Indoor 3D and the Best 150 Round I’ve Ever Shot

Ever since I discovered the Online Archery Challenges Facebook Group, I’ve been making an effort to get out and shoot more. I don’t have grand visions of being the best archer out there (or the best archer in the group, for that matter) but the collaborative effort of the group to improve our skills has me practicing as often as I can.

I’ve been shooting a lot of Vegas Rounds but I enjoy 3D and try to shoot it when I can. Yesterday, after work, I ran over to Stowe Archers to take advantage of an Indoor 3D Course being setup for leagues. The course consisted of 32 shots on Rinehart targets, with center 12 scoring.

The course setup that I shot on Thursday was set up as a Bowhunter course. The shots were all a moderate distance ranging from about 18 to 28 yards. Faux shrubbery and trees were placed in a way to shroud the animal and mimic a hunting scenario.

I started the course fairly well and began shooting a blend of 10’s and 12’s. I ran into an issue where I had difficulty aiming due to all of the pins in my sight. Since I only use two pins indoors, the remaining three were becoming a hindrance and hiding a portion of the animal.

I continued with the course, still shooting a blend of 10’s and 12’s, with a few 8’s thrown in due to a limited field of view and the occasional pulled shot. When I took my last shot, I walked away with a score of 336 – which is 16 points up.

Finishing Up With a 150 Round

Before walking off the range and packing up my gear, I thought that I would go ahead and shoot a quick 150 Vegas Round to wrap up my shooting session. Since we had plenty of targets still hung from our 450 Vegas League, I picked one of the top targets (because I tend to shoot bottom and need the practice getting my bow arm up higher) and started shooting.

After shooting the Indoor 3D Course, holding steady on a spot that I could aim at felt easy. My first three arrows were solid, as were my next three. I joked to myself that maybe today would be the day I shoot a perfect game.

The next two ends were all solid as well. I was one end away from a perfect game and suddenly I felt a little nervous. Could I really pull it off? Up until this point, my best game was a score of 145.

My first arrow was an X. My second arrow was a 10. With it all on the line, I had a little trouble breaking the last shot. When my hinge fired, my pin had settled low and I was almost certain it was a nine. When I walked down to score the target, sure enough, that last arrow was a 9.

While it may not have been a perfect game (X’s withstanding), I’m very pleased with my 149. I just hope that I can do it again in a couple of weeks when I shoot in the Stowe Archers 450 League Finals (my team is in 1st place and we have a very tough match ahead of us).

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