Cullinan hosts 3D archery championship

The 5X Archery Club hosted the 3D Gauteng Championship on Sunday, June 26.

A total of 25 archers from Limpopo and Gauteng competed.

The standard round comprised of shooting at 28 targets.

Shooters were shooting at various three-dimensional life-like animal-shaped targets made from self-healing foam that was placed in varying situations which mimicked real-life hunting experiences.

The targets were grouped into four categories and each category had a different shooting distance.

The distances to targets were not given. Each target was shot from two different markers or stakes.

There were two markers for each target and each marker had a different distance to the target.

The maximum distances for each target group followed the maximum distances set for the IFAA 3D Hunting Round.

Each 3D target had a set of scoring rings on it.

The scoring is normally club or IFAA-dependent.

The smallest circle scored 10 points, the next ring (vitals) was eight points and the body counted for five points.

The hooves or antlers on the deer scored a zero.

Cubs shot the black stakes (30 yards max), where juniors shot from blue stakes with a maximum of 50 yards and young adults, adults and veterans shot from yellow to 60 yards.

The stakes were used to ensure each shooter had the same opportunity.

The shooter had to touch the appropriate stake with at least one part of their body, generally a foot or leg. However, they could also kneel or lie down.

The top competitive classes shot unmarked yardage.

“For large tournaments, you may be required to shoot two consecutive days to post a combined score for ranking, but due to the weather, the championship only lasted a day,” said organiser, Hendri Scheepers.

Every animal from the big five to antelope, deer, sheep, snakes, beavers, skunk, moose, cougar, bobcat and much more were seen.

“The sport of 3D archery is a form of target archery.

“It is also an addictive and fun archery sport,” said Scheepers.

According to him, 3D archery can be participated by anyone at any skill level.

“It can be set in the forest, fields and sometimes even indoors. The goal of 3D archery is to have the ability to guess how far away the target is and know where to shoot to achieve the highest possible score.

“3D archery is a lot like golf,” concluded Scheepers.

Archer, Helena van Wyngaard was crowned the winner of the AFFU category with a score of 348. Dean McHendry won the AMBH-R category with a score of 269. Hendrè Scheepers is crowned champion in the AMBU category with a score of 345. Louis van Wyngaard won the AMFU category with a score of 339.
H

einrich Dekker won the Rangefinder Cub with a score of 345. Martina Kleynhans is the winner for the Rangefinder women category with a score of 368 and Henry Myburgh is the winner in the rangefinder men category with a score of 411.