Posted on: May 3rd, 2010 Redding 2010

                     Redding’s Famous 101-yard Bigfoot

This past weekend I felt like a kid attending his first baseball game. As a kid, you watch games and see your favorite athletes on TV, but the first time you see them in person is quite an experience. The NFAA Outdoor Nationals in Redding, which finished yesterday, was my first experience at a major archery tournament.

For years I have watched the world’s top archers on TV and seen hundreds of pictures in magazines, but I had never seen any of them in person. Shooters like Levi Morgan, Dave Cousins, Dan Quintana and many, many more, were all over the place. I’ve never seen so many Hoyt and Matthews shirts in my life.

And the highlight of the weekend was watching the shoot-offs Sunday afternoon. All of the top archers matched up for one shot a piece at the 88-yard elk target, to settle any ties between individual or team standings. About 500 people surrounded target in a large horseshoe to watch everyone shoot. It was quite an intense arena. And I got to shoot it.

Even though I didn’t shoot very well this weekend, my partner, Shawn Wood, and I tied for 4th place in the team event for Bowhunter Freestyle. That meant we participated in a shoot-off with another team to break the tie. One shot…88-yards…closest to the center.

The other three archers shot first and the closest arrow was about two inches outside the spot, it wasn’t Shawn’s arrow so I knew I had to get closer to win. Even though we weren’t shooting for very much money, at full draw, I could feel my heart beating in my throat. When the shot went off, it felt good. It smacked outside the spot at 2 o’clock. It looked to be about two inches. After the judges measured, my arrow was ¼ inch outside of the other teams’ arrow. It was quite an experience shooting in front of so many people in a pressure-filled situation. It was a first for me and gave me an appreciation for archers who can perform under those circumstances.

As for the tournament, I never got in a groove over the three days. There were more than 1,250 shooters and we had to wait almost every one of the 70 targets. I struggled and shot a 1486 (out of 1540), but I had more fun on an archery range than I have ever had in my life. The group I shot with in the BHFS money shoot was hilarious. Thanks guys for all the laughs.

Top pin shooter in the money shoot was Buck Heyrend. It was impressive watching him shoot because it was so effortless and precise. Also, congratulations to Buck and Aaron Davis, who won the team event with great team shooting.

Big thanks this weekend to Jeff Fabry, for driving all of us around and putting up with us.

Now the target season is over for me, it’s time to break out the hunting bow again and get back in shape.

       Freestyle Shooter Darin Ball On 88-yard Elk Scene

 

                 Pin Shooter Aaron Davis

                      Our Shoot-off For BHFS Money Event

      Redding From The Air With Mt. Shasta In Background

Filed under: Archery, Events

4 Responses to “Redding 2010”

  1. Steve Walters Says:
    May 4th, 2010 at 10:40 pm

    Great article Zack. Glad you had fun.

    I’m with you, time to start gearing up, and preparing for the 2010 hunting season(s).

    Talk to you soon…

    Steve

  2. Robert Atchley Says:
    May 9th, 2010 at 7:14 pm

    Zack sounds like you had fun shooting Redding for he first. I had the same feeling when I shot it for the first time last year. I missed shooting both Fresno and Redding this year and will be out of archery for a little while. Before I can get back into the tournament sean I need to heal from a Quad Bypass surg I had on April 19th of this year, after we shot Horseshoe bend. Kind of a eye opener. Hope to see you on the tournament trail next year. Good luck with the Web sight. It looks great.

  3. Clint Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    Zack, I shot off with you in Redding. I finally had time to check out your site. It looks great. I hope we can do It again next year (but for more money).

  4. ZWalton Says:
    June 23rd, 2010 at 8:32 pm

    Hey Clint,

    Great to hear from you. I do hope next year we will be a little bit higher up on the board at the end of the weekend. But it was a great time. Thanks for stopping by and hope you come back again soon.

    Zack