A weekend event drew archers from as far away as Germany to a local 3-D event at Bernie Godin’s property.
The local club, Far Fletched Archers, hosted the event, and drew 26 shooters.
Far Fletched boasts a membership of 32, with about 18 of those as core active members, and the club has been building up their collection of the expensive foam animals for the 3-D event.
The foam-filled targets are what make the event 3-D, and allow the archers to place them in the woods to better simulate actual hunting.
The foam targets can range in value up to $3,000, so the club has 11 of the less-expensive, smaller targets so far, with deer, bears, wolves and the elusive “jackelope.”
The targets use a specialized foam, and to buy one which will last, you have to pay a bit more, so the club is still working on fundraising to purchase more.
In order to put on a “full-scale” 3-D event, including provincial championships, normally a club would need 40 animals, according to Kirstin Rudolph, club coaching director.
“At some point we do want to have that many,” said Rudolph.
The club runs lessons for six weeks starting in September, and this will be the third a year for the club, with membership increasing all the time, according to Roudolph.
The club has a couple other instructors, but Rudolph has a provincial level II coaching, so she can work with the more skilled archers to develop them even further.
One local archer, Mac Smith, won two golds in archery at the BC Winter Games in 2010. He has also taken gold and silver at provincial championships.
Smith opted out of the Canada Games because of when it fell during his Grade 12 year, according to Rudolph, but is now training for 2015.
The August 20 shoot drew archers from Prince George, Fraser Lake, Vanderhoof, and Germany, the Germans were visiting family in the area and saw the poster, and Rudolph is already planning on building on this success.
Next year, the 3-D shoot will be a quad shoot, where archers ride quads up one of the trails and then back again, shooting at animals on both passes. By then, Rudolph hopes to have 15 animals, with archers getting to shoot at 30 targets over the day.
The Far Fletched Archers will be at the Health and Recreation Fair taking place September 12, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Fort Forum, and anyone interested in getting involved can sign up then or call Phil or Kirstin at 250-996-7132.
