During the spring,summer and fall we shot outside at the Morgan County gun club or near Malta Manufacturing. There were long range target butts at both locations but the Gun Club is where we had our 3D course consisting of about 30 targets. During the winter we shot upstairs of the Malta Village townhouse. A few space heaters and 4 20 yard lanes with selsier(sp?)bales stacked 8’ high and 12’ wide in each lane was plenty of room for guys to shoot. I forget what our membership fee was but we all also were members of the Ohio Archers Association(OAA) so we could participate in the annual shoots they had throughout the year. The State Indoor was held at Shawnee State college in Portsmouth around late Jan early Feb if I remember correctly. The other big shoots put on by the OAA were the AMERICAN Round and the State Field Round. The American 900 Round consisted of shooting a 60 arrow(300round) at 40 yards,50 yards and 60 yards each day on Sat and Sun. So each day had total round of 900 points that were added together to determine who placed after shooting on Sunday with 1800 points being the max. The targets used during this shoot were the large colored targets the Olympic Archers shoot at in the games. The State Field Round was my favorite because it took place in the woods like a typical 3D course but the targets were the standard black and white field targets of different sizes based on the distance at each station. The closest was the birdie targets(20,25,30 & 35 feet), the spot ring was the diameter of your pinky finger and the targets were positioned fanned out away from the shooting stake. From there it was 15 yards to 80 yards in 5 yards increments across hollows, down to a shelf or across a crick or up a steep bank just like a typical 3D shoot. There were also 25-30 animal targets included as well. This like the American 900 Round was a two day shoot as well with points of both days being totaled to determine the places of all divisions. The State Indoor was held in the gymnasium at SSC at which shooters lined up and shot across the floor widthways. There was a tree light(kinda like see at a dragstrip). During each flight the official would blow the whistle starting the 5 min round. At the 4.5 min mark the official blows the whistle and the green light switched to yellow signaling everyone they have 30 seconds left to get all 5 arrow shot. When the final whistle blows the red light came on signaling shooters the round was done. Those shooting the 5 spot targets had to be sure to shoot only ONE arrow at each target as well. Each round the shooters were to shoot 5 arrows. Each shooter chose between a 5 spot target or a single spot and we’re then paired up with someone. Targets were stacked with the bottom target shooter going first then the top target shooter going next. This was done because of shadows from the top shooters arrows casting down onto the bottom target. After the 6th Round or 30th arrow the targets were flip flopped so shooters had same advantages. This shoot was two days as well but only one officials Round was shot by each shooter. The lower classes shot on Sat and the higher classes shot on Sun. Saturday night they had a Vegas shoot that was a split the pot kinda thing that was mostly shot by the best of the shooters. Man!!! There were some great shooters back in the day! Still remember a lot of the names and faces during that great stretch of my younger single days. All three of these shoots had 3-4 classes and different styles. Bowhunter and Freestyle or open. The classes ranged from the higher AA,A,B and C. Most of the guys in our club shot as AA bowhunters(3-5 pins,6” stab and release but there were a few that shot open/freestyle with the 3’stabs,clickers and scopes and shit. I bought a Jennings T-Star with a light blue riser and white limbs that I still have to this day. I let Milo have it awhile to fiddle around with and shoot. Man it was a smooth quiet rig. I started out pretty rough but through trial and error and a bunch of great men that I look up to who took us greenhorns and taught us how to shoot we all became pretty good shooters. Near the end of my competitive shooting in these shoots I was pretty consistent shooting 300/ 40 plus spot games with an occasional 298 or 299 smacking me in the face. My last year I was fortunate enough to have placed 3rd in all 3 shoots in the AA bowhunter class.
Brock, it was a very fun time of my life as being single I had all the time I needed to practice shooting my bow and playing in pool tournaments. The friendships made and the good times had in that stretch will be forever forged in my noggin...:smiley_coolpeace: