New Mexico. Robin Hood. Ish.
I'm not sure why the Powers That Be decided to schedule the extra-curricular activites right after lunch each day. The day before we went horseback riding immediately after lunch. Today, archery. Immediately after lunch.
It's New Mexico, in the middle of the mountains, and I'm about to go shoot stuff with arrows. Time to stop whining.
I've archered before. I was a Boy Scout in my youth, even though many of the lessons didn't quite stick. I do remember something about being trustworthy, which I feel that I am. I was not always, but I am now. I remember getting an archery badge at a Boy Scout camp, and I recall a similar activity in high school, too. So I'm familiar with it, I know what to expect, and I'm pretty sure I will excell as usual.
We met with our guide, Katie, a little while after the aforementioned lunch. I had a huge hamburger covered in green chilis, but that's not important right now. Besides, I covered that in the food blog. I just wanted to establish that I was very, very full.
Katie, it seemed, was not an archery expert, but more of an employee who was given the archery assignment for the summer, therefore she was the Archery Guide. Enough to explain everything and go over safety procedures, like what to do when pierced by an arrow by a fellow vacationer in the middle of the woods, or how to position the arrow correctly. She was very nice, though. She has a MySpace page.
Shooting today would be myself and Dave, plus four other guests of the ranch. This was quite a turnout, considering the guest list for the horseback riding had been only Dave and I. The others were each from Texas, two couples - although one of the ladies did not arch, just watched and cheered on her hubby, who I soundly trounced.
I know I trounced him because we kept score. I'll get to that.
We started out shooting at some pillow targets. Two large pillows with five small targets were strung up in the woods. After applying our wrist guards, we each took turns taking some practice shots before getting down with the real hunt.
The real hunt is where we kept score. There were seven different foam animals placed around the woods for us to take a shot at. Actually, we each had two shots at each fanimal. That's my shorthand for fake animal. On these lucky fanimals were
sections with different point values. A general body shot was 5 points, but if you got within the kill zone circle area type place, you were awarded 10 points. If you completely missed the animal, you were awarded no points and made an object of ridicule.
Not really.
The order of the animals went as follows: Deer, Warthog, Rabid Pig, Maniacal Wild Turkey, Evil Groundhog, Deer Number Two, and lastly, Cute Bear Cub That You Want To Kill.
The only one I didn't hit at least once was the Evil Groundhog. Missed him completely. I hit the turkey twice, and I think I hit the pig twice as well. My best shot was the second shot on the first deer. It looked like I only whiffed it, but we couldn't be sure until we went to collect the arrows. Turns out I had completely shot it's ear off. I argued for more points, but Katie was firm in her charting.
I ended up with 40 points and a second place finish. I was beat by four by some guy named Scott from Texas, who started slow but came on strong in the end. I later hooked Texas Scott with a fly-line by "mistake," then made out with his wife.
Ironically, but not really, Texas Scott was also the winner of the Long-Cast Competition we had later that night at the fish fry. His partner was my Dad, so I couldn't fault him for that. Plus, my Dad actually had the longest cast, Texas Scott was just his partner.
I still slashed his tires that morning.
It's New Mexico, in the middle of the mountains, and I'm about to go shoot stuff with arrows. Time to stop whining.
I've archered before. I was a Boy Scout in my youth, even though many of the lessons didn't quite stick. I do remember something about being trustworthy, which I feel that I am. I was not always, but I am now. I remember getting an archery badge at a Boy Scout camp, and I recall a similar activity in high school, too. So I'm familiar with it, I know what to expect, and I'm pretty sure I will excell as usual.
We met with our guide, Katie, a little while after the aforementioned lunch. I had a huge hamburger covered in green chilis, but that's not important right now. Besides, I covered that in the food blog. I just wanted to establish that I was very, very full.
Katie, it seemed, was not an archery expert, but more of an employee who was given the archery assignment for the summer, therefore she was the Archery Guide. Enough to explain everything and go over safety procedures, like what to do when pierced by an arrow by a fellow vacationer in the middle of the woods, or how to position the arrow correctly. She was very nice, though. She has a MySpace page.
Shooting today would be myself and Dave, plus four other guests of the ranch. This was quite a turnout, considering the guest list for the horseback riding had been only Dave and I. The others were each from Texas, two couples - although one of the ladies did not arch, just watched and cheered on her hubby, who I soundly trounced.
I know I trounced him because we kept score. I'll get to that.
We started out shooting at some pillow targets. Two large pillows with five small targets were strung up in the woods. After applying our wrist guards, we each took turns taking some practice shots before getting down with the real hunt.The real hunt is where we kept score. There were seven different foam animals placed around the woods for us to take a shot at. Actually, we each had two shots at each fanimal. That's my shorthand for fake animal. On these lucky fanimals were
sections with different point values. A general body shot was 5 points, but if you got within the kill zone circle area type place, you were awarded 10 points. If you completely missed the animal, you were awarded no points and made an object of ridicule.Not really.
The order of the animals went as follows: Deer, Warthog, Rabid Pig, Maniacal Wild Turkey, Evil Groundhog, Deer Number Two, and lastly, Cute Bear Cub That You Want To Kill.
The only one I didn't hit at least once was the Evil Groundhog. Missed him completely. I hit the turkey twice, and I think I hit the pig twice as well. My best shot was the second shot on the first deer. It looked like I only whiffed it, but we couldn't be sure until we went to collect the arrows. Turns out I had completely shot it's ear off. I argued for more points, but Katie was firm in her charting.
I ended up with 40 points and a second place finish. I was beat by four by some guy named Scott from Texas, who started slow but came on strong in the end. I later hooked Texas Scott with a fly-line by "mistake," then made out with his wife.Ironically, but not really, Texas Scott was also the winner of the Long-Cast Competition we had later that night at the fish fry. His partner was my Dad, so I couldn't fault him for that. Plus, my Dad actually had the longest cast, Texas Scott was just his partner.
I still slashed his tires that morning.
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