Back of the Valley

 A lot has changed since I've been away from competition. At least here in rural Appalachia anyway. There's a lot of new terms I've learned. A lot of new to me equipment I'd never heard of. A lot of cry babies. A lot of opinions..... and I have some of those myself.... Yep, it is still the most fun hobby I've ever had, but things sure have changed! Float??? What is that? Well if I'd known about float back 30 years ago I probably could have overcome target panic and continued shooting competitions. You see, that's why I gave up shooting competitions years ago. I had gradually gotten worse and at the last, I couldn't force my sight pin on my intended target.  I won't bore you with more detail of how it started and how it progressed, but here in the rural area where I lived there was nobody to talk to that had a cure, nobody knew what to do for it. Nothing.  So I quit. But I did however have in my possession something to fix the target panic if I'd ...

 So my son and I hadn't shot a 3D tournament in nearly 30 years.  On March 4 2023 we made our way to Dixon Range at Clintwood Virginia. It was pretty chilly that morning. I was shooting my Bowtech Fanatic 3.0 and my son was shooting his vintage Oneida Screaming Eagle lever bow. I ended up taking 2nd place and my son ended up 5th.  It was a great start to our new journey in 3D archery! Which leads me to say this: I should kept this Bowtech! It was awesome now that I reflect on it. It would have been a much better bow than the next one I buy! But that's a story for later....... Here's a few photos from our first tournament:

 Feb. 4 2023 was my birthday. My wife, my son, and my friend Jason took me to my first ever indoor tournament, and the first tournament I shot in around 30 years. It was a 5 spot tournament, and I we were pretty tired before the end of it. I had a pretty horrible score, (255), and was last place among myself, my son and Jason. But I enjoyed it and could wait until the next one. I was shooting my Bowtech Fanatic 3.0., some cheap carbon arrows, and a Whalen's Hooker release.

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll enjoy my archery journey with my family and friends! I'm Bobby Ratliff from Grundy Virginia. In the late 80's, early 90's I shot 3D tournaments and loved it. But like some people, I ended up getting target panic and gave it up. Then September 2022 rolls around and my son (Bobby Anthony), and my friend Jason encouraged me to get back into shooting competitively. And so it began. I first began work on an old Oneida Tomcat compound bow. I eventually got it fixed up but it just wasn't working for me. Although it didn't turn out too bad: The first issue I had to deal with besides a bow, was target panic. I didn't have it as bad as I did 30 years before, but I had it. And so it was, I began watching videos, I began reading on Archery Talk, I began trying to learn how to overcome it before I got any farther. I found out a good way to beat target panic was with a true back tension release. I purchased a Tru Ball XTension-RT and...