The Long Sault Archers (operating at the Massena Rod and Gun Club) is alive! They are working on getting things back up and running and in doing so, did a significant amount of work to reopen a 14 target loop next to the trap range at the Rod and Gun Club.
Liam and I got there nice and early Saturday the 15th and were the first two on the list to get out and shoot. It was 14 targets twice around. Paths were cut nice and wide and there were indicator arrows to show you the way to walk the course. They had ropes closing off other paths so you didn’t end up behind another target. It was wet, like up the ankles deep wet, in some of the areas, but they did a good job to get some pallets out so that you weren’t getting any wetter than necessary while shooting. There were no stakes to shoot from, and it was a shoot from whatever safe distance you wanted for this fun shoot. There was a good selection of targets and most of the animals had good angles to shoot from without worrying about limbs or other trees. It was buggy, especially around the water, but we expect that. We grabbed extra bug spray after the first time around.
Overall it was a good shoot and I am glad that they are starting back up because that is where Liam started with his archery in the youth league there and it is awesome to have more local shoots when our schedule allows.
Couple points of improvement that I would like to see them make as they bring the club back up to operation.
They need a few target butts for warming up. While I am not a person who wants to shoot 25-50 arrows before going through the woods, I like to shoot 5-10 arrows at a few distances just to make sure the sight tape is still good.
Need to cut a few more branches so that you have a better angle on some of the smaller animals, or designate a different shooting lane that has a safe background. One turkey was right up against the edge of the brush and the angle you shot at had brances in the way. If we could have shot from over on the right between 2 trees it would have been fine, but we weren’t sure what was behind from that angle and didn’t want to risk it.
Keep adding the signage around the course. Target lanes were labeled well, but could have added “shoot and return” at the target lane sign where there were some bow hangers rather than carrying the bow down to the animal and back.
I fully expect that the group who put this on will continue to make improvements and add more shoots as they get their group moving in the right direction. We’ll be back every time we can if our schedule allows!
