It was quite the struggle to keep things where they belonged...

Un-challenged state champion, even if my fellow barebow was the one who shot the higher score today! Next time though, I'll get him. Of course, I *did* trounce him really, really hard at Sunshine State Games and at the Villages (his home turf) so it's my turn to get my butt handed to me on a plate!

Newberry archers and the parents who made it possible to shoot and a few of the local fixtures.

Indoor Personal Best

2011-09-23T06:19:00.002-05:00

Still trying for a 25/25 but a 24/25 is still pretty darned impressive for me with a longbow!

The final distribution of shots at the end of the NFAA 300 round (12 ends of 5 at 20 yards) plus some calibration shots.

My final score: 261/300, 7X. My last personal best was somewhere in the low 240s with the shorty recurve and in the high 230s with the other longbows (probably the walnut bow). I even shot the high score of the night ... and everyone else was shooting either an Open Freestyle or an Olympic recurve setup.

Next goal on a 300 round... can I break 270/300?

Big Furry Visitor to my Stand

2011-09-19T08:59:00.000-05:00

This fellow showed up to my stand about half an hour after I settled into it. Cute, but NOT what I want to be seeing until FL opens up a bear season.

Better View of New Longbow

2011-09-14T20:02:00.000-05:00

70 meters... I love shooting at 70 meters for some reason. I'm jealous of my friends who get to shoot at various national and international events at this very distance. I have some friends who will be shooting at the Olympic tryouts at Texas A&M at College Junction, TX in about 2 weeks and I'll be rooting for them as best as I can. Who knows, maybe one day I'll finally get my paws on an Olympic recurve and try my luck on that...

Trying to Get Back to Sleep...

2011-09-13T21:29:00.000-05:00

My large intestine has a mind of its own. It's decided to wake me up promptly at 2145 hrs... so here I am killing time before I can get back to sleep again.

I was mostly playing with the camera during some mental down-time and got a surprisingly good picture. I'm curling about 50 lbs on the bar and this is without any real pump. I'm still only about 11" around at my fullest with good pump but I'm getting better at optical illusions!

Another side-by-side comparison of longbow vs Olympic recurve. This was with Robert's latest creation, which is below...

Robert built me a new longbow, 46 lbs @ 28" and 66" long. It's the bow in the center and it is one sweet shooter! So far, it's the best of my two other longbows and shorty recurve: heavy riser and stable like the Chek-Mate Crusader, zippy like the walnut longbow, and pretty darned forgiving like the Chek-Mate Hunter 1. In fact, I think it may be a faster bow than even the Hunter 1, which I've clocked in at about 150 fps using GoldTip 1535 shafts and a spot-on distance of about 47-49 yards based on data from 900 rounds where my 50 yard mark was at the top of the gold ring. The same, identical arrow through this longbow is yielding an approximate spot-on distance 50-52 yards. How do I know? I'm just above spot-on at 55 meters with this bow.

In the Absence of the Gym...

2011-09-05T20:51:00.000-05:00

See the target face? It's the inner 6 rings of an 80 cm target face at 70 meters.

One set of arrows belongs to an Olympic hopeful. The other belongs to a local traditional archer shooting a longbow...

Fall Coronation 2011

2011-09-04T17:23:00.000-05:00

As always, click on the title or here for the full suite of pictures from Fall Coronation. I didn't do too much photography this time but I think I was having too much fun shooting, at least until some of my weight training and circuit training caught up to me. Apparently repeated stationary squats for 2+ minutes at a time does a real number to the legs, as do plie (sp?!) squats.

70 meters, Chek-Mate Hunter 1 recurve, GoldTip 1535 shafts.

Royal Round, 30 yards.

Given to me by Konrad Reinhard in recognition for having attained and maintained the ranking of Master Bowman (top 3 Royal Round average 80-99). Let's see who in Trimaris is going to reach Grandmaster Bowman ranking first... will it be Jochi, Aesa, Sir Erika, or Guenhwyvar?

Visual Inspiration

2011-08-28T13:09:00.000-05:00

Stuff like this is very inspiring for me. I'm actually completely turned off by a lot of what they consider "fitness models" where they look more like fashion models in my eyes, but visually, body-builders hold a lot more appeal to me. Then again, power-lifters and Olympic lifters are usually nowhere as ripped-looking as body-builders even if they tend to be a whole heck of a lot stronger. I'll take the strength of the more active lifters first, but if I can actually look good while I'm at it, why not? My training isn't optimized for either type of lifting at this point ... or much of anything for that matter, but at least it's buying me time before I have to become the human pincushion (tm) or the human pharmacy (tm).

One of my favorite exercises...

2011-08-22T19:57:00.000-05:00

Either click here or the title for one of my favorite exercises. I always thought of burpees as the exercise that made me *almost* burp up whatever I ate before the workout. Definitely not an exercise to do after a big meal unless you savor the flavor of your last meal mixed in with some stomach acids!

I first got exposed to this exercise at GHFC, courtesy of two truly awesome floor instructors, who I refer to as M and C, particularly C, who had ways of increasing the "torture" factor, usually with a good sized weight or two. I used to dread them (and my guts certainly dread them) but now I'd consider them to be a staple of my own workouts, at least if I'm doing them on a relatively empty stomach!

SoCal Showdown Recurve vs Compound

2011-08-16T16:45:00.002-05:00

Any bets who's going to win? Brady Ellison (recurve) vs Roger Willett Jr (compound) at Chula Vista, filmed by a fellow archer here in Gainesville who was fortunate enough to shoot at the SoCal Showdown.

Buggering Hot TBoF 2011

2011-08-14T15:22:00.000-05:00

It was buggering hot, humid, and buggy but I survived the shoot in one piece. I think the bug spray may've gotten to me on Saturday, but I came out in one piece. I took 3rd in women's longbow, shot the open traditional division, and didn't attempt primitive. I've been focusing mostly on FITA-type rounds so my 3D has taken quite a hit, but given that I only shoot 3D when the other half really wants to and target is my real passion, it's not too much of an issue. All of my arrows also survived intact, which is pretty darned good!

As always, either click on the title of here to see the rest of the pictures.

Fun with an Olympic Recurve

2011-08-05T13:55:00.000-05:00

66" Hoyt Nexus recurve that I borrowed from Coach Rob to test-shoot. It feels pretty good even though it is slightly on the long side. I also forgot to put the plunger in but it shot fine without one.

Me at about full draw with the Hoyt Nexus. I think I got most of my form right, although I still have a bit of trouble keeping my head consistently aligned. Note to self: test-shooting Olympic recurves immediately after a boot-camp style circuit training class does NOT feel very good...

The other bow (well, riser at any rate) that I test-shot and liked. This is a Hoyt Horizon, also a 25" riser like the Nexus... also used short limbs for a 66" bow. Both Coach Rob and Coach Bob recommend that I go with the 23" riser for a 64" bow for a little more punch, although I know the folks in Chula Vista recommend the 25" riser for a 66" bow for more stability. We'll see what the future holds, but for now, my longbow is pretty darned secure, as is my little shorty 58" recurve.

Favorite Clip from Wolf's Rain

2011-08-01T08:06:00.001-05:00

A bit of context... Cheza the Flower Maiden is singing and puts the four wolves to sleep after two of them, Kiba and Tsume, fight. Wolves (along with their human illusory disguises) in order of appearance: Toboe the red wolf, Hige the Mexican wolf, Tsume the grey wolf, and Kiba the Arctic wolf.

Definitely one of my favorite series anywhere, animated or live-action.

Armadillo and Broken Nock

2011-07-25T14:04:00.000-05:00

I love the zoom-in function on my camera. It was a bit weird seeing an armadillo running about during the day, but there it was. The little fellow was pretty oblivious to me and I made it a point to keep my distance because of the leprosy risk, plus there was no telling what a scared armadillo might do.

Great precision, iffy accuracy. The guy next to me had a hard time believing that someone with a barebow recurve could pull that off.

Vegas 3-spot versus the standard single-spot. The single-spot is a 40 cm target face.

Hyena at 70 meters

2011-07-06T12:10:00.000-05:00

One of the instructors for the little kid archery classes thought it would be fun to have them shoot 70 meters at this target. Only two of us hit the target: a little girl who hit right above the kill while I was warming up, and then I hit it twice in a row after my first arrow went a little right of the target.

San Diego

2011-06-29T15:20:00.001-05:00

Click on the title or here for the full suite of pictures. I flew out to San Diego for a friend's wedding and a chance to meet up with fellow Techers as well as a little bit of a pilgrimage to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA.

Possibly more details later. I think I caught a cold from the boogery person next to me on one of the flights back.

Sunshine State Games 2011

2011-06-12T17:08:00.000-05:00

As always, click either the title or here for the full suite of pictures.

Just for self-amusement purposes, I shot the Chek-Mate Hunter 1 with the GoldTip 1535 arrows. I figured worst case scenario was I was chasing my arrows everywhere... best case scenario being I shot some record high scores. In any event I knew I was going to have a lot of fun with friends. I finished the FITA with an 833, 20 points short of tying my record from last year, and the 900 with a 676, 14 points short of tying my personal high a few months ago but 56 points ahead of last year's Sunshine State Games record. So yeah, I shot extremely well.

Best round at 70 meters in the FITA round -- also the final round at 70 meters.

Funniest round for me at 60 meters in the FITA round. I had an outlier in the upper blue somewhere. Great group, wrong place!

1st in Adult Female Barebow for the FITA.

Me and the trusty Chek-Mate Hunter 1. There's a reason why I jokingly refer to it as either "shorty" or "old reliable".

Final end of the 900 round with my fellow traditional archer in the young adult division.

Best round at 50 yards in the 900 round.

SE Sectional Field/Hunter/Animal 2011

2011-05-30T16:28:00.000-05:00

As always, click on the title for the full set of pictures.

I had the precision even if my accuracy was a bit iffy!

First shot was a kill! The animal round was pretty darned difficult but I shot a personal best.

That poor buck just got an eye put out and an ear-piercing from my string-walker buddies. I got him on the second shot.

This little guy is so darned lucky when I was practicing. I'm surprised we didn't have any lizard casualties at the shoot.

My group from Saturday. These guys were all in the Master Senior Barebow division, which allows string-walking (multiple places to put the fingers on the string) and/or face-walking (multiple anchor points).

My group from Sunday. The guy in orange is the FAA VP for the northwestern section of the state and is in the bowhunter free-style limited division (compound fingers with fixed pin sights and short stabilizer). The other two guys are in the Master Senior Bowhunter division, which is compound without anything on it except maybe a short stabilizer and no string-walking or face-walking (single anchor and nocking point). Effectively, the Bowhunter division is shooting a compound like a traditional bow with either instinctive shooting or gap-shooting.

The face of true courage. He's shooting a Genesis bow, which most people would consider to be something for little kids or people who can't pull anything else back. There were a handful of people who thought he was crazier than I was, but he held his own and had a great time. He also out-shot me on the field and hunter rounds, but I did get him on the animal round!

Apparently I mis-extrapolated on an 80 yard shot. At least I know where the arrow went. We had quite a few of these actually when I shot with the Master Senior Bowhunter division, wasn't as much of an issue with the Barebow guys.

Potential Piece of the Side Project

2011-05-20T10:29:00.000-05:00

There's two things that really amaze me of late...
1) What it takes for me to actually get to sleep at night these days -- namely a bit of time scribbling away in a notebook... and
2) How much a certain character who used to be at my gym really inspired me in my workouts (most of the exercises I do on my own I learned from him), archery (by helping me tune my workouts to help me handle the rigors of the KSL shooting technique taught to me at Newberry), and creepily enough, my non-academic writing.

That being said, here's a small piece of what may or may not get put into my current insomnia relief project, tentatively titled The Archer and the Swordsman... it all depends on which ending I ultimately choose to that one based on how I want to arc this story-line involving the Eternal Huntress and the Clawed Fury.

Two wolves haunt my dreams each night:
One lone grey from desert to the west,
Seeking perfection in moonlight.
The other, brown with a scar on his chest,
From sun- and rain-soaked lands in the east.
Who is this mysterious beast?

And what's this voice calling to me?
Can I accept my dim reflection?
Endless paths, unknown identity,
This search for strength and perfection.
The roads all look the same by day,
To what I journey to, I can't say.

I trek endlessly on my crusade
Though they say perfection doesn't exist,
Only mediocrity's dull blade.
But why does that voice in me insist
That I must pursue it ever onward,
That my road only goes forward?

Then I met you, fearsome and bold,
I wanted to run and hide from you,
A brutal beast enchanting to behold.
You woke the dormant grey wolf anew,
A spark from a frozen ember
Burning brighter than I remember.

You destroyed the soft human in me,
Though it hurt, I return for more,
Knowing that it'll finally set me free.
Last of my strength tapped to the core,
Though with your guidance I grow stronger,
Wolf awakened, human no longer.

Now bold and fearless I stand
As master archer and grey wolf knight.
Fires raging from embers you fanned
With your smile in the pale moonlight
And lending me your gentle aid
When my muscles' strength ebb and fade.

Grey wolf and brown wolf's paths must diverge:
Archer and doctor bonded through steel,
Separated by quests unlikely to re-converge
Fates that only their choices and time reveal
Though many fond memories endure ever on
Far past piercing lights of scarlet dawn.

Random Funny Moment

2011-05-05T20:32:00.000-05:00

Ragnar's arrow up a tree. I think we need a ladder...

And Baron Rurik provides the ladder!

Almost Forgot to Post This

2011-05-02T18:37:00.000-05:00

Gander Mountain indoor range, 20 yards. Trying to get Robert to work on his form so he can also get this type of precision at 20 yards but he's steadfastly refusing to incorporate anything I learned from Coach R unless he sees another hunter using it successfully.

Taste of Long Hammock

2011-05-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

Someone requested some pictures of stuff that happens at Long Hammock, so I took pictures for them. I'm not the world's biggest fan of these shoots and it's a bit weird not having whistles or beeps to call people to the line and let us know when to start and stop shooting. I think I've gotten to be more of a FITA type shooter -- there's certainly far fewer bugs to munch on me! In any event, click either here or the title for the pictures of the funny critters that make up the Long Hammock Bowhunters.

Gator Cup 2011

2011-04-23T12:22:00.000-05:00

I shot a 762/1440 which was pretty darned good given that 50 and 30 meters involved the 6-ring 80 cm target (so I didn't have the full 80 cm diameter), floating gaps, and erratic winds. I shot two personal bests though: 183/360 at 70 meters and 211/360 at 60 meters, both on the 122 cm target face. I was amazed at the magnitude of the shoot. As usual, click on the title for the full suite of pictures.

It was definitely an amazing shoot! I'd love to do this again!

A Few Calibration Samples

2011-04-19T13:18:00.000-05:00

50 meters, generally calm conditions.

50 meters, somewhat windy conditions.

30 meters, pretty windy conditions.

Here's what 50 meters looks like from the target to the shade thing. I think I like the full 80 cm target faces a lot more than these individual 6-ring targets, but as long as I remember to do my Tai Chi breathing, all should be well!

Someday

2011-04-08T12:48:00.001-05:00

The thousand arrow challenge with an after-word by Coach Kisik Lee. One of these days, I'll get there and maintain solid form throughout.

There's got to be more to life than a desk sentence and paper-pushing... I can feel my health declining further with every line of code or parameter I have to think about.

Shot at Sanity

2011-04-03T15:50:00.000-05:00

I shot a personal best at the 900 round at the Villages. 690/900 -- previously my best score had been a 620/900 but it was with the walnut longbow. Yesterday it was with the little Chek-Mate Hunter 1, which is a whole different beast. It's almost as if it's optimized for the event -- spot-on at 50 yards, about 2/3 of the way up the flag at 60 yards, and the bottom of the target at 40 yards. The best part though was just having a blast with friends I haven't seen in months and meeting some incredibly sweet women who were on the same target as me who provided me with plenty of moral support and giggles throughout.

70 Meter Practice

2011-03-29T19:18:00.000-05:00

70 meters, 122 cm target face, 42 lb walnut longbow, Carbon Express Predator 700 arrows. I'm the large arrows, by the way. The little arrows belong to a friend of mine who's practicing for the Gator Cup. I really want to shoot it but unfortunately *someone* pre-empted that weekend from me. When will certain people get it that I actually want to shoot something besides short, trashy 3D shots?

By-Products

2011-03-21T15:51:00.000-05:00

Looks like things are starting to stabilize on the little by-product of the stuff I do. Tentatively this by-product or side-reaction is under the code-name of "The Archer and the Swordsman" but the title is bound to change as things get shifted and jiggled around.

Let's just say as of now, I'm standing alongside an extremely confused archer who's trying to figure out if there's any truth to some semi-coherent ramblings from one of my all-time favorite D&D characters and a mysterious, gigantic black wolf that constantly haunts her dreams...

In the Name of Self-Amusement

2011-03-20T21:24:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I just gotta shoot something different. I couldn't believe that I actually took 2nd place in the women's compound record high score at the Newberry Indoor league on Thursday.

Basically I had wiped out my upper body on Thursday and knew I wasn't going to be holding back 34-35 lbs at full draw long enough to make a good shot. But I could still pull back a good amount of weight, so I opted for the compound, which has let-off... allowing me to hold back about 10 lbs instead of 34-35. Next thing I knew after a little fidgeting with the sight, I'm generally hitting the gold aside from two fumble shots where the release went off before I was ready. And I was just behind the #1 record high score and the guy running the shoot. I think I'd rather shoot my longbow or recurve though... but the compound certainly caused a lot of laughter and gasps of amazement!

Long Hammock delight! Sometimes the labels just crack me up too much to not photograph...

Robert shot a Robin Hood on one of the targets and lookin' proud!

I still feel extremely puny in the arms and not particularly powerful. Then again, I generally feel like I don't carry nearly enough muscle mass and way too much adipose tissue!

Nearly Forgot

2011-03-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

28/30 on this end! I've yet to get a 30/30 but I don't think it'll be *too* far off! This was with the Chek-Mate Hunter I recurve, by the way. Any of my 40-something lb bows have an existent chance of pulling this off but the Hunter I and the walnut longbow seem to have higher probabilities than the Crusader.

FYI -- "Recurve" division at Newberry includes Olympic recurve (with sights), other recurves with sights, traditional recurves, and longbows. We may start a Barebow division but I don't think I'm really helping out my fellow barebow folks by staying just a shot ahead of an Olympic recurve! We'll see what happens though once she gets into full practice.

Belated TBoF Pictures

2011-03-14T17:07:00.000-05:00

Belated awards for the women's longbow division from the Charity shoot back in January.

Where am I?

Get the red shirt!!

Robert in men's open championship round.

I wanna be like the fellow in the green shirt and white pants if I reach his age! Shot with him at the FITA field back in November and he gave me a good challenge as far as physical fitness went once temperatures rose above about 55 degrees!

Belated Five Points of Life 5k Pictures

2011-03-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

TBoF Spring 2011

2011-03-07T11:35:00.000-05:00

As always, click on the title for the full suite of pictures. I took 3rd in the women's longbow division after shooting as best as I could given that my training is now very heavily biased towards long-distance precision shoots where all my shots are clear and I have plenty of room to set up my shots.

Indoor Action

2011-03-03T21:37:00.000-05:00

Crunch went the nock! Shot a surprisingly good FITA 300 round (18 meters) given that I've been up since 0400 hrs and do feel a bit sore from this morning's training (courtesy of my favorite trainer at the gym). I honestly didn't think I'd even break 180 tonight after the first few ends but I finished with a 204/300, so that was pretty good for shooting wood arrows. And yes, that's a very easy repair!

I was extremely surprised to get these today given what shape I was in while I was shooting that round back in January. Boogers everywhere and more! I think just finishing that shoot was extremely impressive on my part but yeah, this was an added bonus. I guess either nobody challenged me (most likely) or someone did and had a rough day too, maybe also waging the war on boogers!

It FINALLY Happened

2011-02-27T21:44:00.000-05:00

I bench pressed 105 lbs unassisted with full range of motion. Granted, it was only 5 reps but I finally did it!

In other news... it's amazing what writing on pen & paper for 10-15 minutes before going to sleep (and during random dead-time) can produce. Apparently high concentrations of academic stress make for ideal conditions for side-reactions and high yields of strange by-products. It's actually a story concept I've been tinkering with for almost as long as I've been wielding a bow in my hand but it's only begun to materialize perhaps only this past year. Suffice to say, it's the story of a scholar who gets stuck with a curse that'll eventually kill her unless she can figure out how to break the curse and she realizes that she's not at all who she was brought up to think she was.

Five Points of Life 5k

2011-02-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

I almost didn't run this one today because I had a bit of tightness in my calf muscles for about 2 days prior to the race but it went away with help from Robert and ran it in 25:34.5, netting me a 2nd in the 30-34 female division and an 8th in overall female and a 51st in overall of all runners. It was a beautiful run on the nice side of the UF campus and I couldn't have asked for a nicer day... even if I did get stuck looking at some funny-looking rear ends for the first mile or so :) As before, I started off fairly slow but once everything fell into place, I just kept going and going and going until I saw the end of the course and picked it back up. I didn't realize how fast I went until I looked up my time -- I honestly thought I was somewhere in the 27-28 range but I guess a vivid imagination and that sprint at the very end were very helpful!

More Hoggetowne Pics

2011-02-09T20:52:00.000-05:00

Mostly courtesy of Aesa.

Hoggetowne 2011

2011-02-07T08:59:00.001-05:00

I didn't really spend very much time there this year but the time I did spent was great aside from being the Ultimate Booger Factory (tm). More details later (maybe) once my brain actually functions. As always, click on the title for the pictures.

Shooting Like a Caffeinated Pomeranian

2011-01-30T17:18:00.000-05:00

I've learned a few things this weekend shooting the FAA Indoor Championships.

-- Decongestants to avoid trouble with boogers are NOT worth the jitteriness and shakiness. Not to mention the inability to actually hold and follow-through on the shot.
-- Cold medicine effects can still be felt the next day and make the target dance around.
-- Shooting immediately after severe illness also makes the target move a whole lot more.

Apparently my form generally held throughout the two rounds I shot today though, at least that's what one of the coaches at Newberry told me. Aside from a shaky bow-hand and being a little off-beat in my timing, most of my form was pretty solid as far as setting up the shot, transferring, holding, expanding, and following through went. My biggest problem was the fact that I couldn't hold my hand steady enough... so I usually did hit what I aimed at, just that I wasn't always aiming where I was supposed to.

I still had an awesome time with friends even if I looked (and felt) like roadkill on Friday evening and shot like a caffeinated, doped-up Pomeranian all weekend.

TBoF Charity Shoot 2011

2011-01-23T18:31:00.000-05:00

Not a shoot I trained for at all but generally was able to succeed in using a modified version of the B.E.S.T. (Biomechanically Efficient Shooting Technique) designed by Olympic archery coach Kisik Lee. I took 2nd in the women's longbow division with a 280/400 although I did tie with someone who had the same score as I did, just that I had more 10s than she did. If they did it by misses, she would've taken 2nd and I would've taken 3rd but I was just glad that I shot as well as I did given that several of the shots were rather unfriendly to the mostly Olympic style shooter.

Sometimes Cool Stuff Happens With Witnesses

2011-01-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

This was done at 18 meters on the 40 cm target, which are the parameters for the NAA portion of the State Indoor shoot coming up at the end of the month. Usually I don't have human witnesses but today I had a few, including someone who wasn't afraid of my purple camera! It's cool knowing that I can have the occasional run of good rounds where I can actually just about keep up with a reasonably good Olympic archer. It was a desperately needed practice session after wiping out my brains on research.

Hammer Curl Still

2011-01-14T16:19:00.000-05:00

It's amusing what I'll do when I get bored of waiting for the artificial neural network to get trained on the evapotranspiration data... and my reading comprehension is about par with that of a fermented rutabaga filled with maggots.

Ultra-Rare Event

2011-01-09T23:40:00.000-05:00

Nothing quite compares to being rudely awakened by some neighborhood . Not a particularly common occurrence here when it's not football season but when it does, it leaves me more than a bit irked. So while trying to settle back down into sleep, I cleaned out the camera and this is what I found. This was with the 42 lb walnut longbow with my IKAC/TBoF arrows at 18 meters. This is far rarer with wooden arrows than it is with carbons. If this were a regular occurrence, I'd be extremely ecstatic.

And now hopefully I can get back to sleep.

Boom!

2011-01-02T18:52:00.000-05:00

Self-explanatory. R took me to the gun range just south of my place and crash-coursed me on the use of hand-guns. I still prefer the quietness and comfort of my bow but I certainly put a good handful of holes through the paper targets!

Wicker-Woman 2010

2011-01-01T20:36:00.000-05:00

This year, we had a Wicker Woman instead of a Wicker Man. At first we thought the Wicker Man had an afro but turned out this year we had a female wicker entity. Note to self: loaded utility belt under shirt = unflattering shot.

And now back to work on trying to get myself to be less squishy! Now if I can just train R to actually walk with me continuously at a REASONABLE pace at least 1 km at a time and/or actually spot me while lifting (but first I need to get him to even step into the gym with me). Thank goodness the holiday season is finally over...

And the Camera Gets Cleaned Out Again

2010-12-28T09:21:00.002-05:00

River otter. Incredibly cute but definitely in the DO NOT PET category. I've seen their skulls and they have some serious teeth like all mustelids (weasels, skunks, wolverines).

Simulated FITA indoor using an NFAA target face. NFAA indoor round is 5 arrows per end while FITA indoor is 3 arrows per end on a colorful target.

If I can keep up groups like this or better consistently at Southeastern Sectional, I'll be pretty darned happy!

Cellos Can Be Fun

2010-12-26T19:55:00.003-05:00

For many years, I just didn't like the cello. I don't know why I wasn't a particularly big fan of cellos. I think it had a lot to do with those dreadful recitals I had to perform in and sit through as a young pup. Then I started listening to Apocalyptica and suddenly I realized what awesome things can be done with cellos. I don't ever see myself playing a cello but now I can enjoy it as an instrument instead of seeing it as a torture device that's in the same category as soap operas, lite rock, or bad seminars.

Seemann -- featuring Nina Hagen.
Ohne Dich -- with Rammstein.

I survived Christmas in one piece, albeit with a lot of extra adipose tissue that will need to be systematically burned off and muscle re-built from prolonged inactivity. Since when was 50 yards too far to walk?!

First 5k Ever

2010-12-11T10:28:00.003-05:00

No post-race or during-race photos but I ran my first ever 5k on the Gainesville-Hawthorne trail this morning. I started off very slowly, partially to reduce my odds of being run over, partially to just make sure I have enough energy to make it there and back again and then the final mile was where I sped up. I actually passed up a lot of people who had passed me up either early- or mid- run during that final mile and sprinted past a guy who had been way ahead of me through most of the run. It was really awesome and the weather was perfect for it! Definitely will do another one as the opportunity shows up and we'll see how far I can bring my time down as I keep training! I actually came out of the run not feeling tired at all so I knew I didn't over-do it at all and probably could've gone faster but I'd rather play it safe than sorry. Now I have a better idea of how to pace myself!

Definitely NOT a Fit

2010-12-07T12:09:00.003-05:00

This bow does NOT fit me at all. I love the mass weight and the smoothness but the angle of the string and the position of the sight do not work for me without putting my head in a slightly awkward position. Theoretically the tip of my nose is supposed to be touching the string and there should be another contact point by the corner of my mouth, but I don't see THAT happening very comfortably. The side of my nose has given me much better results. Nonetheless, it's a really cool bow that feels more like a 20 lb bow instead of a 36 lb bow. It belongs to the assistant coach at Newberry, who's an insanely tall skinny guy whose facial features are a little better suited for that style of shooting. I'd love to be that tall with a 33.5" draw length! Aside from the awkward head position and the longbow-style grip I use on just about any bow, though most of my form is pretty good for an Olympic recurve. I don't like the anchoring under the chin too much but I think that can change... if anyone can ever pry the longbow out of my hand long enough for me to stay with a recurve! If I were ever to get an Olympic recurve, it would be a 64" or a 66" (what most people my size seem to favor) instead of a 72" like the one I was playing with.

Every Now and Then...

2010-11-24T09:06:00.003-05:00

... I seem to know what I'm doing! This was 18 meters with the walnut longbow on the FITA 3-spot indoor target. I usually shoot the 40 cm target but I felt like challenging myself with just the 5 inner rings. This was earlier this week but the date thing on my camera decided to fart at me for whatever reason.

Heart-Shattered Doe

2010-11-21T19:21:00.004-05:00

I took her from about 70 yards while we were preparing to exit. R had seen a doe cross the road and stopped the truck. A second doe ran out and was too fast for me to take a shot at. I then set the rifle down on the car door to use it as a rest and while I was waiting, a third doe popped up. I didn't fully settle into my shot but I took the shot anyway. She took a few steps forward then did a 180 turn so R and I weren't so sure that I actually hit her until we drove up to the spot. Sure enough, lots of blood-spatters so we knew I got her. Twenty yards and plenty of blood and a coughed-up chunk of lung later, we found her.

Also on a random side-note, here's how NOT to do combat archery...

FITA Field 2010

2010-11-07T19:41:00.004-05:00

As always, click the title for the rest of the pictures.

Overall I shot very well given the following conditions:
1) It was cold. Eiskalt. Ok so not that cold for me but I think my bow had a few things to say. Can you say... calibration drift?
2) Indigestion from something in the sandwiches for lunch on day 1.

It was awesome shooting with friends, both new and old, and seeing that there were a total of 6 barebow archers... one of whom was a true longbow archer with wooden arrows and another was a string-walker (but he wants to switch over to longbow) and is still a fun guy to hang out with. I don't think I've ever seen an FAA shoot with that strong of a barebow presence with more than half of us under 60 years old!

Lucky Lizard

2010-10-31T14:12:00.003-05:00

After enduring what could only be described as either "Death by Boredom" or "Death by Overeating", I shot the field/hunter round at Gator Bowmen today and shot a pretty good score for myself -- 308/560. I don't think I've broken 300 in the presence of both human company and a score card yet, so today's shoot went very well. I even had competition for once and it was very, very close -- he got me by 15 points and it was just the perfect day to be out in the woods.

In other news, I stumbled across a rather entertaining music clip (click either here or the title. You'll know about 2 minutes in! I don't know what it is about "Miststück" that cracks me up so much aside from it literally translating to "Crap Piece".

Random Camera Clean-Out

2010-10-12T21:01:00.002-05:00

Yes, I probably should've cleaned the mirror a bit before doing this, but gimme a break, my toilet, bath tub, and sink basin are clean! The 20 lb weight doesn't feel very heavy anymore.

Pictures from the Outdoors

2010-10-11T18:50:00.003-05:00

Possums are funny... this little fellow hung out by my stand for nearly half an hour and was pretty oblivious to me even though I started sneezing and accidentally flashed it with my camera. It just looked up, sniffed, and went back to looking for tasty bugs and worms.

Cute but annoying visitor to my tree-stand...

A tree core taken with the increment borer by one of my forest ecology students. It smells good!

Sarracenia (of some sort)! Or in plain English, pitcher plants! I never thought I'd see them here in Florida but there they were at Austin Cary Memorial Forest! I really like carnivorous plants in general -- they are so much cooler than many other plants even if some are passive! I like plants that kill bugs!

FAA Target 2010

2010-10-03T18:28:00.003-05:00

For the full suite of pictures, click on the title or here. The weather was truly gorgeous and I loved the slight morning chill that heralds the arrival of fall. The humidity was reasonable and everything was good aside from a bit of a brutal wind that liked to knock down arrows during the Classic 600 round. Overall I was pleased with my new aiming system, which involves both the use of the arrow shaft and the red elm stripe on my riser. There was a lot of correction in my left-right error but I still have a lot of work on my up-down plane. Nonetheless, I enjoyed having some nice tight groups, even if a lot of them were in the wrong place. I think the pictures below explain a lot of the story too.

Random Additions to my Workout Mix

2010-09-19T15:21:00.003-05:00

I seem to have a way of stumbling across stuff that makes a lot of people around me cringe in terror. Anyway, I found some really good music to add to my list of songs for when I do my cardio, mostly in the form of a band called Oomph!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3lndvRhS_M (Labyrinth)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw63SXgm3_4 (Die letzte Streichholz)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLJhmnI5Ez0 (Sandmann)

Some of the songs were a little too scary/disturbing to post I have to admit but make for excellent music to keep a good rhythm in my running or rowing.

First Bow-Killed Hog

2010-09-19T14:44:00.007-05:00

I took this hog with my Fred Bear Lights-Out compound yesterday (Saturday) morning at 0830 hrs. He was accompanied by a second hog with similar coloration but significantly larger. After hearing stories about arrows bouncing off the shield that forms in the shoulder area on hogs, I decided to shoot the little one. I was pretty sure he was 70ish lbs when I decided to shoot him. Sure enough, he came into place first and I released my shot. I had already gotten a little wired up when I spotted a red fox an hour earlier but this time when I saw moving objects, I was a lot better prepared. Anyway, I see my arrow strike right behind the leg about what looks like 1/3 way up. He predictably runs and his buddy runs the other way. I wait until I'm steady enough to come down the ladder before I start blood-trailing. I probably blood-trail about 40-50 yards before realizing two things. 1) It's dangerous blood-trailing a hog solo, especially when one of the hogs looks pretty darned big and has visible tusks. 2) The trail starts getting a little spotty and goes into some really nasty, dense stuff. I wait for R to come down to help me trail this guy. My arrow did completely pass through, by the way, and smelled vaguely of gut but I wasn't sure because the larger hog with tusks did have a bit of an odor to him. Anyway, we find my hog not too far from where I stopped. That's when I realize two things. 1) He's A LOT bigger than I thought and 2) I did ever so slightly brush his guts but most of the damage (we found out when we cleaned him) was in the liver and lungs. So yes, that's my first bow-killed hog and I made about as clean of a kill as I could. Another 1/2 inch forward would've completely avoided the guts, but now I know to aim a slight bit more forward on a hog! I'm sure glad I didn't shoot the big hog -- now that I know that this one I got was 100+ lbs, I think the other one must've been 200+ and a real nightmare to carry back, not to mention the possibility of arrows not penetrating through that shield and just wounding or making him mad!

Some Stress Relief

2010-09-14T14:12:00.002-05:00

I don't know why I'm getting so much of a laugh out of this, but I certainly get a good kick out of this little instrumental here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssyUDs0mGFk. Be forewarned about something that happens around 1:45ish in the clip. There's just something about the German language that appeals to me on so many different levels, especially when stress levels start creeping up.

In other news, the radial basis artificial neural network is beating the living daylights out of the feed-forward back-propagation and Bayesian regularization flavors as far as carbon flux estimates go. I still think that the Bayesian regularization should be doing a lot better but I have a reason to suspect something funky in the normalization or the reverse-normalization algorithm. I think I prefer the committee tree still but I can see the power behind an artificial neural network.

Hunting Setup 2010

2010-09-08T18:43:00.003-05:00

Shooting my Fred Bear Lights Out, set at about 48 lbs with 28" 2016 and 85 grain tips. This is my 3rd season with this bow and it's been a proven deer-killer, provided something legal actually comes within range.

FAA FITA 2010

2010-08-22T13:19:00.003-05:00

Shot pretty well on Day 1. Shot VERY badly on Day 2. Need to figure out a way of being able to shoot at full potential even in the midst of pain resulting from certain physiological functions. I have enough variation and noise with my eddy covariance data. I really don't need it in my performance or my mood. At least I survived the 2 day shoot but I think I may need to get some serious iron supplements to keep from getting anemic.

TBoF Summer 2010

2010-08-16T15:19:00.002-05:00

Click on the title for the full suite of pictures.

I don't know exactly where I placed in the three different divisions but my best guess is 4th in traditional, 4th in longbow, and 4th or 5th in primitive. I know I placed 3rd in overall total though for the women. I survived the trifecta, which included crazy high humidity and hordes of bugs just waiting in line to munch on me despite my heavy armor of DEET and permetherin. I even had a sapling wanting to get very frisky with me and another tree wanting to give me a rectal exam if I wanted a clear shot and avoid the risk of hitting my limb against a tree branch. I'm just glad that my core is a lot stronger than it was back in January or I don't think I would've survived some of those shots!

Chek-Mate Fun

2010-08-12T20:59:00.002-05:00

This was 30 yards un-timed during the IKAC round. Aside from one stray arrow, I did extremely well, finishing that round with a 27/30. My timed rounds were a little anemic, but I was extremely pleased with all of my un-timed rounds this time around. I shot this group with the Chek-Mate Crusader T/D longbow, by the way.

I shot an indoor round with the Chek-Mate Hunter 1 recurve recently and finished with a score of 250/300 with 7/60 X. My last best was in the low 220s with the walnut longbow that Robert built me. Aside from 2 stray shots during initial calibration, my grouping was quite impressive with the little shorty. I still prefer longbows but I can't completely discount the little take-down as a very solid target bow.

small Surprise in the Mail

2010-07-23T08:19:00.002-05:00

I checked my snail mail and lo and behold! This showed up from when I did the NFAA SE Sectional Field event back in May. Never expected this one to pop up either.

Still Alive!

2010-07-22T20:38:00.002-05:00

I shot my first IKAC in a while and shot extremely well for someone who has been sick for nearly two weeks, stressed out, and short on sleep because of the stress and sickness. I shot a 236 (Royal Round of 91) and had a really, really nice group during the 20 yard timed round (30 seconds). First two shots were a little low but the rest fell into place perfectly.

And now... finish drinking my kefir, let my hair dry, and call it for the night so I can get a desperately-needed full-blown workout.

Cute Snake

2010-07-01T13:30:00.002-05:00

This little fellow was just hanging out by the rental office in my apartment complex. I'm guessing he was about a meter plus change long and pretty laid-back despite me staring at him and taking pictures. There's just something really cute about these little snakes around here.

Crunch Goes the Arrow!

2010-06-28T20:35:00.003-05:00

The Chek-Mate Crusader T/D is still my "baby" even if I now shoot the bow that my other half built for me most of the time. I also, to my delight, found out that I could shoot it reasonably well using the style I learned from Coach Bob over at the Easton-Newberry facility. I guess between the workouts and the training, I'm getting stronger!

Trimarian Olympics 2010

2010-06-28T12:31:00.002-05:00

A view from the target to where we shot from, about 100 yards away. This was great practice for a FITA round, at least if you're a male between 18 and 49 years old. Mar even set up a target significantly smaller than a FITA target, adding to the challenge factor. I think if we could get this group to shoot a FITA round in August or in the June Sunshine Games, we'd show them that traditional archery is alive, well, and deadly!

Nothing like the speed round at 20 yards in the Royal Round!

I finally got a hit on the target! Aesa got 2, Rurik got 1. I think we could have a deadly contingent of longbows at this rate if we can even hit this little bugger!

Bit of Progress

2010-06-15T20:31:00.002-05:00

My workouts are paying off visually as well as constitutionally. Still got a long way to go elsewhere but I'm really liking what I'm seeing recently. It's definitely making archery practice a lot easier, especially when I'm working with the mirrors and/or camera to check my form!

Courtesy of the Range-Master

2010-06-14T05:23:00.002-05:00

There may be a few more trickling in... still got a long way to go in shrinking the gut but things are looking a lot better than they were this time last year!

Sunshine State Games FITA

2010-06-13T15:59:00.003-05:00

As usual, click the title for the rest of the pictures. Pictures from 900 will come later as I juggle around my online spaces.

I shot my personal best in both the FITA and the 900 round. I finished the FITA with an 853/1440 and the 900 with a 620/900. I was extremely impressed with the FITA, especially considering that my last FITA was a 515/1440 and I hadn't shot one since. The 900 was just as cool because I was pretty depleted after the FITA round and I felt nature calling to me towards the end of the shoot, especially in the final end. Apparently I am capable of holding my form and shooting reasonably well with a very full bladder!

Final round, 30 meters.

Me and the two older gentlemen in my group during the FITA round, 30 meters.

70 meters... doesn't look *too* bad!

Almost at full draw, ready to expand.

Also almost at full draw, just before expansion.

Courtesy of a Fellow Archer at the FAA Field

2010-06-11T17:18:00.002-05:00

One of my fellow archers handed me a very nice photograph on the second day of the shoot that I forgot to post. I guess he caught me while I was in deep concentration on one of the shots.

Critters

2010-06-10T21:20:00.002-05:00

Grey tree-frog that narrowly escaped being impaled by one of my arrows while calibrating at 70 meters.

Beautiful dragonfly at archery practice. Can you find it?

Truly beautiful dragonfly that really liked Aesa's longbow for some reason.

One of the many "black snakes" in the area at Fred Bear.

Ooh! Another one! They did get into a bit of a scuffle for a bit. I think it was two males fighting over territory and access to a nearby female... don't think they were fighting over the big bugs or small rodents they usually eat.

FAA Field Championship 2010

2010-05-30T15:25:00.002-05:00

As always, click on the title for the full set of pictures. I shot an extremely solid round this weekend: 275 (2x) field, 180 animal, 297 (4x) hunter.

Rhinehart 100

2010-05-17T06:56:00.002-05:00

As usual, click either the title or here for the rest of the Rhinehart 100.

I actually resisted the temptation to shoot him elsewhere *and* ranged correctly. I decided that having two gentlemen in the party didn't warrant my favorite shot on a standing bear.

Yes, we were supposed to shoot the tree stump as well as the little bear.

A giraffe and a demon of some sort. R insists it's a gargoyle of some sort. Whatever it was, I certainly don't want it alive around me!

This target absolutely made my day! And yes, we were supposed to shoot both the bear and the toilet. Except... where *would* be an appropriate kill on a toilet?

Did I mention that I really enjoyed this target? Toilets are just inherently cool!

Great Group at 40 Yards

2010-05-07T07:09:00.002-05:00

Moments like these are truly rare. I shot this round at 40 yards onto a 60 cm target face with wood arrows. The odd 3-fletched arrow in the red belongs to a fellow archer who's still starting off and shows a lot of promise both as an archer and as a veterinary researcher. I shot my highest score of the season as well: 214 IKAC and a 94 Royal Round -- but the season is still early and there's still tons of room for improvement.

Will this year be the year I make Grandmaster Bowman (100+ average of top 3 Royal Rounds of the season, last year averaged around 94) or break 250 in IKAC? Stay tuned!

Forgot I Had These Too...

2010-04-25T18:55:00.003-05:00

Caught at about 80% draw prior to full expansion, still need to tense the left arm muscles especially triceps and forearm and tighten up the scapulae.

Happened during a calibration round at 20 yards.

Mostly Sacrificial Weekend...

2010-04-25T10:06:00.002-05:00

Sacrificing about half of the weekend to see if I can get a semester write-up out of the way but still got some good outdoor workouts in... plus the weekend sacrifice is going into either helping me train for the NFAA Southeastern Sectional field/hunter championship at the end of May or the Sunshine State Games in June. I don't know which event(s) I'll be entering for the Sunshine State Games but here's the breakdown: 60% FITA target, 40% 900 round. I think I'm a stronger contender for the 900 round and they're my favorite event but FITA target shoots are extremely hard to come by aside from the FAA state championships in August. I'll find out once I figure out the logistics behind the two events. There's also field and 3D but the opportunities for FITA and 900 are much more limited so I like to jump on any of those I can.