Maria’s Notes on NFAA Field Archery: Field Round

-By Maria Mascarenas

[Editor’s note — this article is reposted here from the #TeamIllinois Facebook with permission – TK]

I did my very first Field and Hunter round at the IAA State Championship a few weeks ago, so I thought I would impart some of that knowledge to other newbies like me.

At the National level there are 3 types of target types: Field, Hunter and Animal.  At State and Local levels, tournaments can have 1 or 2 target types. For Illinois State recently at Joliet Archery Club on Aug 19-20, Day 1 was Field, Day 2 was Hunter.  At CBH this coming Sept 10th, the JOAD will participate in a half round of the Field type target.

Most courses will use this matrix below as a guideline for course setup. Notice that with NFAA rules, it will be MARKED known distances and these specific distances using 4 different Field target sizes. Note at the specific distance there is a recommended target face size to be used. For example for the Youth stake at 50Y/Cub stake at 30Y will use the 65cm size. For the bunny target, the 20 cm target will be used.

A typical field archery round consists of 2 ends of 14 targets shooting 4 arrows per target. Some host clubs will have a full course of 28 targets. Others may only have a half course of 14 targets. In that case, one would just repeat the half course again to get a full 28 target scoring round.

CBH has a full 28 target course. If competing on Sept 10th, you would only do a half course of 14 targets.

There are a possible 20 points per target and a perfect round of 14 targets is 280 points. A perfect round of 28 targets is 560 points. See comments below for Target face and how to score.

See below for sample CBH target plaques and ground markers.

Each target will have a sign indicating

1. The target number
2. The Adult distance for a Field round
3. The Adult distance for a Hunter round and/or shooting style
4. The Youth Distance for Field and/or Hunter and shooting style
5. The Cub Distance for both Field and Hunter round.

There are 3 styles of arrow scoring.

• 4 markers at different distances —  Walkup: 1 arrow shot from 4 distances, e.g. 45WU 45-40-35-30
• Fan —  4 markers at same distance 35Y, 1 arrow shot per marker, 2 arrows per target. There will be 2 targets side by side. 2 leftmost markers use left target, 2 rightmost markers use right target.
• 1 marker —  4 arrows shot at 1 distance.

At closer distances, the can be a set of 4 35cm targets stacked 2×2. Each archer would shoot all 4 arrows at a single target in position ABCD.

At farther distances, this can be a single 35cm, 50cm or 65cm target. All 4 archers shoot their arrows in the single target.

Bunny: 4 marker walkup starting at 35ft ( yes…feet not yards) 1 arrow per marker shot at 4 vertical 20cm targets. You must either start from top target and move down or start at bottom target and move up.

Note: For Cub and Novice, the Bunny walkup is a single distance at 20ft.

Take note that if you shoot more arrows from the marker than intended, the extra arrows would be counted as zeros. For example, on a walkup all 4 arrows were accidentally shot at 1st distance instead of 1 arrow per marker distance, the first arrow is counted for the score since it was shot from the correct marker, the other 3 arrows are considered misses since they were not shot from the correct marker and therefore do not score.

Should your arrow ricochet from the ground or bounce into the target, the arrow will not count. It must be a direct shot to score.

Should your arrow hit a branch that is within the shooting range, you may re-shoot that arrow.

Should you have an equipment failure during the tournament, you have 45 minutes to fix your equipment. You are only allowed one equipment failure per day, so make sure your equipment is in top shape before the tournament.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Young Adult (15-17) distances are same as Adult.

Youth (12-14) distances are in blue. Typically will be the same as Adult but max is 50Y. When Adult is over 50Y, Youth will be lower. See last 4 rows.

Cub (under 12) in red.

Note: NFAA age classes are slightly different than USAA age classes below:

Bowman through the calendar year of their 12th birthday.
Cub through the calendar year of their 14th birthday.
Cadet through the calendar year of their 17th birthday.
Junior through the calendar year of their 20th birthday.
Senior 21+

 

There are 4 field target sizes.

 

This is how to score a field target.

 

Here is the actual Target 3 at CBH.

Note that each target will have a sign indicating
1) The target number
2) The Adult distance for a Field round
3) The Adult distance for a Hunter round and/or shooting style
4) The Youth Distance for Field and/or Hunter and shooting style
5) The Cub Distance for both Field and Hunter round.
F = Field round
H = Hunter round
The course can be used for either type target round. The type target will indicate which.

 

So when you approach the target, read the sign for the distance you should be shooting and look for the distance markers on the ground.

Field markers at CBH are typically rectangular like these.

A single marker can have one target to be shared by the 4 archers.

Or if the target setup looks like this, each archer will shoot his/her 4 arrows in only one of the four targets.

They should discuss between them who will shoot position A, B, C, D.

What I found out today during my field round practice is that for Cub and Youth markers, some may be circular. So just look for a marker with your correct class distance.

And others may have 2 colors which is a distance that is used for either a Field Round (blue) and Hunter Round (red).

Demetrio and I re-painted the ground markers on the back half today for more clarity. Adult/Young Adult will be white markers with black numbers.

Markers that are at distances that are the same for Adult/Young Adult/ as well as Youth will be white with black numbers and blue borders. Coach Gabe put out flags as well.

Markers specifically for Youth are blue.

Markers for Cub are black. Flags are red.

Whereas Hunter markers at CBH are typically circular like this.

This is what a walkup would look like. Notice 4 markers at different distances leading toward the target.

This also happens to be a Bunny target.

Bunny target #28 looks like this. Note multiple flags.

Fan markers are all at the same distance. For field it would be at 35Y for Youth. 15Y for Cub.

Only 3 are pictured here because the 4th happens to be on the other side of the tree.

Fan style scoring will typically have 2 targets side by side. 2 leftmost markers will use left target. 2 rightmost markers will use the right target. Remember only 1 arrow shot per marker.

Fan markers at Target #19 are white with blue borders for Young Adult/Youth.

But for Cub, Coach Gabe put out red flags to use for their 15Y fan.

Bunny targets will be shot as a walkup for Youth at 35-30-25-20 FEET (yup Feet not yards). One arrow per marker.

Cub and Novice will shoot all 4 arrows at a single distance of 20ft.

IMPORTANT to note: The Bunny target must be shot vertically in order. Either start from top target and for down or start from bottom target and go up. If you start in the middle or shoot not in vertical sequence, those can be counted as misses.

The 4 archers should discuss beforehand who is shooting position A, B, C, D.

The vertical columns are in this sequence:
Column 1 is A
Column 2 is C
Column 3 is B
Column 4 is D

So that Archer A and B shoot on the line together
Then Archer C and D shoot together.

 

It’s only a partial of Field Archery. There is still Hunter Round, Animal Round and FITA Field. I didn’t want to overload the JOAD with too much information when they are only doing a Field Round.

Not sure which half of CBH field course will be setup but here is a map of the 1st half from Target #1-14

2nd half of CBH field course starts at Target #15 and continues to Target #28. Coach Gabe confirmed it will be the back half for the Sept 10th tournament. Entrance is at the end of the parking lot.