Conejo Traditional Archery Shoot

Paleoplanet members that won an arrow. (Back row: Sander in the blue shirt, then Lisa, Benson, Sal and Aimee. (Front row: Seth and Guy).

We had a rockin' time at the Conejo Traditional Shoot. The weather was so much more user friendly than the Chamberlain shoot a few weeks ago. It was hot but not scorching hot during the daytime.  Nights were ideal for camping.  We had the biggest moon of the year rising over the hills on Saturday night while we had our pinecone fire going. Then on Sunday our archers cleaned house in the awards department with Guy Taylor of Greenman archery walking away with first place in the self bow category.  You don't have to make your own self bow to enter that division, but he did in fact make the bow and the bamboo arrows. He usually doesn't even keep score. He just enjoys the shoot.  Well, this time he kept score and walked away with first prize, which was a beautiful trophy arrow made by one of the Conejo club members. Other members won too, but I can't keep it all straight in my head. So I took a photo instead.

Arrows at the Green Man Archery booth.

Benson with his trophy arrow.

Paleoplanet members camping together.

Guy Taylor claiming his archery prize. The man in the middle made all the trophy arrows.

Guy wins a custom trophy arrow.

Jack wins for being the youngest.

Ken and Jack get ready for the Sunday shoot.

Sal and his trophy arrow.

Sal shakes hands.

Sander tries out Sal's box drum.

Atlatl Time

I just got back from the Conejo Archers traditional shoot in Simi Valley. What perfect weather we had! We are so spoiled in S. California.

I met two atlatl makers named Chris and Cary.  Coincidentally they also use the name Paleoarts. When I ferret out their business card from our many bins, I'll add their link. Cary lent me a fancy atlatl to test out. I didn't have much luck with it, but she's really good with it. I think you just have to try a bunch of styles and weights until you find one that works with your hand, arm, shoulder form of throwing.

I found that one of Tom Mill's atlatl's worked really well for me so I traced that one to make my own hopefully. It's going to go into the 'roundtoit' pile until I have more time. I'm taking today off just to unpack, do camping laundry, and get my banking into order because those bills keep coming whether I'm out of town or not.

After the dust settles, I need to finish my own atlatl darts.

On Friday I tried out atlatl's again for the first time in about five or six years. That first contest I only got an 8, but the next day I did it again and got 23, so I'm improving already. Go me!
Sunday I was manning the arrow booth so I missed not one but two atlatl contests. Ah well, I'll have to wait until the next Pasadena meet to try again.

Photos soon. I have to unbury my camera before I can download them.

Conejo Traditional Archery Shoot

We just got back from the traditional archery shoot in Simi Valley. My little craft booth did fine. I don't know what I was so worried about. I took lots of photos that I'll be posting soon. Archery is truly a sport for both genders and all ages. The Conejo Archers put on a great event.

The face painting was a big hit too. A lot of the younger kids were volunteers and enjoyed some face painting fun to go with their jobs in the snack bar and on the archery range. We shoot at big foam animals and someone has to haul them all out there over many acres, set them all, up, and bring them back in later. So the younger volunteers helped with that too.

They had prizes for the best archers and a big raffle. They gave away a lot of smaller items and also 2 bows.

Our campsite was busy making bows, mending arrows, grilling sausages, consuming carnitas tacos, and having fun. We had a jam session Sat. night with a guitar, drums, a ukulele, and flutes.

Then we went to sleep in our tent with the buzzing snores of our fellow archers. Then everyone was up early to do the 2nd day of the shoot. Except for me and the other vendors. We went to set up our booths for the day.

This post is getting long enough so more later.

Conejo Valley 3D Shoot

Just last Sunday we went to the Canejo 3D Shoot at Tapo Campground. Here are some photos.