Crunch Goes the Arrow!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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...

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.

Die, Vile Pink Marshmallow!

Can you deep fry one of those Peeps marshmallow monstrosities? The answer is... yes. Was it edible? Well, click on the title and see!

Pic from Aesa's Camera

Courtesy of my fellow archer, Aesa while we were waiting our turn for the King's Hunt.

Spring Coronation and International Round

As always, click on the title or here for the link to the full suite of pictures.
Spring Coronation was on Saturday at Camp Ocala near Altoona in the southern part of the Ocala National Forest, International Round was on Sunday in Inglis.

The Royal Huntsman's Quiver and Trimaris sash. I get to design the Hunt for the Fall Coronation Event!

Eiszeit

Usually not a big video fan but I'm just very much amazed by this song... I'm looking forward to the rest of the album coming out.



I definitely like the powerful male vocals... still favor Rammstein but Eisbrecher has grown on me quite a bit and they have some pretty impressive songs, even if some people around me cringe in pain/terror!

Ooh Cool!

I just figured out how to embed stuff into my blog. I'm really looking forward to the next Eisbrecher album, which is called Eiszeit (Ice-Age). I think there seems to be a real fascination with ice and freezing things going on there.

Journey to the Dark Side...

Wrong anchor though... was supposed to anchor under the chin, not the corner of the mouth for the full Olympic effect but close enough for now.

Survived TBoF Spring 2010

I don't look too bad for having about 2-3 layers of clothing padding my gut area! It was beautiful but cold and I had to wear multiple layers in the morning before I had to run into the cabin to remove layers, although I still kept one extra layer as insect protection in case I had to get intimate with the local vegetation. More later on as my brain defrosts and recovers from too many changes in temperature.