The Telure Standard for a archery range

Target butt and backstop pass-through check

Butt by butt, with the faces lifted or off: look at the center mass where every arrow has been going, push a thumb into it, and put a hand behind the butt for anything that has come through. Then look at what backs it, curtain, netting, plywood or berm, and at the ground in front of that, for arrows that got past a butt since the last look. A butt that has started passing arrows comes out of use the same hour and gets recorded, not finished out for the evening. Weekly because a butt wears by the shot rather than by the month: one league week can take it from stopping arrows to leaking them, and the only warning anybody gets is what the center looks like. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Bow, string and limb condition check: rack by rack

Bow by bow off the rack, with hands on it. Limbs for cracks, splintering, delamination and twist; the string and its serving for fraying, separated strands, dry wax, and serving unwinding at the nocking point or the loops; the nocking point still where it was set; on a compound, the cams, cables, cable guard and limb bolts; and the riser, grip, rest and any sight or stabilizer mount. Anything doubtful goes to the repair bench and is recorded there rather than put back on the rack. Weekly because a program bow is drawn a hundred times a week by people who are learning, and both serving separation and a starting limb crack announce themselves for days before they matter. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Arrow condition and fletching cull: batch by batch

One batch at a time out of the quivers, arrow by arrow: flex each shaft and listen for the crack, run a hand down it for a raised edge or a splinter, check the point is seated and tight, the nock unsplit and square in the shaft, and the fletching present and attached along its whole length. Anything cracked is broken across in front of somebody and thrown out, not set aside with a note on it. Record the batch and the count culled so the wear rate is readable later. Weekly because arrows fail per shot and a shaft that lets go is the failure that injures the person holding it, and because a batch that goes out every session is the fastest-wearing thing on the range. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Shooting line, waiting line and lane marking walk

Walk the lines with a tape. The shooting line, the dropped-arrow line in front of it, the waiting line behind it, the spectator line, and the center or boundary marks of every lane: all legible end to end and not worn through where the traffic crosses them. Then measure from the shooting line to the center of each butt, indoors and out, and read it against the layout your range documents, so a butt that has crept forward over a month of classes is caught by the tape and not by an argument. Confirm each butt still carries its number, fixed clear of the face and readable from the line. Monthly because paint and tape wear under feet rather than fail outright, and because a butt moved for one class gets put back by whoever is nearest. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Overshoot area and range boundary walk

Walk behind and to both sides of the butts, not from the shooting line, because none of this is visible from there. The cleared ground behind each butt; the netting, wall, fence or berm that backs it, with its posts, hems and fixings and any lift at the bottom where a net has pulled up; then the boundary itself, gates shut and fastened, warning signs present and legible on every approach. Last, what is new inside the ground an arrow could reach: a path worn in by dog walkers, a mower route, a bench, a parked trailer, a planting dense enough to hide somebody looking for a lost arrow. Monthly because what is behind the targets changes on the grounds crew's calendar and the season's, not on the shooting calendar. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Range signal, posted commands and emergency information check

Stand at the farthest butt and have somebody sound the range signal from the line: whistle, horn or light, heard or seen from where a person would actually be standing when it matters, and again from the far end of the field where wind takes the sound away. Read the commands posted at the line and confirm they are the commands your staff use, word for word and count for count, because a posted protocol and a spoken one that have drifted apart is the gap a new instructor falls into. Check the range rules, the emergency phone numbers and the advance-to-the-targets signal are posted, legible and unfaded, and sound any alarm the range has on movable equipment. Monthly because batteries fade, signs come down for events and go back crooked, and a spoken protocol drifts as staff change. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Target stand, frame and butt stability check

Stand by stand, with a hand on the top of each butt: pull it toward you the way an arrow gets pulled and confirm nothing rocks, slides or comes forward. Legs and feet flat and bearing, anchors or braces holding outdoors, frame joints and welds sound, the tilt the same on every stand in the row, the bottom of the butt still clear of the ground, and the front of the frame and its posts still covered wherever an arrow can reach them. Monthly because a stand loosens over hundreds of arrow pulls rather than in one evening, and because the entire job of the stand is to still be standing when somebody puts their weight into a deep arrow. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Field and 3-D course walk: stakes, paths and waiting positions

Walk the course in shooting order rather than driving around it. Each stake in place, numbered, and giving the shot it was set to give with nothing grown into the flight line; the path to it and on to the next target cleared and marked; the waiting position for the following group standing outside the line of the target being shot; the ground behind each butt cleared far enough that anybody looking for a missed arrow stays in sight of the shooting position; and no butt left sitting on a brow where a miss carries on. Monthly through the season because a course changes with whatever grew since last month and with whoever last moved a stake, and neither of those leaves a note. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Lighting, glare and line-of-fire clearance check

Indoors, stand on the line at the hour the range is actually used: light on the faces rather than in the archers' eyes, no lamp out over a lane, and nothing hanging into the line of fire, a beam, a fixture, a banner, a speaker, a heater, that could take an arrow. Confirm every pillar, corner and piece of structure inside the lanes is still covered, because an uncovered one sends a rebound back toward the line. Outdoors, look down the field at the same hour and write down what the sun is doing to the sight picture at this time of year. Quarterly because lamps fail one at a time and the sun's angle moves with the season, so four looks a year catch both while a monthly one would mostly repeat itself. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Fleet inventory and quarantine reconciliation

With the range closed, count the whole fleet against the registry: bows on the racks and in the store, strings fitted and spare, arrow batches by shaft count, tabs, arm guards, quivers and any release aids, and record what the count is short. Then empty the quarantine bin item by item, so each one is either repaired and returned to service with the repair recorded against it, or retired and recorded as retired, and nothing sits there into a third quarter. Read the retire-by date on every item while it is in your hands. Quarterly because the count at close catches tonight's missing arrow while only a full count catches the slow leak of a fleet, and because a quarantine bin nobody empties turns into a shelf of equipment in an unknown state. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Instructor and range officer currency review

Person by person through everybody who runs a line or teaches on one: which certification each of them holds, when it was issued, when it lapses, and who is cleared to run a line alone rather than beside somebody. Record background screening and abuse-prevention training the same way, each with its own date. Schedule renewals while there is still a season to schedule them in, rather than in the week somebody comes off the roster. Twice a year because these terms run in years, so twice a year is early enough to renew before a lapse takes an instructor off the line, and often enough to catch a seasonal hire who was never entered at all. Telure records what you tell it and when it lapses; it does not issue, verify or endorse anybody's credential. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Full range layout and buffer verification

Once a year, measure the range instead of remembering it: shooting line to butt centers at every distance the range is set to, lane widths, the cleared ground to each side of the target line, and the buffer behind the butts, all read against the layout your range documents. Then walk what surrounds it and write down what a year has changed: a path, a shed, a parking row, a trail, a fence line moved, a neighboring plot now built on, a tree line thinned out. File the measured layout and the photographs against this task so next year has something to compare against. Where your own jurisdiction, landowner or insurer sets the buffer, the inspection or who may perform it, that governs. Annual because a layout changes when the site changes, and a site changes on a construction and grounds calendar rather than a weekly one. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.