A Rocky Start—Literally

The adventure didn’t begin smoothly. I arrived at what I thought was the right location, only to be met by a massive locked metal gate. Confused, I drove further down to a lay-by, double-checked the date, maps, and location—everything seemed correct. Just as I was questioning my sanity, I spotted a small queue forming at the gate. Phew! No senior moment today.

Once inside, it was time to get serious. Bows were prepped, teams assigned, safety briefing completed, and then—off we went to the first peg and target. My mental checklist grew longer: stance, grip, anchor point… and now, estimating the range, avoiding tree collisions, and, most importantly, not tumbling down a slope mid-draw.

The Challenge and the Thrill

For those who haven’t tried field archery yet (and you absolutely should!), here’s how it works: If you miss your first shot, you move to a closer peg for your next attempt. Sounds easier, right? Well… sometimes. A new position means a fresh guess at the range. At least your first arrow gives you a clue—if you can spot where it lands!

The targets? They’re a fantastic mix—some small and close, others large and deceptively far. Some narrow, some wide, and many placed on slopes that test your balance as much as your aim. And just when you think you’re getting the hang of it, the second half of the course throws in… dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs! As if field archery wasn’t exciting enough.

Beyond the targets, the setting itself is incredible. The woodland course is stunning—a place you’d happily walk through even without a bow in hand (though you’d have to watch out for flying arrows). I had worried about losing arrows, but the well-thought-out back-stop boards and nets kept them safe. Two rounds in, and I still haven’t lost a single one!

Victory Tastes Sweet

And the best part? Our team won the morning’s competition! Naturally, I’d like to think Jennie and I carried the team with our impressive scores, rather than Carl and Jez’s small contributions of skill and experience.

Field archery isn’t just shooting—it’s an adventure, a challenge, and an absolute blast. If you haven’t tried it yet, trust me, you’re missing out!

It must be said, at this point and throughout the morning, the detail and preparation by both Matt and Metz in bringing this event together was what made it for me and made it easier to relax and concentrate on just shooting.

The previous introduction of the marker carrots to the field was now evident for it’s benefit in lining everything up and spacing the targets and archers on the line. The die was now set for the upcoming and future events that are to be hosted at Cobham, making things far easier and hopefully quicker to implement.

The field was set up with nine targets, at different distances, elected by the archers.  There we all the different bow disciplines and a total of twenty six members signed up to shoot, so the morning was set to be quite busy.

Being that I had only been arching for a short time, and this was only the second event that I had attended, I was encouraged to feel that I could attend more (time willing) and increase the experience.

This was an internal club event it was good to see and meet with people that you maybe don’t get to see at the times you may regularly practice or attend.

Unfortunately, the scheduled distribution of new shooting shirts and other apparel could not take place due to manufacturing issues, but this would hopefully be sorted ready for the next event in the coming weeks where the shooting line would be emblazoned with the new Canford Magna Bowmen colours, logos and archer’s names.

Following the short, mid-session interval and the completion of the second session of the morning, we were all ready and eager to get our final scores and placings in the event.

Whilst we were all aware of our individual scores on the targets, the overall placings would have to wait until Matt, Metz and the laptop had done their final reckoning of all the scores.

We all gathered in one of the club meeting rooms where we were looking forward and eager to learn of our results and could then relax and partake of the fine hot and cold finger buffet that Cobham had kindly laid on for the participants and attendees.

Final scores and positions were awarded (Alan taking yet another medal to add to his trophy cabinet) with all archers gratefully accepting their results to rapturous applause.

Well done and congratulations to all of those who participated in the event and once again thanks to Matt, Metz and all officiating members that organised and made the day a memorable one.

Finally, but by no means least, thanks to Chris and the catering staff for laying on a fine spread and the facilities that Canford Magna Bowmen are able to enjoy as part of their membership.

The final potions and score from the day can been seen here

More images from the tournament can be found here

The forecast was for overcast skies and light winds and, if you’re a bit more sceptical of the weather forecast these days, you get prepared for most things as the forecasts seem to be less accurate.

Anyway, the skies certainly started very overcast and, to a degree, quite threatening but thankfully it did not rain.

This was to be my first venture into competing other than our last “Flash Tournament” that Matt very kindly dropped on us a short time ago, at our own home ground.

I have to say that I thought I was going to run late but made it from Ferndown to Cranborne in good time and met up with John and tony who were already there.

Matt was obviously already deep in his judging role preparing things before the start whilst co-ordinators from Bracken were busy going around ensuring that all archers that were shooting were booked in and had been marked off the register.

I am not sure exactly how many archers were shooting but you will gage from some of the photos the numbers and classifications which covered the whole field.

By the time we were ready to start, our Canford Magna Bowmen contingent had grown to six (myself, Tony, Min, John, Gary & Jennie).

Gary, Jennie and I were on the same target along with another gentleman from a different club, Paul, whose scores I was very envious of and ended up with a score in the 500s I recall, the rest of us were a little more matched.

As the morning went on the weather started to become a little less overcast and, by the time we were in our closing ends, the sun was bouncing through the broken clouds, and it became quite warm (Hot & sticky).

I don’t know what the temperature got up to (27C; editor), but I did end up with a slightly burnt nose & cheeks even though I was wearing a bucket hat. The lesson is to remember the sun cream as well as the other clothing for our British weather and the insect repellent to keep those little critters away, although they seemed to ignore what Jennie had put on and just pestered her anyway.

Whilst I came away not having won anything myself, I have to say it was a fantastic experience and a very good introduction to competing and has certainly whetted my appetite for more.

I was hesitant at first to get into the competition scene but would certainly recommend it to anyone wanting to gain experience and to improve. You also get to meet a lot of new, like minded people who are prepared to impart all manner of advice and information to help you in your archery.

One of our members, Carl McLaughlin, has become closely affiliated with Purbeck Archers and helps out organizing their major annual tournament and volunteering at country shows with them.

Through his enthusiasm for Purbeck and field archery many of us have joined Purbeck Archers and been signed off by Andrew or Kenn of Perbeck Archers to safely follow field protocols and shoot 3-D.

Every couple of months Carl organises an informal competition on a Sunday morning followed by a post-match analysis in a pub with lunch. This time eight of us drew lots and competed as four pairs, whilst two of our newer members were taken around by Andrew to be trained and signed off as safe and competent.

We set off into the woods as two groups of two pairs in direct competition for eighteen kills, the winning pairs from each group then go head to head for the next eighteen kills to settle first and second place, the other two pairs settle third and fourth. This is a great system, as it gives people a chance for a catch up, a bit of banter and some friendly rivalry.

The course is fun, with challenges as small as a stoat and as large as a bear, with dinosaurs, big cats and other kills ranging from five or so yards to fifty or more. The trees and ferns add to the challenges, it really focuses the mind, and the course is changed regularly to keep things fresh.

A range of bows were used on the day, no classes or handicaps, a simple scoring system of 3 points a win, 1 point each a draw, zero for a lose based on the total score for each pair on any given kill.

After a bit of a ding dong the day was settled on a tie break and Jez and Ryan came first overall after a majestic pair of double pro kills on the python took it to a decider on the dodo and they beat Alan and Jason into second place. Alan proffered numerous excuses as to why it was a draw, but Ryan offered only an impression of Alan’s loser shuffle, head down, shoulders slumped, emanating a high-pitched grizzle. It was uncanny, he’d clearly seen this a lot. Handshakes to close and Jez and Ryan became the current Best Archers in The Woods