The FCAA Wednesday Night 3D League shoots are held at the FCAA Range near I-25 and Prospect Street in Fort Collins, bordering the Cache la Poudre River. The land is owned by the City of Fort Collins Parks and Recreation Department and is maintained for the public by the Fort Collins Archery Association. As you can see from the parking lot, the 3D shoots are popular.
Each Wednesday League begins with sign-up and usually a few warm-up shots, followed by the mandatory safety and course information meeting. Be sure to show up a little early so you aren’t rushed. If you’d like to help set up the course, come by at about 5:00 PM. We always welcome the help and setup is often a learning experience in itself. We usually set 15 targets. Each archer shoots 30 arrows during the evening, two arrows back-to-back at each target. This helps move things along more quickly so we can finish before dark, especially helpful in early May. Shooting begins with a shotgun start at 6:30 PM sharp. In a shotgun start, archers are divided into groups and each group starts at a different target at the same time. After completing each target you go on to the next, wrapping around to the beginning when you hit the end of the course.
3D targets are set at unmarked distances -- estimating the correct distance to the target is an important part of 3D competition. Guess the distance wrong and your arrow may go over or under the target. “Lost in the weeds” assumes its literal meaning here. Be sure to bring a few extra arrows -- it happens to everyone. Finding a lost arrow calls for a balance of etiquette and safety. If nobody is waiting to shoot and you can safely look for the arrow without entering the shooting lane for another target, go ahead and look. If a quick search doesn’t produce the arrow, wait and come back after the shoot. If all else fails, there’s a big bucket of arrows up at the clubhouse and yours is likely to turn up there some day. It's especially important not to slow things down early and late in the season (May and August) because darkness comes quickly, surprisingly so if there's a bit of cloud cover, and your lengthy arrow search could cause other shooters to finish in the dark.
Each shooting location is marked with a stake topped with a numbered arrowhead sign and a corresponding little orange cone. Strictly speaking, some part of your body is supposed to be touching the stake or cone as you shoot. I say “strictly speaking” because it’s perfectly obvious from these pictures that the relaxed atmosphere surrounding our 3D league sometimes extends to granting a few inches of latitude for this rule. The orange cone will be set nearest the target and is used for the traditional, barebow compound and children’s classes, with the exception that PeeWee archers can shoot from any distance. The stake is set farthest from the target is for all other classes. Archers compete only against other archers in the same class.
Shooting proceeds in rotation. The shooter who went first on the last target goes to the end of the line. The shooter who went second last time moves up to shoot first, and so on. This way each shooter has opportunities to watch others shoot, perhaps gathering a little extra data on target distance, and times when he or she must be the sacrificial lamb and go first. When shooters of mixed classes shoot together, say Traditional and Unlimited, the shooters using the stake typically shoot first then everyone moves up to the cone for the rest of the shooters.
After all arrows have been shot, the archers move forward to the target to score the hits. Usually one person is responsible for pulling the arrows and calling the scores, occasionally asking for a second opinion when an arrow is close to the line. A second person records the scores for all shooters. 3D targets have three scoring rings. Hits within the heart-lung area, bounded by a large, irregularly shaped ring, are scored as 8 points. Within the heart-lung area is a smaller circular ring that represents a perfect heart shot; hits within this ring score 10 points. Within the 10-ring is a tiny circle -- not always in the center -- that is a bonus ring scoring 12 points. Arrows that are touching a line score the higher value of the two regions. Hits outside of all rings score 5 points, with the exception that hits on the horns or hooves score zero. Misses also score zero. Here are some typical scoring rings from a McKenzie 3D target. And you’re right, the heart on a deer is lower in the body than the 10-ring indicates. It’s very important to remember that 3D is target shooting, not hunting. Aim accordingly, and be particularly wary on angled shots.
Caution: When pulling your arrows from the target, do not stand directly behind the arrow as you pull it. If it breaks free suddenly you will discover that even an arrow knock is sharp enough to cut. Not following this advice is the cause of the most common accident in archery. You've been warned!
After finishing the course, pull both of the shooting stakes and set them next to the 3D target for the pick-up crew, after first making sure that nobody else needs to shoot this particular target -- a rare event. Do not remove the target from its stakes. It's much easier for the pick-up crew to find it and lift it if you leave the target as you found it. Then it’s off to the clubhouse to turn in your score, get something cold to drink and see how everyone else fared. This is when the stories begin: hitting the 12-ring on the 40-yard caribou, the perfect Robin Hood at the expense of your $10 ACC, or perhaps the arrow that’s slowly making its way to Greeley via the Cache la Poudre River.
