This is not an internet exercise.
It was my first archery event. The Troll Hunt.
About 50 of us were entered and the competition was held indoors on a variable range. The targets were a mixture of animal figures and “trolls”. The trolls have to be either hit or avoided according to the rules and restrictions that are placed on the range. Distances to targets vary considerably from around ten to thirty five meters. There are ten targets per round and one shoots three rounds. Two arrows per target. Sixty six arrows in total including six for bonus targets. Targets are repositioned after each round. One target did not move. At the extreme end of the hall at maximum range, a bear figure and a troll bearing three post-it stickers. The idea was to put two arrows into the bear and then hit a yellow post-it on the troll. A post-it sticker measures about six by six centimeters. At thirty odd metres there is not much to aim at. I did hit one… for a bonus of 25 points.
Lucky punch? I don’t know. I took aim and hoped for the best.
Scoring is easy. There is a “kill zone” marked on the animal figures. Hit the heart area, 10 points. There is a very small inner ring in this area. Hit that and you get 11 points. Outside the heart area is the lung area. Hit that for 8 points. Hitting the animal outside that brings 5 points. Hitting a troll gives either plus or minus as designated by the range officer.
Obstacles included christmas trees, hanging camouflage nets and animal figures and other devices that simply get in the way of a clean shot at a designated target. Hitting an obstacle is akin to a miss. I hit one of them and it broke one of my arrows. Double punishment.
One is thrown in with a mixed group of combatants. Different ages, class of contestant, nationalities and, obviously, both sexes. I was entered in the mens senior longbow class. This was a mistake. I should have been in the mens longbow master bracket because of my advancing years. Had I been in that class, I would have come home with a first place.
There are also classes for bare bow and compound bows.
Note: Bare bows are anything but bare as they have all sorts of sighting arrangements, balancing bars and other crap attached to the bow. Compound bows are a work of engineering akin to a crane with a spring and telescopic sights. Hard to miss with such a contraption.
Despite the fact that one is in competition with everybody else, there was no lack of support or encourgement from others in my group. A very gentlemanly affair. Sympathy for the inevitable miss, congratulations on a well placed arrow.
For the sake of brevity I will cut to the chase concerning my final placement in all of this. I scored a very respectable 430 points on the day. I recieved no prizes but I was definitely in the good end of the rankings. Not as good as some, but better than most. At the time of writing, the full results have not yet been published but of the five contestants from our club I came bang in the middle with a third place behind two of the club stars. I am well pleased with myself.
I will mention my friend, Ove. Of all the people in the competition, he was the only man to turn up with a home made longbow and shot his own home made arrows. I tip my hat to the man. He gave a good account of himself.
I will be doing this again next year. In the correct class, with a more powerful, better built bow and a further year in which to practice, I’ll be hunting medals…
The Exile Files 