Archers take their best shot

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/01/2023 (1000 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than 100 competitors set their sights on deer, elk, moose, wolves and even dinosaurs during an indoor weekend archery tournament in Brandon.

The archers were aiming at three-dimensional animal targets set up during the Manitoba 3D Archery Challenge at the Keystone Centre on Sunday.

Manitoba leads the way in the sport of archery, said the president of Archery Canada, who is also from the Wheat City. Aaron Bull is the first president of the national organization to represent Manitoba.

Bull said the province traditionally does well in international competitions, adding: “We’ve always punched above our weight.” He credits the strong organizers of clubs in rural areas.

“In a small town in rural Manitoba, if you’re not playing hockey, archery is a good alternative,” Bull said. “In the Westman area, there are dozens of communities that have archery clubs, and they operate indoors in the winter and move outside in the summer.”

Most archery ranges have flat targets that are set up at certain distances. 3D archery is meant to simulate an animal in a hunting setting, giving the shooter the opportunity to aim at life-like animals at various angles and distances.

The scoring system varies with 3D, but it’s the same principle as with traditional bow-and-arrow target shooting, with the centre circle worth more than the outside ring.

There are three types of bows and arrows used for the 3D challenge. There’s the compound bow with a sight, a stabilizer bar and a release. The recurve bow is typically made of metal, and has a stabilizer and a release aid. The traditional long bow is made of wood with no sights or aids of any kind — just shooter instinct.

Four months ago, April Willis of Westman was representing Canada at the World 3D Archery Championships in Italy. On this day, she was helping people with registration and catching up with fellow Team Canada member Brad Hackewich, who was shooting with a traditional long bow and said he was loving it.

Willis said the 3D challenge is a great event for all levels of archers.

“We have a lot of people who attend with their hunting gear,” Willis said. “They just want to get their hunting bows out, shake the dust off, get their muscles working [and] make sure they get a bit of bow practice before they can get outside.”

Even though David Talbot is an avid hunter, it’s the first time he has experienced the 3D challenge. For him, archery is a discipline to help quiet his mind. Talbot travelled to Brandon from the River Valley Archery Club in Veregin, Sask.

“When you’re doing archery, you really have to pay attention to what your body’s doing and at that same time to move some things out of your mind,” Talbot said.

“You have to still the restless body.”

Archery has seen an increase in popularity that can be traced back to “The Hunger Games” book and movie trilogy, according to an article on a parenting website, ecoparent.ca. The heroine of “The Hunger Games,” Katniss Everdeen, is a teenager who uses a bow and arrow to hunt for food and to survive in a competition.

Archery Canada’s annual report from 2020 to 2021 shows several cancellations because of the pandemic, but in the latest report from the communications and safe sport co-ordinator, athletes are full steam ahead looking to competing at international events that will lead to the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, France.

For Brandon’s Carol Boyechko and her daughter Kaydence, archery has been a special way for them to bond over something new.

“It’s so much fun. We started with archery lessons, learning together, bought the equipment and ended up here,” she said as she motioned around at the shooting range. “We’ll most likely do something like this again.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @enviromichele