DixieCrafter
Well-Known Member
A few thoughts on the Florida Pro/Am this past weekend!
The Florida weather was a nice break from the dismal winter ice box here in Tennessee!
We got to the Pro/Am venue about 4:00 p.m. last Friday. Once we registered, we took a quick stroll through the vendors to check out who and what was there.
Then it was time to try to get in a few practice arrows! If you've ever attended a ASA Pro/AM then you know that the practice bales is one area that could surely use some organization. There are literally hundreds of archers trying to squeeze and push their way to shoot at the bales. It is here that you will sometimes meet a rude inconsiderate jerk on occasion, like the one who stands in front of the 20 yd bale and shoots at the 40 or 45 yd bale! It's amazing that some of the behavior exhibited at the practice bales hasn't caused a major altercation. More bales would help and a range official would help even more!
My Saturday range assignment was for range "D" at noon. By the way, range "D" was the same range the Open Pro class shot on Friday...lucky me! Range "D" was the farthest range at the end of the road. Why do the people who make the range assignments put the Senior Open class at the end of the road, the furthest point, for the longest walk? Duh? This just does not make any sense to me, especially being the recipient of a total knee replacement myself!
Saturday morning it was misting a little rain that served to drive the humidity up making it nice and muggy! After what was close to a mile walk to my range lugging my bow and chair I arrived at "Range D. During my walk I passed some young folks who were heard to be fussing about how long the walk was to their ranges! Go figure!
Right of the bat, I had made a rookie mistake by walking to my range too fast and got over heated. This isn't too big of a deal except for an eyeglass wearer such as myself!
.
Shoot 'em up says the range official at noon! The group's cards are shuffled and lucky me gets to lead off on the first thing on a 46 yard deer! It was all down hill from here! Fogging eyeglasses were the bane of my shooting for the first several targets! I tried everything I knew to get the fogging under control and nothing was working and didn't work until the body had cooled off enough! If any of you fine folks reading this have a sure fire method to prevent fogging eyeglass while shooting a bow I'd love to hear it!
In the first few targets the wheels came off the train and my shooting had a de-railment! Without a doubt this was not my finest hour in archery! Tournament nerves and not being able to see my intended target got me off to a rough start! On "D" range of 20 targets we counted 13 targets that over 40 yds with one at 48 yds. Our closest target was a 29 yd deer with the remainder of targets in the 34-40 range.
On Sunday my range assignment was for range "C" at 8:00 a.m. This range of 20 targets wasn't quite as long as the "D" range. Range "C" had a 48 yd coyote and 45 yd javelina and plenty of other 40 plus targets to entertain us! I was more relaxed and shot a lot better! No fogging glasses today!!! I hit 7 12's out of 20 this morning!
I had a pretty good group to shoot with for the weekend and I had a great time! This was my 3rd Pro/Am and I learned several things along the way and enjoyed myself immensely! The whole Pro/Am experience is definitely a learning work in progress that takes time and patience to develop the rhythm and skill to manage the course effectively!
It's 24 more days until the next ASA Pro/Am at Ft. Benning!
The Florida weather was a nice break from the dismal winter ice box here in Tennessee!
We got to the Pro/Am venue about 4:00 p.m. last Friday. Once we registered, we took a quick stroll through the vendors to check out who and what was there.
Then it was time to try to get in a few practice arrows! If you've ever attended a ASA Pro/AM then you know that the practice bales is one area that could surely use some organization. There are literally hundreds of archers trying to squeeze and push their way to shoot at the bales. It is here that you will sometimes meet a rude inconsiderate jerk on occasion, like the one who stands in front of the 20 yd bale and shoots at the 40 or 45 yd bale! It's amazing that some of the behavior exhibited at the practice bales hasn't caused a major altercation. More bales would help and a range official would help even more!
My Saturday range assignment was for range "D" at noon. By the way, range "D" was the same range the Open Pro class shot on Friday...lucky me! Range "D" was the farthest range at the end of the road. Why do the people who make the range assignments put the Senior Open class at the end of the road, the furthest point, for the longest walk? Duh? This just does not make any sense to me, especially being the recipient of a total knee replacement myself!
Saturday morning it was misting a little rain that served to drive the humidity up making it nice and muggy! After what was close to a mile walk to my range lugging my bow and chair I arrived at "Range D. During my walk I passed some young folks who were heard to be fussing about how long the walk was to their ranges! Go figure!
Right of the bat, I had made a rookie mistake by walking to my range too fast and got over heated. This isn't too big of a deal except for an eyeglass wearer such as myself!
.
Shoot 'em up says the range official at noon! The group's cards are shuffled and lucky me gets to lead off on the first thing on a 46 yard deer! It was all down hill from here! Fogging eyeglasses were the bane of my shooting for the first several targets! I tried everything I knew to get the fogging under control and nothing was working and didn't work until the body had cooled off enough! If any of you fine folks reading this have a sure fire method to prevent fogging eyeglass while shooting a bow I'd love to hear it!
In the first few targets the wheels came off the train and my shooting had a de-railment! Without a doubt this was not my finest hour in archery! Tournament nerves and not being able to see my intended target got me off to a rough start! On "D" range of 20 targets we counted 13 targets that over 40 yds with one at 48 yds. Our closest target was a 29 yd deer with the remainder of targets in the 34-40 range.
On Sunday my range assignment was for range "C" at 8:00 a.m. This range of 20 targets wasn't quite as long as the "D" range. Range "C" had a 48 yd coyote and 45 yd javelina and plenty of other 40 plus targets to entertain us! I was more relaxed and shot a lot better! No fogging glasses today!!! I hit 7 12's out of 20 this morning!
I had a pretty good group to shoot with for the weekend and I had a great time! This was my 3rd Pro/Am and I learned several things along the way and enjoyed myself immensely! The whole Pro/Am experience is definitely a learning work in progress that takes time and patience to develop the rhythm and skill to manage the course effectively!
It's 24 more days until the next ASA Pro/Am at Ft. Benning!
