Wanna Take It Outside?

The weekly archery classes are winding down. During the summer months there’ll only be 2 classes per month (one for newbies and one for regular archers), so I’m trying to get in as many shoots as I can. I got 2 bull-eyes at 18m tonight.

Some goofball pictures of us:

Anyhoo, I found out more on outdoor archery that takes place at another club.

Outdoor archery offers 2 shooting distances. One at 50m and one at 90m. In the US and UK, the first set of people shoot from 50m away. After everyone has a go, the targets are then moved further away another 40m, so that the people who want to shoot at 90m can shoot next on the same line.

Apparently, we in Canada opt to do things differently here. Instead of making the targets move, archers can choose to stand and shoot at the 50m or the 90m distance away from the target. The 50m line shoots first. And then the 90m line shoots right afterwards. With the 50m people staying right where they are.

Wha??

I mean, isn’t there that worry that some idjit behind you at the 90m gets a last second twitch or something causing the arrow to fly off on a tangent and say, hit someone at the 50m in the ass or worse? I mean, depending on the weight of your bow, you have enough pounds of pressure to really send that arrow flying at a fast speed. And that’s not counting compound bows.

Apparently, there hasn’t been any fatalities or serious injuries that we know of because the people at 50m and 90m are staggered, so they’re never shooting directly behind you. Imagine if you’re all on the same line, they’d be approximately 10 feet on either side of you (and 40m behind you)

Wow, I was psyched at the thought of outdoor archery, but now armed with this tidbit, do I have enough trust in those archers behind me? I’ve seen enough of my group hit WAY off their intended target.

When I was younger and feeling quite “bring it on” invincible, I would’ve enjoyed that feeling of “living on the edge” to hear arrows whizzing by me, but now I kinda like the thought of my body in one piece, thank you very much.

Course then again, I am just curious enough to give outdoor archery a try. Because really, how many of us could even shoot at 90m, when we’ve only been shooting at the furthest indoor regulation line of 18m?