Family Archery Day, Deerfield, MA 8/25/12

[Dane]

Hi everyone. Not sure where to put this, since there were very few primitive bows (one medieval crossbow and a Chinese repeater) but I thought I'd share an event from yesterday at my club, FCSC. I had designed and we finished constructing a small, basic archery range this past May. We had a free event the other day, and provided a lot of various kinds of bows at various weights, arrows, arm guards, etc. I had zombie deer target overlays, baloons, etc, to shoot at, and also set up an atlatl target and provided about 35 darts and about 12 different styles of atlatls I have made over the last few years.

Here are some photos. The loose theme was Hunger Games, and girls outnumbered boys in participation. We even had an Olympic caliber archer from Italy who now lives in the region, and we had participants from as far aways as Albany, NY.

These events are exhasting to put on, but worth it. We decided to donate food to the event, so we had burgers, dogs and Italian sausage for free, plus ice cream for the kids. I have out a bunch of Hunger Games buttons and zombie hunting permits as well.

In case you are wondering, I am the guy in the porkpie hat.

Dane

[TRACY]

Looks like a lot of fun!. Like the atl atl for sure


Tracy

[Pappy]

Looks like a fun day ,I know the kids had to love that.Congrtas to you for putting it on and passing it on.  Yes big events are a lot of trouble to put on but well worth the effort.
   Pappy

[Dane]

Thanks, Tracy. Atlatls and darts are addictive and lots of fun once you start getting the mechanics of tossing and aiming.

Pappy, thanks also for your comment. Truth is, this event is just a tiny little thing compared to what you put on at your club. But we have to start somewhere, and most of the kids who came had no or little archery experience, and zero atlatl experience.

My feel finally have stopped hurting, so time to get ready for the next one.
Dane

[YosemiteBen]

Dane - AWESOME - kids and archery and atlatls! I got some from Thunder Bird Atlatls to use in programs here in Yosemite - they are addicting!  I am not sure who gets more excited - Kids or Parents - moms too!  Thank you for making the effort to see this happen - despite the agony of de feet!
Ben

[Dane]

Thanks, Ben. The Berg's are such nice people, and produce great darts for these kinds of events. I've had kids toss mine thousands of times and they have held up to tons of abuse.

As for my feet, I think I actually sprained one anke. Old army injury that keeps plauging me. But it was still worth it.

Dane

[bowtarist]

Man, that looks like a great time!!  Love the atlatl shots.  Boy that is a bunch of darts on the ground there.  Great job of "Passing on the Tradition"!!  dpg

[Dane]

Thanks man. The darts are combination of Thunderbird darts, ones made by AJ Bagg, and my own made using Tonkin cane and various kinds of feathers. The modern crossbow that guy is shooting is a Horton Scout, the same crossbow used by Darryl Dixon in "The Walking Dead." Hence, the zombie deer targets.

[fishfinder401]

that looks like it was awesome, let me know if you are doing that again next year, who knows i might be able to add a warbow to the array of bows that were there    ,
looks like you did a great job job with handling that event
noel

[johnston]

Way cool Dane, my compliments on a job very well done.

Lane

[Dane]

Been super busy, but thanks guys for the compliments.

Noel, I just posted info on the upcoming stone age event in Deerfield, for Sat. Oct 13. I'd love to see you come down with some bows and join us.

Dane