How To…

Some useful guidelines for new members of the club regarding “how we do things round here”!

General information is contained on the A Typical Shoot page, so have a read of that first, but more detail is below. Also, ensure you have read and understood the NDAC Etiquette & Safety document.

Links to sections below:

How To… Help set up and put away

When you arrive for a club shoot, there will be a bustle of activity while members help set up the range. This happens before people set up their equipment, and everyone generally pitches in. We would not expect new members to know where everything goes, or what to do, so feel free to take a back seat in your first few weeks, especially if there seem to be a lot of people around to help out. If there are few people around, or if you are keen to help, just ask someone and they will be sure to give you a job! In general, we do the following:

  • Bring out the wheeled trolley containing all the smaller bits and pieces (ropes, pegs, tape measures etc)
  • Set up the shooting line (two pegs and a rope)
  • Measure distances from the shooting line to the boss locations with a long tape measure. Mark all the possible boss distances along this line. Repeat at the other end of the shooting line to give two markers per distance to align the targets to
  • Put out five warning signs (one at each corner of the range, and the last one leading from the car park). One of these needs a rope barrier too
  • Load up the bosses on a trolley. The number used will depend upon the number of people attending. Set each one up with the correct size target for the round being shot. Add a wooden stand per boss and ropes, target pins and rope pegs (2-person job as the bosses are heavy) to the trolley
  • Take the bosses to the correct places and set them up and fix into the ground (2-person job) using the stands, ropes and metal rope pegs
  • Take the often-needed metal detectors to the boss area

After this, people will sign in the register, then set up their own equipment in the car park and carry it to somewhere behind the shooting line, choosing whichever boss they want to shoot at.

How To… Decide if you are in “A group” or “B group”

After an introduction to what round is being shot, the Field Captain will just say something along the lines of “Right! Sighters! A’s Up!” and blow a whistle, leaving new members wondering what is going on. As with most things that seem confusing, just ask someone and they will explain it. However, this is a time when the archers spread themselves between the targets so there is a roughly equal number of people shooting at each target, and then will just split into two groups – As and Bs. Up to 6 people can shoot at any target, in two groups of three, but it is more generally 4 people per target in two groups of two – As and Bs.

The A group shoots first, shooting 3 of their sighter arrows (not scored). Then B group shoot 3 sighter arrows. Then A group shoot their second set of 3 sighter arrows. Then B group. This is all done without any further direction or whistles from the Field Captain. After this point the group will wait for everyone to finish shooting, and the Field Captain to blow three blasts on the whistle indicating shooting has stopped and people can go and collect their arrows.

After sighters the actual scored arrows are shot in exactly the same manner, with the A group again starting, then the B group. On subsequent ends, the starting group changes, so B group will start the shooting for the second (and forth and sixth…) end.

The important thing is to not start shooting until the Field Captain has blown one blast on their whistle, and to stop shooting if they blow three blasts on the whistle (though this should not happen if you are still shooting), or if ANYONE shouts “FAST!” indicating that someone may have entered the range.

How To… Score

We generally use the same scoresheet regardless of the round being shot (it’s just easier that way!), though we have different sheets for summer and winter shoots (as we shoot more arrows in summer, and potentially over a mix of distances). One person per boss will be designated as scorer – usually the last person to say “not me!”. It’s not a tough job, though it helps if you can do mental arithmetic!

Fill in the date, what round is being shot, and your name as the scorer.

Ask everyone what their names are, and fill in their name and bow style above each of the sections. Bow styles are often abbreviated: “RC” – recurve (using sights / stabilisers); “BB” – barebow; “LB” – longbow; “C” – compound. Also, at the bottom of the first grid for each person, fill in the target face size (e.g. 122cm), and the initial distance being shot (e.g. 40 yds).

When people call out their scores when scoring, they ideally do it in order of the scores – highest first – and in groups of three, e.g. “9,7,5… 5,5,miss”. Write these numbers in the top row. When everyone has called their scores and you have got them all down, you can tell the others you are happy for them to take the arrows out of the target while you step aside and add up each archer’s “end” score and write this in.

For the second end, you do the same, entering the numbers on the same row as the first end, but in the second set of 6 boxes. You then score the end total as before, but also sum the two ends to give a score for the dozen arrows, and also add to the previous total to give a cumulative total.

We generally do not bother marking the number of hits or Xs, but feel free if you wish!

If a round has multiple distances, each distance should be entered in a separate grid, with the new distance/target face entered beneath that grid section.

An example of a scoresheet mid-session is given here:

If anyone retires early from the round, just mark “Retired” beneath their scores. Their scores may still count towards a different round, e.g. a 252 round.

The scoresheets are collected at the end of the round and placed in the lock-up container to be collected by the Records Officer, who will enter everyone’s score in his big spreadsheet.

Don’t worry if you make mistakes on scoring – everybody does. Just try to correct mistakes as you go along if you can. Mistakes in adding up will be found by the Records Officer as they enter the raw arrow scores and get their own totals calculated for them, so errors in the totals only really affect how people think they are doing at the time, it won’t affect their actually recorded scores. If you are not using a phone app to log your scores, you may want to take a photo of the scoresheet at the end for your own records.

How To… Find lost arrows

Arrows often miss the boss completely. Even for experienced archers at long distance. There’s no shame in it.

Ideally you know roughly where it went, and can find it quickly. Arrows in the grass are looked for after you have scored your successful arrows. Everyone can pitch in to look for arrows. If you find someone else’s arrow, don’t remove it straight away, as they may want to know where it ended up in order to assess what went wrong with that shot. Either point it out to them, or remove it from the grass and then re-plant it in the ground straight up, so they can see the position it ended up in.

If arrows cannot be found with a quick search, someone should grab one of the metal detectors. Switch the detector on, and scan one of the non-lost arrows of the same type in order to see what sort of reading that arrow will give off. Then sweep the ground as wide an area as possible moving away from the boss, looking for a similar reading. Generally most arrows are found with a single sweep, but sometimes it can take a number of minutes to find them.

Sometimes, if it is taking too long, we temporarily abandon that arrow and continue shooting, but will re-search for the arrow at the end of the session. If an arrow still cannot be found, we must log the lost arrow on the Lost Arrows Form in the lock-up container.

How To… Have fun

North Downs Archery Club is a fun, sociable club. Nobody will be judging your shooting performance, or logging how many arrows you miss, or mistakes you make. Everybody misses the target, struggles to find their arrows in the long grass, writes the scores on the wrong line on the scoresheet and accidentally forgets to read out their arrow scores in descending order. None of this is a problem. The only things to be focussed on are safety issues, as detailed in NDAC Etiquette & Safety. Know what the whistles mean, and what to do if somebody shouts “FAST!”, or if you are the first person to see someone walking onto the shooting area.

We do not time your shots – some archers spend a long time setting up each shot, others shoot instinctively and have shot all three of their arrows before others in their group have even reached the shooting line. Some archers chat, drink a flask of coffee, pick blackberries or eat jelly babies after every set of three arrows, others try to find excuses for why that last arrow missed the target by a mile and glare menacingly at the distant crow that made a noise at full draw. Whatever kind of archer you are, you are welcome in the club. Relax, and enjoy the hobby!