That would be my archery report number 6 or 7 since I started posting those here. Quite a while has gone by since I last did any.
This one is about hiking near the small town where I now live. Home turf. I know those hills. Still, I don't know where would be the best spot for the practice I have in mind.
Shooting light bamboo arrows with a 22-pound recurved bow at that twenty or so yards distance measured by...strides - long ones but not too much.
The hike was intended to be a walk around, too, so not too much luggage and not a proper target for the practice...I just needed something to mark where I would aim. So I filled three small bottles with the almost red, almost Martian dust and put those on the road where it looked clear enough.
One of these dudes is not like the others, one of these dudes is lost.
Yeah, I lost an arrow because of the wrong kind of terrain that I picked for the practice.
The Ninth Shot.
The Ninth Shot, as seen from the other side.
So, I have to aim below the target but on the same vertical plane in order to hit it. Because I use no sighting system. Other than looking at the thing with my eyes. But that is hard and I need a few test shots before I can calibrate my aiming a bit.
Nine shots I made that day. Nine pulls and releases of that string. Too few. But I had three arrows and going after them proved quite difficult.
The thing that got me and was...grass on the sides of the road, grass with little thingies I did not want to wade through...unless needed. Also, the hard packed, almost rocky soil. It's basically rock dust.
So...shooting from a distance, I have the arrows hitting the ground near the target at such an angle that they basically touch the earth on their...bellies (bamboo shafts), they bounce up a little and they continue gliding or semi-flying for up to another twenty yards or so.
I saw that Seventh shot bouncing a bit to the left. I kept concentrating on my eighth and ninth shots and I finally got that bottle...
Three small bottles, standing on the road...
But a long search was invain and I did not find my lost ammo. A costly and humbling lesson that would tell me again to make my own shield in my own yard and get the heck practicing there.
Maybe next time.
Peace!
Manol