Archery

I actually got some practice in with the recurve bow (Joyce's dad's old bow) yesterday. The parks department has set up an archery area in a corner of a nearby park. There are spray-paint marks on the grass at 10, 20, and 30, um, units that I assume must be yards. A dirt mound is behind the straw-bale targets to catch stray arrows. Behind that, tall grass, weeds, prickly things, and snakes encourage people to stay away. There was no one else there at all, other than the occasional person driving past on the road far behind me. No one else present is pretty typical in this location.

Joyce and I went out there together today. She has a new toy, a compound bow. Mostly, I wanted to try out her bow. My-oh-my is that let-off on the compound nice. A compound bow is the kind with all the pulleys and whatnot, which have the effect of making the force required to draw the bow fall off dramatically when it is fully drawn back. This makes it much easier to take your time aiming. She's also got the fancy sight, the mechanical release, the whole shebang.

It's a whole lot of fun, and I was getting quite tight groups even though unfamiliar with the bow and having to get used to flipping back and forth between right-handed (the recurve) and left-handed (the compound). The first few shots each time I flipped handedness were a bit awkward. How do I hold this? Which way do I face? I did get more used to it by the end of the day.