I'll preface by admitting that I'm still a baby in the world of archery. Bought my first bow only 4 months ago, and have only been shooting at 20-25yds in my backyard so I still have lots to figure out and tons to learn.
I joined the Cowtown Bowmen archery club last week via their website, and finally got a chance to head out to the range for the first time this morning. There was a young lady ahead of me at the gate heading to the static range with her recurve, so I closed it up for the both of us, but it was otherwise quiet without a mess of people which I must admit was a plus in my mind.
I didn't have a lot of time to play around in that part of town before I had some actual work to do, so I grabbed my bow and took off for the field course. I am not a super high maintenance kinda guy but I was thoroughly impressed with how well maintained the place was. Trails were mowed down, and easy to follow, (thanks guys) paper targets were hung and had some holes in em like they are supposed to, but they weren't soggy or falling apart and were perfectly visible. (obviously regularly maintained, again thanks) Targets were plenty firm, and required some muscle to pull arrows. Actually caused me to order an arrow puller from amazon as my backyard Block Classic didn't require me to work hard enough to order one previously. Distances were marked (one of my sons pulled my rangefinder outta my bag unbeknownst to myself so I couldn't verify distance) so I was actually able to enjoy my time up there without beating myself up too badly.
As I shot from the 11th nock box, I spooked a 4-pt buck, a doe, and what I believe were her twins that were feeding about 10 yds to my right, so they jogged about 20 yards then watched me watching them. I was able to ogle them for about 10 minutes before I moved on to the next target. Pretty cool pets to have around there, as they didn't seem too concerned by my presence, more just surprised by the sound of my bow breaking the silence they were enjoying.
I'm excited to spend some more time out there, and look forward to participating in some club shoots and meeting some other members.
Per the newsletter, they'll have a "Haunted Trail" for halloween, so I'll be taking my boys up that way for sure.
This thread doesn't have much of a point other than to share my initial experience and give a public "Thank you" to the Hubbards and everyone else involved for making such a place available as there isn't much else around here to make archery super accessible. The EXTREMELY reasonable membership fees are also an incredible bargain, so everyone should join even if you never go, just to keep the place alive for the next generation.
I joined the Cowtown Bowmen archery club last week via their website, and finally got a chance to head out to the range for the first time this morning. There was a young lady ahead of me at the gate heading to the static range with her recurve, so I closed it up for the both of us, but it was otherwise quiet without a mess of people which I must admit was a plus in my mind.
I didn't have a lot of time to play around in that part of town before I had some actual work to do, so I grabbed my bow and took off for the field course. I am not a super high maintenance kinda guy but I was thoroughly impressed with how well maintained the place was. Trails were mowed down, and easy to follow, (thanks guys) paper targets were hung and had some holes in em like they are supposed to, but they weren't soggy or falling apart and were perfectly visible. (obviously regularly maintained, again thanks) Targets were plenty firm, and required some muscle to pull arrows. Actually caused me to order an arrow puller from amazon as my backyard Block Classic didn't require me to work hard enough to order one previously. Distances were marked (one of my sons pulled my rangefinder outta my bag unbeknownst to myself so I couldn't verify distance) so I was actually able to enjoy my time up there without beating myself up too badly.
As I shot from the 11th nock box, I spooked a 4-pt buck, a doe, and what I believe were her twins that were feeding about 10 yds to my right, so they jogged about 20 yards then watched me watching them. I was able to ogle them for about 10 minutes before I moved on to the next target. Pretty cool pets to have around there, as they didn't seem too concerned by my presence, more just surprised by the sound of my bow breaking the silence they were enjoying.
I'm excited to spend some more time out there, and look forward to participating in some club shoots and meeting some other members.
Per the newsletter, they'll have a "Haunted Trail" for halloween, so I'll be taking my boys up that way for sure.
This thread doesn't have much of a point other than to share my initial experience and give a public "Thank you" to the Hubbards and everyone else involved for making such a place available as there isn't much else around here to make archery super accessible. The EXTREMELY reasonable membership fees are also an incredible bargain, so everyone should join even if you never go, just to keep the place alive for the next generation.
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