TTTTWang!

Never 'dry fire' a bow. That is, never fire it without an arrow on the string to absorb the shock of the string's release.

We learned this today, while hanging out trying to look knowledgeable at the 2nd Annual 3D Archery Tournament held at Logging Chain Lodge in Dwight. Anne Marie and Ross host this for the Friends of the Dwight Library, and what an event it is.

This beautifully painted bow belongs to Boniface, who spends a great deal of his time traveling to these archery tournaments all around the province. A friend decorated his bow for him, and he certainly got my vote for most beautiful bow of the day!

This year, 89 participants came, spirits undampened by the occasional rain storm passing through. The rain, in fact, timed itself very well -- it fell during the lunch break, when folks were cosily cuddled up under the tents with their hands full of food. The weather cleared off again in time for the second go-round of the 20 different 3D targets spaced through the woods across the road.

Targets ranged from the groundhog (the smallest, I was told by one of the young participants) to the Caribou (definitely one of the largest, and the farthest away) These targets are quite astonishing to look at -- lifesize, colourful... and able to absorb arrow after arrow after arrow.

Every sort of bow is on view, from the simple longbow to the recurve, compound and crossbows that belong in the big leagues. One of the 'big league' bows was this Olympic style bow lovingly stashed out of the rain under the owner's umbrella.

Only slightly less high tech compound bows were out with dads and sons, and moms and daughters, along with an assortment of recurve bows and this crossbow. This is the one that was inadvertently 'dry fired' while being cocked... the force of that actually caused damage to the arms of the bow, and it had to be repaired.

Which is where Lorne comes in, from Algonquin Archery. He had his mobile shop on site and he was a busy man. From re-fletching damaged arrows, repairing the crossbow, fine-tuning arrows for kids who have outgrown the length of their current collection and generally having a variety of bows on hand for sale, every time we saw Lorne he was working hard.

The tournament takes place over two rounds. Everyone goes out in the morning, and takes a turn at each of the targets. Scores are posted based on how good the marksmanship is. After lunch, they go out again and have a second go. As Anne Marie says, now they have a handle on the range to the targets!

Scores are added together and prizes and trophies awarded at day's end. Which is when the draw took place for the Camoflaged Chair Blind -- not only a nifty place for hunters to shelter from the wind, but very popular during the rain with the younger set, and a really interesting addition to your backyard to provide a place to sit and read in peace and quiet, hidden from all eyes.

After everyone was out on course again for the afternoon, Lorne took the time to coach myself, Julia and Kelly in the basic technique of firing a bow. He showed us how to determine which is your dominant eye, corrected stance, gave tips on targeting, how to correctly draw the bow... which way to arrow should be 'loaded'...

It was great fun -- which explains why 89 folks of all ages and stages turned up for the day, doesn't it? Lorne sold me a bow... so now I have to practice (next Lorne will sell me a target... I think I see how this works) and this summer, we're going to try to get him to come to the resort a few times to offer some instruction to our guests.