Western Roundup Rules

The Western Roundup is a fun shoot, and all skill levels are welcome. As long as everyone is being honest, it should all go well. However, to keep things safe and fair, we stick to the tournament rules. If there is a question or dispute, see a tournament official (a range marshal, or club board member) with your issue. Most of what's in this page is news to no one who has been shooting these tournaments, but here we go.

The Western Roundup is run following the NFAA constitution in general, and in particular Article VI, Section K: NFAA 3-D Rules and Regulations: For Marked and Unmarked Tournaments National and Sectional. We'll make explicit any variance from those rules. If any rule mentioned here conflicts with NFAA rules, the rules here take precedence.

Shooting Styles

NOTE: The NFAA recently made changes to shooting styles. We will reveiw the changes and update these rules before the next Western Roundup event.

The Western Roundup uses the NFAA shooting styles and age groups, except we do not have separate Pro classes. NFAA tournaments typically do not do equipment checks. Be honest! If you are not sure, ask about your style at registration. The shooting styles are:

• Barebow and Barebow Recurve

• Freestyle

• Freestyle Limited

• Freestyle Bowhunter

• Traditional (includes recurve)

• Longbow

• Freestyle Limited - Recurve

These styles are described in the NFAA Constitution Article II, but here are some clarifying points:

• Traditional uses no sights, no sight marks, no clickers, no string walking and no face walking. Short stabilizers are OK.

• Longbow uses a longbow. The NFAA no longer defines a longbow style, but for the purposes of this shoot, longbow uses no sights, no stabilizers. Carbon and aluminum arrows are OK.

• Freestyle Bowhunter uses a sight with no more than 5 fixed pins. The pins or the housing may not be moved. If you have a single pin with a movable housing, you are Freestyle.

• Barebow uses no sights or sight marks, but may have written notes, and may string walk and face walk.

• Barebow Recurve is like barebow, but recorve only, and no stabilizers.

Tournament Rules

The Western Roundup is 42 marked 3-D targets. Only 2 arrows per target, 11-10-8 scoring. The orange spot (including any cut line) is 11 points, the printed "10-ring" is 10 points, and the rest of the animal is 8 points. Some smaller animals do not have 10 rings, but do have two spots. In that case, the spot is 11 points, the animal is 10 points. The base (i.e. foam logs or rocks) do not count.

Skip ins do not count. If the arrow touches the ground on its way to the target, it is scored as a miss. If an arrow hits something above the ground (i.e. trees, birds) on its way to the target, it may be reshot. The group must agree that it was interfered with in flight. If an arrow bounces back, or falls out, after hitting the scoring surface, it may be reshot. If it glances off (i.e. hits the target, but glances off and continues forward) it is scored as a miss. Pass through arrows are scored as best as possible. If they cannot be scored, they may be reshot.

No practice shots on the course! We have a practice area for warming up and checking sights.

No mulligans! If an archer shot too many arrows, then the highest scoring arrows are disqualified. For example, if an archer shoots an 8 and a Miss and a 10, that is one too many arrows and the 10 is disqualified for a score of 8 for the target.

Shooting positions

Cubs (under 12) shoot from the black flags, if present. Most targets have a cub flag. Cubs of any shooting style shoot the same flags.

Youth (12-14) shoot from the orange stake with adults, unless the stake is more than 50yards, in which case youth shoot from the blue flag. Youth of all styles shoot the same distances.

Traditional (recurve) archers have the option of shooting long or short stakes. The archer must choose at registration time. Traditional Long (adult and senior) shoots from the orange stakes. Traditional Short (adult, senior, and all Traditional youth) shoot from the the orange stake, unless the stake is >50yards, in which case Traditional Short archers shoot from the blue flag.

Longbow archers shoot from the orange stake, unless the stake is more than 50yards, in which case longbow archers shoot from the blue flag.

All the other styles and age groups (including barebow) shoot from the orange stakes.

The "3 let-downs" rule is in effect. The 4th let down is counted as shot, and scored as a miss.

Shoot the targets in order. No skipping around. In particular, after target #28, the next target is target #29, which is the first target of the hill. It is tempting to loop around to target #1 to finish the open course, then do the hill later, but that is not allowed. Nor may you skip targets and come back to them later. If you believe a group in front of you is needlessly holding up the flow, contact a tournament official, and/or arrange to be allowed to shoot through.

Behavior

No high draw! This is important for the safe operation of our range. A high draw is defined to be a draw such that if you accidentally let the arrow go in any time in the draw it will fly over the backstop or safety barriers. The course will be crowded during the tournament, and we also share the park lands with non-archery activities.

No unsportsmanlike conduct. This is somewhat vague, and up to the discretion of tournament officials, but repercussions can range from a gentle warning to immediate expulsion. Be safe, be respectful to those around you, play fair, have fun, and there is no problem.