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.
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