Shooting with my Dad
Age: 13 years old
From: Elyria, OH
This year my dad decided that he would shoot the IBO field rounds at all of the IBO National Triple Crown legs so I could have fun shooting with him and he wouldn't just walk around and watch me shoot. This was a good idea since he was already taking me to all of the IBO tournaments, and this would give him an opportunity to shoot with me at a real tournament as he never had before. When we shoot local 3D events together he shoots his compound bow, and he doesn't even turn in his score card since he's just shooting to shoot with me. I even come back to his stake so when I beat him he can't say I just won because I shot from a closer distance. But for these IBO events he decided to shoot in the crossbow class since his arm is messed up, and he would lose a lot of arrows and not have fun if he shot his compound bow. This made it more fun for both of us so he wasn't just walking around watching me shoot the whole weekend.
If you don't know what IBO field is, it's a walking course in the woods with each target having 3 foam targets and each has a different size center circle worth different points. It is also called the risk versus reward range, do you play it safe for middle value points, or risk it and get high points if you hit it and if you miss get low points. I shoot this event as a warm up for the unknown 3D part of the weekend and also do it to shoot with my dad. He could shoot the 3D tournament too, but if he did we would be on different ranges and he wouldn't get to watch me compete. Plus he is really bad at judging yardage, so he would lose a lot of bolts or arrows which would be bad for his wallet.
The first leg of the IBO National Triple Crown Series was in Pipestem West Virginia. The first 20 targets on the field course was on the side of the mountain with far targets and long walks between them. Halfway through my dad was beating the other crossbow guy shooting with us because he was risking it and missing and my dad was playing it safe and hitting it. But my dad's arm started hurting bad and he started sucking. He can't even warm up on the bags because then his arm would hurt a lot sooner on the course. The other half we shot in the drizzle and it was very flat and short walks between the targets so that made it go faster. My dad lost no bolts the first day but the second he lost 2 on 65 yard shots. When my dad had a bad shot he acted like the old me, he would get mad even though he really doesn't practice at all. The camp ground we had was really nice, it had a deck and picnic table. One night we made pierogies for dinner in our camper then sat outside to eat, that was a good relaxing place to go after shooting all day. I also had a lot of space to play with my outdoor toys and had smores with another archery family at the campground who knew me from a previous event. The campground was only a minute away from the shoot, unlike the year before when we had a half hour drive from the hotel to the shoot.
The second leg of the IBO National Triple Crown Series was in Two Mile County Park in Franklin Pennsylvania. The first 20 we shot during the middle of the day, it was really hot. Me and my dad where both shooting good, I started shooting aggressive but didn't connect on all of the shots. My dad played it safe the whole day so that was good for him. The second half we shot in the drizzle, I played it safe and so did my dad until he started shooting really good. So he tried to take riskier shots to give him a chance to finish better but he didn't get most of them so his score was worse than the first event. The camp ground we stayed at was first come first serve, so we got there early to get a good spot. There wasn't much to do at the campground and we had no phone service. When my dad was at work I rode my bike around a lot trying to find spots that had a signal so that I could text people. I ended up spending a lot of time watching movies and playing video games in the camper since it rained a lot there. The showers were really bad, the shower curtains had big holes in them and only one shower had both hot and cold water so that sucked. The third leg of the IBO National Triple Crown Series was in Nelsonville Ohio at Hocking College. I shot my personal best for field and I dont remember how my dad shot but I think he did his best too. After the event my dad started talking about buying a new crossbow so he would have a better trigger and to have more bolt speed. He's actually using my brothers hunting crossbow, because my dad's hunting crossbow is older than I am. I also started talking about getting a new bow for next year so I could have both a target setup and a 3D setup. We did not do much at this event because my dad was working about 6 hours away, he would leave really early in the morning and would make it back in time to get me to shoot. I was really bored at the camp ground and there wasn't anything to do there beside riding my bike around, it was too muddy to try and ride trails. We did not realize our camp spot did not have a water hook up till we got there, so we had to fill up our tank at a water pump. It was storming most of the weekend and was really windy, so I was in the camper most of the time watching more movies and playing video games when I wasn't on my bike. This campground had a lot better shower than the last campground. My dad got me an event t-shirt at every leg for me to remember this year by. My dad ended up getting the shooter of the year for the IBO field in the crossbow class, he even says he didn't win it since he was the only one who qualified for it. We call awards like this candy awards, and we both joked that he can retire now being a national champion. But it's not about winning the shooter of the year to him, the buckle is something we can both look at to remember our summer traveling around to each IBO field event and competing together for the first time. These field tournaments I shot with my dad this year were more fun than last year, because I got to make fun of him while he is shooting. But when he is not shooting and just watching me it's not as fun because I'm just shooting by myself trying to get warmed up for the unknown 3D. I also get to give my dad pointers, like if he is shooting bad. It helps him realize what he did wrong, but also makes us laugh since I'm telling him what to do. If you didn't know my dad is my archery coach, and has done a lot of studying and even got his USA Archery 3 coaching certifications to help me, and at IBO Field I'm coaching him with what he coaches me with. What I like about staying in hotels is we know we will have internet and a clean and working bathroom. Our camper is like a really small home, but when we go to campgrounds there might not be running water, electricity, or cell service. We don't take our camper to every event, it depends on how far the drive is and how long we will be there because hauling the camper far might be more expensive then just getting a cheap hotel. With the camper I can bring my bike and ride around or play with toys outside, which I can't do at hotels. I can't wait for next year to shoot all of the IBO events again, this time with my new bow. And I can't wait to watch my dad shoot again and hopefully he improves from last year. He doesn't know if he will be shooting compound or crossbow yet. He said if he shoots compound it's just so he can shoot compound with me, he knows he will finish in last place because of his arm. If he chooses crossbow, he will probably buy a better one so he has a better chance and can earn his buckle this time. Also, I hope we can get some better campgrounds for next year so I will have a more stuff to do when we are at the camper. Either way, I will have more fun because I know what things I need to bring since this was our first year traveling in a camper like we did. Last year we only used our camper once.
The second leg of the IBO National Triple Crown Series was in Two Mile County Park in Franklin Pennsylvania. The first 20 we shot during the middle of the day, it was really hot. Me and my dad where both shooting good, I started shooting aggressive but didn't connect on all of the shots. My dad played it safe the whole day so that was good for him. The second half we shot in the drizzle, I played it safe and so did my dad until he started shooting really good. So he tried to take riskier shots to give him a chance to finish better but he didn't get most of them so his score was worse than the first event. The camp ground we stayed at was first come first serve, so we got there early to get a good spot. There wasn't much to do at the campground and we had no phone service. When my dad was at work I rode my bike around a lot trying to find spots that had a signal so that I could text people. I ended up spending a lot of time watching movies and playing video games in the camper since it rained a lot there. The showers were really bad, the shower curtains had big holes in them and only one shower had both hot and cold water so that sucked. The third leg of the IBO National Triple Crown Series was in Nelsonville Ohio at Hocking College. I shot my personal best for field and I dont remember how my dad shot but I think he did his best too. After the event my dad started talking about buying a new crossbow so he would have a better trigger and to have more bolt speed. He's actually using my brothers hunting crossbow, because my dad's hunting crossbow is older than I am. I also started talking about getting a new bow for next year so I could have both a target setup and a 3D setup. We did not do much at this event because my dad was working about 6 hours away, he would leave really early in the morning and would make it back in time to get me to shoot. I was really bored at the camp ground and there wasn't anything to do there beside riding my bike around, it was too muddy to try and ride trails. We did not realize our camp spot did not have a water hook up till we got there, so we had to fill up our tank at a water pump. It was storming most of the weekend and was really windy, so I was in the camper most of the time watching more movies and playing video games when I wasn't on my bike. This campground had a lot better shower than the last campground. My dad got me an event t-shirt at every leg for me to remember this year by. My dad ended up getting the shooter of the year for the IBO field in the crossbow class, he even says he didn't win it since he was the only one who qualified for it. We call awards like this candy awards, and we both joked that he can retire now being a national champion. But it's not about winning the shooter of the year to him, the buckle is something we can both look at to remember our summer traveling around to each IBO field event and competing together for the first time. These field tournaments I shot with my dad this year were more fun than last year, because I got to make fun of him while he is shooting. But when he is not shooting and just watching me it's not as fun because I'm just shooting by myself trying to get warmed up for the unknown 3D. I also get to give my dad pointers, like if he is shooting bad. It helps him realize what he did wrong, but also makes us laugh since I'm telling him what to do. If you didn't know my dad is my archery coach, and has done a lot of studying and even got his USA Archery 3 coaching certifications to help me, and at IBO Field I'm coaching him with what he coaches me with. What I like about staying in hotels is we know we will have internet and a clean and working bathroom. Our camper is like a really small home, but when we go to campgrounds there might not be running water, electricity, or cell service. We don't take our camper to every event, it depends on how far the drive is and how long we will be there because hauling the camper far might be more expensive then just getting a cheap hotel. With the camper I can bring my bike and ride around or play with toys outside, which I can't do at hotels. I can't wait for next year to shoot all of the IBO events again, this time with my new bow. And I can't wait to watch my dad shoot again and hopefully he improves from last year. He doesn't know if he will be shooting compound or crossbow yet. He said if he shoots compound it's just so he can shoot compound with me, he knows he will finish in last place because of his arm. If he chooses crossbow, he will probably buy a better one so he has a better chance and can earn his buckle this time. Also, I hope we can get some better campgrounds for next year so I will have a more stuff to do when we are at the camper. Either way, I will have more fun because I know what things I need to bring since this was our first year traveling in a camper like we did. Last year we only used our camper once.
Originally published in the October 2021 edition of The Young Archers of BowJunky Media