where to shoot in France

[obi1kanobi]

Does anyone know of a good 2 day competition in France for field shooting as a group of us would like to explore Europe a bit more with our bows etc.

[niceguy]

where to shoot in France

AGINCOURT

[geoffretired]

You might try a PM to Kevin English. He lives and shoots in France ( Camargue) and they do field where he is.

[iori jones]

Originally Posted by niceguy

where to shoot in France

AGINCOURT

you could try crecy as well if you run out of targets
Iori Jones

[Raedwald]

Well, to be serious (so not adding Poitiers).....

Les Archers - not a competition, but a holiday venue in Brittany withitss own 25 target NFAS field course (paper faces)

Restored House for Vacations in Brittany, near Pontivy, France

Nice place, beautiful location, nice people, challenging course!

[joelondon]

Lez,

I think you are after the 3d European Archery Festival that is in Tours June 28th/29th.

European 3D Archery Festival

there is not much detail on the 2008 one yet, and to be fair it was scratchy at best for the 2007 one, but contact the organiser through the email address provided and they are the most helpfull you could find.

fantastic shoot, great attitude, they really know how to put on a shoot.

I am sure if Karen see's the thread she will be able to add some more detail.

I and group of archers I shoot with will be there for sure.

Joe

[clickerati]

Send a pm to Cecile. She's one of our most active French members and pleasure to talk to!

[Devon_Archer]

hi all

I have looked at the website, and am confused, it maybe something in the translation, but I have no idea what rounds are being shot at the French

can anyone fill me in on the details please ?

also I am not sure on what classes they accept

[Karen]

Yes Joe, I'm here!

Will post more details for you shortly with rounds, etc and classes. Probably tomorrow morning.

[Karen]

Right - got time to explain a bit.

French FFTA 3d Rules ( Basically)

We shoot 2 courses of 20 targets each per day, with a break for lunch (usually a good sitdown meal - you're in France now !)
We shoot 2 arrows from the same peg at each target - scoring is 10 for the round kill at the centre (sometimes a 10+ is marked as well - a smaller round in the middle this is marked still 10 but used to tie break the scores) 8 for the vital organ zone around the central kill, and then 5 for anywhere on the rest of the animal excluding horns. Some targets also have a zone excluded such as tail feathers on a turkey etc, but these are clearly marked on the targets.
Distances shot are up to 35 metres maximum, making it much more precision shooting than maybe you are used to in the UK. There is a difficulty quotient that is set by the FFTA (worked out by the size of the kill zone multiplied by the distance shot divided by something else, I think - can find details if you really want them!) - this in theory makes the courses roughly consistent, though I find that it doesn't take into account the terrain, which can be very hard on some courses, or the skill of the course builder, which can be considerable.
Classes of Bow -

Longbow (arc droit) - as per the FITA definition i.e. includes Flatbows, therefore most longbow shooters in France shoot Flatbow type bows. String must only touch the bow at the point where it meets the end of the bow, only wooden arrows allowed, no sighting aids (or rubber bands) or marks and only the mediterranean loose is allowed (one over two under) No bow quivers. Shooting from the hand or bowshelf only - bowshelf covering not to be more than 3cm above shelf.

Traditional (Chasse) Bow - As per FITA definition - recurve allowed but only shooting directly off the bowshelf as in the longbow class. Any arrow materials allowed but they must weigh at least 30 grams for the men and 20 grams for the ladies when finished. (Checked at the equipment inspection beforehamd so not worth taking a chance!) Bow quivers allowed. No sighting systems or marks allowed. Mediterranean loose only.

Barebow (Classic) bow - As per the Barebow definition for FITA so fairly well known to you probably - recurve with arrow rest and button etc, any type and weight of arrows. String walking allowed. No sighting systems or marks, though marks are allowed on the tabs now without any numbers on them (personally have been using the stitches on mine for years anyway!)

Compound Barebow (Arc a poulies Nu) - Not au fait with all the details but is the compound bow without any sighting system, finger release, any arrows and stringwalking allowed.

Open (Tir Libre) - Basically anything else - Compound with sights (usually five pin jobs) and trigger release systems - recurve with sights, stabilisers etc, - and anything else that won't go into another category.

Teams are usually one longbow, one arc chasse or arc Nu, and one Arc a poulie Nu I think, but need to check that.

French 3D isn't complicated - just a little different maybe to what you're used to.

Here in France all archers have to pay for a licence to join the FFTA - this includes insurance etc, but I believe any sort of organisation membership is accepted for the tours shoot - David the organiser speaks excellent English, so if you have any queries then email in English and I'm sure he'll help. The website is not the clearest, especially the English section, but last year there were archers from all over Europe there.

If you're going to come over to Tours next year (weekend of 28/29 June) then theres a great campsite near at Veignes - they have pre-erected tents to stay in if you want, or caravan site for tourers and even some mobile homes to rent. I will try to find a link for you if you're interested. There are of course, all the reasonable priced hotels locally too, if you want a bit more luxury.

Also on the following weekend there is usually the two day shoot at Indians Arc club at Blanquefort near Bordeaux, - this is another spectacular weekend with two days of 3d shooting as well as lots of other things - Night time competition shooting from the top of a landrover is just one of them! Many of the archers at this one are from Spain and Portugal (93 of the 250 odd last year) and so you can expect to score in the language that most of your shooting group have in common - not often French!

So if you fancy making it a 10 day trip then it would make a super holiday. I know of several place that you can stay during the week where you could still shoot as well, we have some permanent courses at some of our clubs here in the poitou charente where you would be very welcome to shoot and keep your hand in between weekends.

Has anyone thought of actually running a proper coach trip to the Tours shoot?

I can provide you with mountains more information, so please don't hesitate to ask - on here or by pm

I hope you'll come - the English group last year seemed to have a great time and once they got over the shock really pitched in. Hope to see them all back again.

There are also other 2 day shoots without so much of the festivities - the first weekend of august theres the Saintonge Challenge at Saintes (Charente Maritime) and theres one at Le Mans the last weekend of October - give me a message if you need more information for this.

You could also look at the ffta.fr website in the Calendrier section - choose the discipline 3d from the drop down menu and the dates you want to look between - that should have most of the 2008 dates very shortly.

Hope to shoot with you soon.