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Lord Christophe and friends,<br>
<br>
A couple of months ago I had just set up our practice range which is on
a gas line right-of-way. Unfortunately, part of the safety zone
overlaps a neighbor's property, but our host has worked this out with
the neighbor. I just had the range ready when the neighbor drove his
tractor with a mowing machine behind onto the safety zone. He stopped
and looked at me, as I made bow drawing motions. He waved then made his
own bow drawing motion, and drove off. Five minutes later he was back
for another pass, then another. At that point I shut down the range (I
was hearing thunder anyway). Now it is the guy's property, but either
he's is stupid or cloddish, or both, since obviously he understood we
were about to shoot. (Sigh!).<br>
<br>
Because of weather (and this bozo) we haven't held practice since
March, and because of Pennsic we won't shoot this month either.
(Another sigh!). I'm sure glad we have paid access to a 20-yard indoor
range at the Hunt'nShak. There we just get interupted by good ole boys
who want to buy fancy bows with training wheels and need to test them
out. At least Lady Sarah and I can impress them with bare bow shooting,
something most of them have never tried and some have never even seen.<br>
<br>
Kind regards,<br>
<br>
<br>
Lord Mungo Napier, Shire of Isenfir Target Archery Marshal<br>
<br>
John Atkins wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:005701cb2764$77ebb520$6501a8c0@CoGWorks"
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<div><span class="593564416-19072010"><font color="#0000ff"
face="Arial" size="2">Fen,</font></span></div>
<div><span class="593564416-19072010"><font color="#0000ff"
face="Arial" size="2">I completely agree with your points below. I
underscore your comment that many autocrats do not fully understand the
archer's need for a large area for SAFETY sake. Unfortunately archery
is too often stuck in the "back 40" out of sight and out of mind. But
your point of working with the autocrat is a good idea for working out
a solution suitable to all. And I would recommend that contact begin
long before the actual event, in the planning stages. In the case of a
hostile autocrat you could perhaps just have them go down range and
hold a paper plate in front of their chest! :-) (Archer humor
there.) I should think that as Atlantia is known for its archers that
raising the issue of a hostile autocrat to higher levels would get some
satisfaction. But I also go back to "you can't fix stupid." At one
event at the Elkin Castle site we were doing a clout shot the full
length of the range when I heard someone chopping wood in the woods
behind the target we were shooting at. I called a hold and sent a
fellow marshal down to tell the person they were on a live archery
range. About 30 minutes later the marshal returned. When asked why it
took so long they responded that the wood chopper said they would only
be a few minutes! Some times just continuing to shoot would really
clean up the gene pool. The paperwork is really a hassle though! Did
I mention you can't fix stupid?</font></span></div>
<div><span class="593564416-19072010"></span> </div>
<div><span class="593564416-19072010"><font color="#0000ff"
face="Arial" size="2">But this leads into another but closely related
subject I would like to bring up here for discussion. At Pennsic a few
years back the East king came to the range to meet the archers before
the masters shoot. He confessed that, as a heavy fighter, he always
thought archery was really easy. He decided to give it a try for
himself. Because of this he had a whole new appreciation of what
archers can do and the skill required. Perhaps this display of skill
is something we should all think about trying to incorporate into the
shoots we plan. Think of ways to involve more of the non-shooting
populace in a skillful way. At Gulf Wars this is the idea behind the
Grand Exhibition Tournament held in front of the fort on the battle
field. It pits the best archers of each attending kingdom against each
other in a high skill tournament format in front of the populace.
Simply stated, it brings archery out from the "back 40" for the
populace to see. If we can do things to help destroy the myth that
archery is easy and anyone can do it, we may gain a bit more respect
from otherwise hostile autocrats.</font></span></div>
<div><span class="593564416-19072010"></span> </div>
<div><span class="593564416-19072010"><font color="#0000ff"
face="Arial" size="2">Just some thoughts,</font></span></div>
<div><span class="593564416-19072010"><font color="#0000ff"
face="Arial" size="2">cog</font></span></div>
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