Five Stars and Two Thumbs Up to the Conejo Valley Archers for their Pacific Coast Traditional Challenge held at their range in Simi Valley. Any club that wants to know how to set up and run a great 3-D shoot in general and specifically, a traditional one, should talk to this club or to anyone who attended the shoot.

The shoot is divided into a 2-day event, described below. The pictures are from 2003 thru the current year.
For those of you with a high-speed connection or a dial-up and lots of patience, there are a few associated mpeg format movies that you can download and play.

SATURDAY usually consists of raffles, seminars, clouts and the Smoker Round.

Distance Clout: Try to hit the deer on the slope beyond the center hay bale.

The happy winner of the distance clout

Double-Bank: Shoot your arrow off one plywood board over and off another plywood board and do it so you end up hitting the deer standing just beyond the boards. 609kb .mpg movie of the double bank shot

Running Pig: The notorious speedy javelina - catch it if you can. 767kb .mpg movie of the running pig shot

The Smoker Round is held Saturday afternoon. For those not familar with this event, the object is to make it through a very challenging course with just one arrow. Once your arrow is broken beyond repair , you are out of the contest. (No repairs are allowed to the arrow) The person who makes it through the course and has the best score wins.

SUNDAY is the 50 target 3-D tournament, consisting of animals set up at reasonable shooting distances, plus some novelty shots along the way. Registration starts at 7AM and you can start right away. Individual shooters can easily match up with some others to form groups.

This tournament allows you to purchase 2 mulligans and one doe tag for $1 each. The mulligan can be called after a bad or missed shot - it allows the next shot to be the one that counts for score. The doe tag can be used at the group shot where the buck is standing between several does. If you hit a doe by mistake, the doe tag allows you to take the minimum score for the target - otherwise you are accessed a minus score.

Start with the tire shot: there is a tire hanging in front of a ram. You can just shoot through the tire and take your standard score. For double points, however, you can try to shoot through the tire while it is swinging back and forth. Your arrow has to pass through the tire for points.

Now, go to the ramp shot: there is a wooden board with a slight bend at its far end. Beyond it is a pig. The object is to glance your arrow off the board so it sticks in the pig.

Next, there is the elk shot: For double points, shoot thru the tree branches at the far-away elk that is partially hidden by a cougar in front of it. If that discourages you, just shoot the cougar for normal points.

Now, head for the outhouse and the walking deer shot: Place your bow and un-nocked arrow on the hay bale in front of the outhouse. Go into the outhouse and 'have a seat'. The 'walking deer' will be started. When you see the deer through the half-moon window, run out of the house, grab your bow and take a shot at the deer as it passes by. 1.75 Meg .mpg movie of this shot

The treestand shot: Set up and take a shot at the bison down below.

The aerials shot gives you 2 chances to hit the foam disk with the red center. 625kb .mpg movie of the aerials shot

All during this 2-day event, good food and refreshments were available and vendors were on hand, displaying those items that one "just had to have".

A lot of planning and hard work goes into this annual shoot. The shoot committee includes about 8 members from the club who start planning about 3 months beforehand. It takes about 5 weekends to completely set up the 50 target course and novelty shots. The club also has approximately 20 volunteers to help set up and work at the shoot.

The range is located on 60 acres in Topo Canyon Park and on-site camping is available. There are also a number of motels and restaurants nearby in Simi Valley.