Mediocre pictures from 2002!

It didn't feel right putting these with the spectacular pictures in the other thread, so I thought I would start a new thead with a name that matches my photos more closely.

Does lightning ever strike in the same place twice? Well, these photos won't answer that question........

However, arrows do strike in the same place twice (or close). Here is the scene - 2002 was "down" season for me after doing very well in 2001 in international competitions. I think the problem was my expectations, but let's not get into the sport's psychology just now.......thanks!

I was really struggling at the 90 meter distance we shoot in target archery (the longest distance in the competitive archery rounds). I had this issue with arrows going high over the target for no apparent reason. Of course this results in a search through the tall grass or whatever is behind the target you are shooting at. In my case there is a small patch of grass, and then a wooded area. About 10 meters behind the target there are some small trees........

On the 12th of July, I had an arrow go high, and was very frustrated until I reached the target. I looked for the arrow and found it stuck in a small tree, so I snapped this picture......I figured this was a one time thing, and would never happen again.



Note the date imprint from my film camera in the lower right corner.

Later that week, I was out shooting again, trying to solve this problem. I had another arrow go high, and once again walked down to find it in a frustrated state. Then I saw this:



You will note that the date is 5 days later, and that this is not the same picture as the nock (the coloured bit on the back end of the arrow that attaches to the bow string) is a different colour. You can also see that the impact on the second arrow is lower on the tree. This tree is only a little over an inch in diameter (maybe 3 cm tops) and I hit it twice from 100 meters away......pretty amazing even though it was unintentional.

To put this in perspective, the target is 122 cm in diameter, and missing it at the level I was at is nearly certain death in competition. Missing the target is not an option when competing, and I can say it was very unusual for me, and would have required a fairly large mistake on my part.

I can honestly say that I do like trees, just in case someone was wondering...