One of the biggest traditional archery shoots took place in 100 Mile House over the July 21 weekend.
“The event is going great. It’s fun, there’s like 88 participants so far,” said denise swift, the Big Horn Archery Club’s secretary.
The traditional shoot is more popular than the other two shoots the club hosts at the 99 Mile Snowmobile Grounds and the Agriplex beside the South Cariboo Recreation Centre through the year, according to swift.
She said it’s because of the traditional shoot’s more social atmosphere. Traditional archery is a lot less competitive than its counterpart, compound bow shooting. The club still keeps score during the shoot but it is mostly just for fun, though Donna Warren might disagree now that she has bragging rights over her husband, Dale.
“I was surprisingly not very good at this,” said Dale.
It was the first time the two have participated in an archery shoot, nevermind it being 100 Mile House. The couple from Surrey decided to come up to the event with a couple of friends.
“We just started taking archery down at Boorman [Archery Ltd.] in New Westminster and then friends of ours were going to be up here and we thought ‘oh, okay, we’re going to come up here with someone we know and do this,'” Warren said.
They decided they wanted to start shooting because it was an item on their bucket list.
RELATED: 100 Mile House gets ready for one of the province’s biggest archery shoots
According to Warren, their friends said the course in 100 Mile House was better than others, because of the shorter distances. Dale also mentioned the targets were a little bigger for those still learning to shoot and easier to hit, something he said he’s still working on.
Both confirmed they would like to come back for next year.
Karen Demelo, who won the Lady Masters 50 at the provincials tournament this year, her first time going to the provincial was also competing in this year’s tournament.
She has been shooting for four years after her sister invited her to a shoot and this is the third time she has been at the Big Horn Archery Club’s event.
“I’d probably say it’s one of my favourites,” the Kelowna-based archer said. “The people are really nice and they do a great job of setting up all the targets and they do a good job of giving prizes.”
