🌳Sherwood Airgunners🌳Field Target Match Report for October 1, 2023

[Kdog]

Sherwood Airgunners Match Report for Sunday October 1, 2023


Sherwood Airgunners had our monthly Field Target match Sunday October 1, 2023 in our challanging Hollow course. With the leaves changing on a daily basis and cooler temps in the air the Hollow was a picturesque backdrop for a great day of field target shooting. We had 16 shooters at the match which were treated to a beautiful fall day with temps reaching the mid 70's. With the very apparent changing seasons the falling leaves were a constant reminder of what the wind was doing. I must say there was times when I sat back and just took in the beauty of this fall day.


With nationals only 2 weeks away we wanted to make a challanging course in preparation for this great event. We had 16 targets over 40 yards with 5 of those over 50. We also had 5 targets with small KZs under 20yds for some tech ical shots to round out a challanging course to a 34.07 Troyer rating. This with the more extreme angles and sometimes uncomfortable seating positions made this a difficult course. We did have a number of cold lines due to some string issues where mice/chipmunks had chewed strings. No target issues at all with the occasional split being checked for a target malfunction.


In Hunter PCP we had 11 shooters. There was a mistake on the score card of Ana Rose Spanagel where the addition wasn't added up correctly. This was verified and she officially was tied for second place with a 48/60 with no other than her husband Ryan. They decided the winner would go to more X count on the forces lanes so Ana Rose got 3rd place. I have to say I'm really enjoying seeing Ana Rose shooting well and enjoying FT. So Ryan continues shooting well and got second…keep it up brother! In first place Justin Roberts who we've been missing came back to shoot a solid 53/60. It was great seeing you back on the lanes again brother we see you haven't lost those skills!


In Hunter Piston we had two shooters with Dan Putz besting Nick Lawrence for the win. As always great shooting Dan.


We also had 2 shooters in Open PCP. With Joe Edwards shooting without his harness(I'm sure he will remember it next time ) he shot a solid 48/60. After shooting without a harness Joe now realizes some of the challenge that goes into shooting WFTF…especially on the Hollow course. It was great to see Joe again and I definitely had a awesome time shooting with him. Yours truly Keith Walters, took first with a 59/60. A 16yd up hill offhand shot was my only miss.

We only had one WFTF shooter and Lucas Marusiak shot a 41/60.

I hope everyone enjoyed shooting the Hollow course. Maintaining 2 courses has it challenges especially with only a few people doing the work, I know our efforts are appreciated and we certainly try our best to do things the right way. For people that haven't shot the Hollow course it has some extreme angles shooting up and down hill combined with some difficult seating positions due to the terrain. It truly makes for a different beast than most FT courses.


So thankyou once again for spending the day at Sherwood Airgunners…a HUGE thanks to Doug Cunningham who is right there with me setting up the course and doing a lot of the grounds maintainance. Of course Dave Campbell and Carl Lucas doing there part as well.


Sincerely,

Match Director

KeithWalters

 

[Michael]

Great update & fantastic pictures. Thanks for sharing Keith!

 

[Kdog]

More pics

 

[DrPutz]

Keith, Thank you for sharing the course rating! It is very helpful to figure out what were the misses related to, I wish other clubs would post theirs.

One note, is that it does not appear that you factored in the targets with significant elevation differences into the Troyer Rating. AAFTA doesn't identify what the angle would be for "significant", but requires that be added in when calculating/gauging the Troyer Rating (wind and lighting conditions are not factored in upfront).

There were quite a few uphill targets and some downhill targets that would likely qualify for the extra difficulty factor. For instance, Lane 15, second target at 55 yards on a severe downhill slope would be 41.3T x 1.25 = 51.6T. That may bump up the overall difficulty rating of the course. Definitely a workout for experienced field target shooters.

 

[Kdog]

Keith, Thank you for sharing the course rating! It is very helpful to figure out what were the misses related to, I wish other clubs would post theirs.

One note, is that it does not appear that you factored in the targets with significant elevation differences into the Troyer Rating. AAFTA doesn't identify what the angle would be for "significant", but requires that be added in when calculating/gauging the Troyer Rating (wind and lighting conditions are not factored in upfront).

There were quite a few uphill targets and some downhill targets that would likely qualify for the extra difficulty factor. For instance, Lane 15, second target at 55 yards on a severe downhill slope would be 41.3T x 1.25 = 51.6T. That may bump up the overall difficulty rating of the course. Definitely a workout for experienced field target shooters.

Yes Dan you are correct I did not factor in angles on those lanes...nor do I ever figure in lighting or wind factors. To me if I am in the ballpark with a Troyer rating I'm good. With all the work Doug and I do in preparation for a match we are lucky we get a course ready for a Match. For instance I was down the club 8 hrs last Saturday cutting grass on the Hollow course because we haven't shot it since July. The day before the match Doug and I were there another 8 hrs setting up the course. Then another 8 hrs there yesterday for the match. That's approximately 32 hrs I put in just for this match and I live an hour and 15 minutes from Sherwood. I apologize if my efforts don't meet your standards but in my opinion and alot others we are doing a pretty damn good job for a 2 man crew.

Sincerely
KeithWalters

 

[DrPutz]

Keith, I apologize for offending you - that was certainly not my intention. I appreciate all of your and Doug's hard work and investment in making Sherwood a great place to shoot. I simply wanted to point out that course was tougher than the Troyer Rating belayed. It was certainty a challenging preparation for the upcoming nationals.

Dan

 

[Kdog]

Dan I agree the HOLLOW course even if I factored in angles would still shoot harder than what the Troyer factor has it. The uphill shots to me are the most challenging especially with the odd seating position even after we leveled some of those lanes out. I did figure out a few things that helped me on those lanes and the more I shoot that course the better I am at dealing with those challenges. I did look up on AAFTA'S site and 15 degrees and more is what they consider extreme angle so I'd imagine a few lanes that shoot up hill and lane 15 shooting down could be factored in. Like I've said before it's a work in progress especially when you have a new course. Some people love the way the targets are painted natural others don't...some like a challenge that you have to shoot through a obstacle others don't...some people say it's hard walking a course others have no problem. One thing I've learned is I'll never be able to make everyone happy although I'm aiming for everyone to have a good experience while shooting FT. I know your passion for FT is just as much as mine and I really do appreciate your feedback as well as others with what we do at Sherwood.

Sincerely
KeithWalters

 

[MysticalDragon]

Dan I agree the HOLLOW course even if I factored in angles would still shoot harder than what the Troyer factor has it. The uphill shots to me are the most challenging especially with the odd seating position even after we leveled some of those lanes out. I did figure out a few things that helped me on those lanes and the more I shoot that course the better I am at dealing with those challenges. I did look up on AAFTA'S site and 15 degrees and more is what they consider extreme angle so I'd imagine a few lanes that shoot up hill and lane 15 shooting down could be factored in. Like I've said before it's a work in progress especially when you have a new course. Some people love the way the targets are painted natural others don't...some like a challenge that you have to shoot through a obstacle others don't...some people say it's hard walking a course others have no problem. One thing I've learned is I'll never be able to make everyone happy although I'm aiming for everyone to have a good experience while shooting FT. I know your passion for FT is just as much as mine and I really do appreciate your feedback as well as others with what we do at Sherwood.

Sincerely
KeithWalters

All the work that you and others put in is GREATLY appreciated.

I wanted to attend, especially with how the course looked. Sadly my rifle isn't setup yet and we are entering a busy month at work before the weather turns too cold to be in the water.

I hope to make the next one, even with the 2.5 hour drive.

 

[Chas DiCapua]

Gotta like those one inchers out past 40 yards!

See you next weekend,

Chas