North 40 Life Magazine | Page 11

BRAGGING RIGHTS by Daniel Woodland The North 40 Archery meetings were held at the Heaven On Earth Ranch at the end of July. July is usually hot in central Montana, but this year we were met with rain and cool temperatures. The meetings consisted mostly of training by bow and accessory manufacturers, but when you put any group of archers together and there is bound to be a little competition. In our case, it was a 3D Tournament, which is a pretty big deal here in Montana. What better way to welcome our colleagues from around the company than to treat them to an archery shoot where things could get a bit... western! By that I mean steel targets, “hidden” targets on a cliff face, shooting bows set up for a 5-year-old, and doing what we could to convince them that losing and breaking arrows is actually a lot of fun. Let’s be honest; when it comes to the sport of archery, if you aren’t having fun you aren’t doing it right! I started shooting 3D targets about ten years ago. At that time, it was to get used to shooting at an animal instead of paper targets. It was difficult at first, since unlike paper targets, I didn’t have a spot to hold on. About six years later a friend of mine introduced me to shooting 3D competition. It was nothing how I expected it to be. When I got to the shoot, I was thinking everyone was there to win and be very serious about the next two days. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 10