While at the Iowa Pro Am I was speaking with someone from Minnesota who recommended that I shoot at the Minnesota State Indoor Tournament. She told me that it's her favorite tournament to go to, which says a lot saying that her, her husband, and her daughter only took two weekends off in 2010 from archery competitions. I found out that it was in April, but didn't know the exact date so I looked it up a couple of days after the Pro Am. Thank goodness I looked it up when I did, because it turns out for this particular tournament you have to shoot a qualifying regional round in Minnesota one of the first two weekends in February to be eligible to participate. There are lots of locations where the qualifying round can be shot, so I decided to shoot in Stillwater, MN which is near my sister's new house.
I didn't have to shoot until Sunday, so I ended up making a Minnesota weekend out of it, starting in St. C loud (not exactly on my way to Stillwater) to visit my college friends from freshman year. After a great night out on the town Friday night, I headed back south to my sister Liz's place in Woodbury, MN where her family as well as my other sister Ali and her son were waiting for me. I spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday morning playing with my nephews and having a blast.
The place I was shooting my regional round is called Chilakoot Bowhunters out of Stillwater. Once again, I'm glad I looked up information on this place ahead of time, because even though it says it's in Stillwater, it's actually in Somerset, WI. Apparently it has something to do with being able to get the land for a really good price.
As soon as Ali and I pulled into this place, I was in heaven. There were trees and trails everywhere that appeared to go on forever (turns out they own about 50 acres). One of the first things I saw was a really nice outdoor range with a tower to shoot from. Then I saw the clubhouse; what a beaut!! I thought it looked nice and big from the outside, but it was even better when we got inside! It really wasn't anything extremely fancy, but it had everything an archery club could need.
There weren't many people there (probably because I chose Superbowl Sunday to shoot), but the guys that were there sure were helpful. They helped me fill out the paperwork, explained all of the rules, and were more than willing to answer any questions that I had for them. The only people shooting their qualifying round at that time with me were my new friends Doug and Hal.
We were shooting an NFAA 300 round, and with only 3 people and no breaks it felt like we were running a marathon. I started off shooting quite well, but it was pretty obvious when I started getting tired. About 2/3 of the way through I think we were all beat and I could tell the other two were starting to take longer breaks between ends. I'm thankful they did because I started feeling and shooting better towards then end... and that's when it happened.
It was the second to last end and I had just flung my fourth arrow towards the target when I heard a very loud, very odd noise. No one else said anything though, so I shot my fifth arrow and waited for Doug and Hal to finish shooting their last arrows. As soon as Hal finished shooting, he started hollering "Anyone have a camera?! I think we're going to want to get a picture of this!!" That's when I realized I had robin hooded my very first arrow. Everyone was really happy for me and we did end up getting a pretty decent picture (shown below). Luckily I had two extra arrows to shoot the last end with, otherwise I would have had to choose between pulling my robin hood apart and shooting the one good arrow or take a miss.
The reason for the regional round is basically just so they know what flight to put you in at the actual tournament. I ended up shooting a pretty good score of 289/300. I still haven't found out which flight I'm in or what my line time is, but I should receive that information sometime here in March.
Although it was fun even without the robin hood, it sure was a great capper to a great weekend.
I didn't have to shoot until Sunday, so I ended up making a Minnesota weekend out of it, starting in St. C loud (not exactly on my way to Stillwater) to visit my college friends from freshman year. After a great night out on the town Friday night, I headed back south to my sister Liz's place in Woodbury, MN where her family as well as my other sister Ali and her son were waiting for me. I spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday morning playing with my nephews and having a blast.
The place I was shooting my regional round is called Chilakoot Bowhunters out of Stillwater. Once again, I'm glad I looked up information on this place ahead of time, because even though it says it's in Stillwater, it's actually in Somerset, WI. Apparently it has something to do with being able to get the land for a really good price.
As soon as Ali and I pulled into this place, I was in heaven. There were trees and trails everywhere that appeared to go on forever (turns out they own about 50 acres). One of the first things I saw was a really nice outdoor range with a tower to shoot from. Then I saw the clubhouse; what a beaut!! I thought it looked nice and big from the outside, but it was even better when we got inside! It really wasn't anything extremely fancy, but it had everything an archery club could need.
There weren't many people there (probably because I chose Superbowl Sunday to shoot), but the guys that were there sure were helpful. They helped me fill out the paperwork, explained all of the rules, and were more than willing to answer any questions that I had for them. The only people shooting their qualifying round at that time with me were my new friends Doug and Hal.
We were shooting an NFAA 300 round, and with only 3 people and no breaks it felt like we were running a marathon. I started off shooting quite well, but it was pretty obvious when I started getting tired. About 2/3 of the way through I think we were all beat and I could tell the other two were starting to take longer breaks between ends. I'm thankful they did because I started feeling and shooting better towards then end... and that's when it happened.
It was the second to last end and I had just flung my fourth arrow towards the target when I heard a very loud, very odd noise. No one else said anything though, so I shot my fifth arrow and waited for Doug and Hal to finish shooting their last arrows. As soon as Hal finished shooting, he started hollering "Anyone have a camera?! I think we're going to want to get a picture of this!!" That's when I realized I had robin hooded my very first arrow. Everyone was really happy for me and we did end up getting a pretty decent picture (shown below). Luckily I had two extra arrows to shoot the last end with, otherwise I would have had to choose between pulling my robin hood apart and shooting the one good arrow or take a miss.
The reason for the regional round is basically just so they know what flight to put you in at the actual tournament. I ended up shooting a pretty good score of 289/300. I still haven't found out which flight I'm in or what my line time is, but I should receive that information sometime here in March.
Although it was fun even without the robin hood, it sure was a great capper to a great weekend.
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