By JARROD POTTER
LEARNING his craft from eyeing off rabbits, Upper Beaconsfield archer Hamish Thompson has cultivated his bunny bullseyeing into a state archery championship.
Thompson, 14, first picked up a bow to take down the feral pests in the paddocks around Upper Beaconsfield and he developed a taste for the discipline intensive sport.
His newly purchased sighted compound bow is better suited for sedentary targets – such as the ones he peppered at the State Target Championships at Diamond Valley last month.
Better still for the young archery rising star, he didn’t think he shot that well despite winning the Victorian title.
“I was shooting alright, but not as well as I thought I could,” Thompson said.
“My best was at Adelaide where I shot 1356 out of 1440 (points) – I haven’t shot too many rounds as good as that.”
Thompson’s less-than-best performance still earned him the title by 300 points.
“I wasn’t shooting my best – I shot pretty atrociously and hit about 20 under what I usually could, so I shot a bit down a bit, but I still won by 300 points.”
Thompson has only been in the sport for a year, but has already loved it enough to upgrade to a better bow which is designed for target shooting and will leave his first bow for hunting.
“About a year I started shooting and I got my new bow less than a week ago – very cheap compound bow,” Thompson said.
” It’s not a cheap sport because it’s not just the bow, you’ve got to buy arrows and stabilisers and sights.
“Went from rabbits to wanting to shoot deer which is my main goal.
“My bow, which I used before this one, is now set up for hunting, so it’s ready to go and it’s good to have that background.
“You’re about to kill an animal – you need to be calm under pressure, which helps with hitting the target.”
His next challenge will be at the National & State Indoor Championships, hosted by Twin City Archers in Morwell.
