JOAD
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Q. Recently I over heard a discussion on what was refered to as "The Target Paradox". Can you please explain what this is?
A. Although I don't believe this condition is officially refered to as "The Target Paradox", for the moment we'll use this name. The Target Paradox refers to the difference in the penalties associated with shooting a 4th arrow at either a single spot or a 3-spot target during competition when shooting three arrow ends. In the case of a single spot as shown below on the left, FITA Rule 8.6.2.2 States "If more than the required number of arrows should be found in the target butt..., only the three lowest in value will be scored", so in this case the 10 would be disregarded and the three remaining arrows would be recorded on the score sheet as 9 - 8 - 7 = 24. In the case of a 3-spot target where the archer is to shoot one arrow at each spot, FITA Rule 8.6.2.3 states "When triple faces are used, arrows may be shot in any order, but if more than one arrow is shot into the same scoring area, both arrows count as part of that end, but only the lowest value arrow will score. The other arrow in the same spot will be scored as a miss." Then rule 8.6.2.2 is applied and "only the three lowest in value will be scored". This would show up on the score card as 8 - 7 - M = 15. Although this may seem unfair to the archer shooting a three spot, it is each archers choice as to which target to shoot and the archers should know how many arrows they have shot and not to shoot the 4th arrow. Thanks for that question.
Can you go over the proper way to mark a target? FITA Rule 7.6.2.5 states “All arrow holes in the scoring zone will be suitably marked every time the arrows are scored and drawn from the target face.” But is there a proper way to mark the holes?
A. Good question. First lets review the reason for marking the holes in your target. Doing this is to protect you the archer in case you have a bounce out or a pass through. If you have a bounce out or a pass through, it is the responsibility of the judge to determine where the arrow impacted the target face or went through the face and if none of the holes have been marked the judge is required to use the lowest value unmarked hole on the target face. The proper way to mark the arrow holes is to use a pencil or ball point pen, NOT a felt tip pen and to place two marks not longer than 4mm (about 1/8”) long at 90 deg to one another and touching the arrow hole. The reason for using two lines is to protect you in case another arrow were to hit one of the marks and destroy it, there is a second mark indicating the location of a previous arrow. Some archers will try and use large black markers and mark the center of the target to make a black center to help them aim. This would give the archer an unfair advantage over the competition which would not be fair.
Q. When I look closely at a target it appears there is a darker line on the inside edge of the 4 ring seperating the black 4 ring from the blue 5 ring. Is there in fact a line here and if my arrow touches the line shouldn't it be a 5 instead of a 4?
A. The way the targets are printed, the colored rings are printed first and the black color is printed last and it is the overlap of the black and blue rings that make it appear that there is a ring inside the 4 ring but there is not. In this case the shaft of your arrow must break out of the black and into the blue for the arrow to be scored as a 5.