Our inaugural ‘scarecrow clout’ was a great success. Mostly it must be said for the scarecrow, who proved an elusive foe at the first distance of 140 yards.
As the target ‘advanced’ up the field his progression was halted, firstly by Gabriel, and then by Peter who struck a fatal blow.
Despite the poor showing of only three arrows finding their mark, the shoot was great fun. Some interesting tactics were variously employed from a fairly traditional up-and-down approach to a slightly riskier (scoring-wise) aim-straight-at-‘im style.
Traditional clout scoring was employed, with significant points on offer for striking the scarecrow. Needless to say, it was an interesting way for some members to shoot their first clout!
And why did we even come up with this shoot in the first place? After a conversation about a possible fun shoot, the subject of the patron saint of archers came up. So, in honour of said patron saint – the erstwhile Saint Sebastian – the shoot was devised. Saint Sebastian suffered the horrible fate of being tied to a tree and peppered with arrows. But believe it or not, this wasn’t what killed him. Maybe our scarecrow was more of the embodiment of the eminent saint than we thought he might be after all…
