Ouch!

My finger hurts. It is my own fault. I have taken up archery within the past few weeks. I have a recurve bow, and use my fingers to pull back the string. I spent last Saturday shooting for nearly 3 hours at an indoor range.

I joined a club to shoot at the club range - it is an outside range. The target range is constructed of hay bales. Hay bales work great as targets... except when you miss the bale. (I am not yet advanced enough in my archery skill to hit the bale EVERY time). Shooting out there plays havoc with my arrows. I had got two of them repaired last Saturday when I was at the indoor range (they also sell bows, accessories, and repair). After shooting an hour today, I have two arrows that need to be repaired. At this rate, I think I will need to learn and get the tools to repair/build my own arrows.

I'm having fun with archery, though I'm not good at it. There is a 3-d shoot coming up next weekend that I'm not sure if I will participate in. I am just starting to shoot at 20 yard targets, and I'm afraid that the 3-d targets will be at farther ranges. (I tried to shoot at a farther range today, and that's how I broke two arrows.) I would be in my own traditional class, so I wouldn't have to compete with compound bows, however, I'm not very good at traditional. I am curious to go out there and see how it is down so at least I know how to train myself for the next shoot -- but it isn't going to be much fun breaking all my arrows. I need a lot more practice than my poor, sore fingers can take!