Andrew Fishenden Traditional shoot

A very big weekend has just passed for the club. On Saturday we had a working bee and cleaned the place up a bit. Doug with his cyclone like blower is a real asset and he makes a hard job look easy. For a change we set the 3D's out on the White range in readiness for the Andrew Fishenden Memorial Trad shoot which was held today. I want to thank those who turned up on the Saturday for the working bee. There is an old saying many hands make light work......I just wished that applied to our working bee's but what the heck, I enjoy the free sausage sangers and coke.
The Trad shoot was great and it was no secret I have been looking forward to it for months. Numbers were down a bit but none of us were going to let that spoil the day. We started with an ABA 3 arrow round on the 3D's and despite some whining at first from the die hard cable gunners, everybody come in with some very respectable scores. Mick and Doug both shot personal bests with Doug hitting 300 for the first time and Mick only a couple of points behind. If only you didn't wipe that one target Mick....
We did learn one thing, James Dowson is just as slow with a recurve as he is with a compound.
After a bloody delicious lunch of hamburgers (well done Irene and all those who helped in the canteen), we took to the novelty shoots. First was the long distance targets and once again Doug shone with a hit on the rear leg. There were a lot of really close shots and some not so close, all in all great fun. The speed shot was a very close call with Mick and Rick the only shooters getting 5 arrows away. Unfortunately not all arrows hit the mark so points were lost. James surprised us by getting four arrows away (and all hit the mark) where most of us thought he would be lucky to shoot one in the 30 second time frame.
The bow bird arrows were fun but we had to have two rounds as not one shooter hit one of the disks which were tossed in the air. In the end Clify managed to nick one and so he was pronounced the winner. The running deer I think is a great event especially when you have a lot of shooters on the line. Arrows going everywhere and in the end it was Clif Hardy again who took out the trophy. Might I add he hit the deer with all 4 arrows including one smack bang in the A zone. Good shooting Clif. Might turn you into a fair dinkum archer yet.
I was pleased that all who shot for the entire day stayed to help put away the 3D;s and after a long day, it was greatly appreciated. It was a shame Karl and Glenys were away as guys you would have really enjoyed the day. Next year for sure. So that was the Andrew Fishenden shoot for its second year and it was good to see a mixture of regular trad shooters and compound shooters mix it up for a great fun filled day. On behalf of all the committee I want to thank all those who pitched in and all those who made the effort to turn up. Really appreciated.


Phil Steele