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Show 15 July 16, 1998 ' V5v -- ssJ y EBnnllll9 Hill Archery Club members find bow hunting rewarding -'" Photo by Jennifer Edmonds Hill AFB Archery Club member Ken Rue, above, demonstrates shooting his compound bow. Club members study a target, above left, In a 1976 photo. "Even if you're in camouflage, they can see you, they say something doesn't look exactly right there, but as long as you don't do anything sudden or make any weird moves, they let you slide," Topper said. "But if "you are downwinijfrom them and you can smell them then they don't smell you, but if it's the other way by Jennifer Edmonds Hilltop Times staff Hill 1- AFB Archery members they are fas- around, even the slightest hint or drop of gasoline, oil, soap, anything, then they are out of there." "There are a lot of variables to consider," Wall agreed. "I have to figure out which side of the tree the animal will walk on because I can't shoot at it if a tree or limb is in the way. With a rifle you " T"" could just go ahead and shoot and put a little tiny hole between some branches and probably shoot A club member displays a the deer, but you can't do that with an arrow. With razor tip arrow used for. a bow, the slightest blade of grass, If that arrow hits it, can deflect that arrow. dent "Usually with a bow, hunting. ; "And you don't have to wear orange and look like you have to be so close you can smell them." A 75th Sef vices Division organization, the Archery an onion in.a blueberry patch or worry about someClub is a subsidiary of the Hill Rod and Gun Club. one two mountains over shooting at you, because Anyone interested in joining the Archery Club arrows don't reach that far," Wall continued. Wall said another thing to consider is that when peomust purchase a gun club membership, available for $30 per year, and agree to do eight hours of volun- ple go hunting during gun season, they don't see too teer work for the Archery Club. Membership is open many animals because they are all scared away; but to military and civilian employees, and retirees who when people hunt during archery season in August were members when they retired. Contact Luke Top- or September, the animals are still out and busy. "I was sitting out under a tree with my hat pulled after noon weekdays to sign up. per at Ext Member Ellis Wall used to hunt with a rifle, but down over my eyes, half snoozing, and all of a sudden bark is falling down my shirt and there was a switched to bows to give the animals a chance. "You can see and shoot an animal at 200 yards away pesky woodpecker pecking a tree. Another time a with a rifle and that animal has no idea you're in the chipmunk ran across my foot and I've had a squirhe said. vicinity. You don't have to outsmart that animal, as rel jump right up there on my "I guess I just get fascinated with nature as a whole. far as I can. see," Wall said. , . . "With arcn-erequipment, the maximum distance The animals are in their natural state and it's that I would.recommend anyone to shoot from and quiet and peaceful. "There are people who will say there is no more be responsible, would be a total of 40 yards. That isn't with a bow (than with a rifle), my answer 40 more than a distance far. challenge from yards very Shopting one up and try it. Bow hunting is presents too much of a chance of wounding the ani- to that, is - go pickWall said. mal. My goal is to have every shot within 20 yards." more rewarding," Wall currently shoots 85 percent of his game at 20 yards. "A rifle hunter usually sits on a high mountain where they can look all over the valley, because they can shoot that far away. I ride my ATV to the location where I want to hunt - that's where the skill comes in for me," Wall said. "Hunters can't always sit near trails because most of them are overgrown with brush so I have to be picky and think, 'all right, looking at the terrain and the area, if an animal was going to its bedding area or to water, where would it come from and where would it go.' I try and get inside this animal's head and once I figure out what its path would be, I'm going ir Slii to set up and hide in the brush and hope that animal Excelsior bales at 20, 30, 40 and SO yards are commonly used comes within my shooting distance." for target practice; however, dub member do not recomTopper added that animals are astute and aware of mend tuning bows according to performance at this range, cinated with the challenges . archery hunting presents when compared to rifle hunting. .. "You have to get much closer with an arrow. I've passed dozens of shots that would have been automatic with a rifle," said Luke Topper? club presi urn : four-wheeler- ," . : y r their surrounding. POOR COPY Ellis Wall shows off an antelope he shot using a bow and arrow In Wyoming in 1990. WaH has not bought any meat from a grocery atore In 10 years. The archery range is located along Deer Run Drive on the northeast side of the base overlooking Weber of a mile long and Canyon, stretches three-quarte200 yards wide and features indoor and outdoor ranges. Topper said the main advantage of having an indoor shoot is the fact that shooters do not have to worry about how the wind affects their shooting. "Since we are at the mouth of Weber Canyon, the wind is one of the real serious drawbacks to this range. In the trailer there is no wind and we can use the chronograph to really fine tune our bows and see what we've got going," he said. . , .t The indoor range consists of excelsior bales on a table-top- , with paper1 targets of animals or concentric circle targets tacked onto them, at a distance of 20 yards. The same bales and paper targets are arranged at 20, 30, 40 and 50 yard distances outside the trailer on a hill and a broadhead target for razor tip arrows with marked distances up to 60 yards is available close by. For sportsmen who like to shoot known and unknown field course is available. The distances, a course offers a variety of shooting situations from level, uphill, downhill and cross canyon shots; and e foam features paper and targets shaped like deer, antelope, elk, mountain lions and bears in the woods. A red flag is always raised when Archery Club members are shooting so people . . et three-dimension- al life-siz- approaching the range are warned. "People who participate in bow hunting or archery in general develop a real keen sense of distance and ranging, of survival in the wild," Topper stated. A tune-utrailer equipped with an arrow straight-enecutter, grain scale, bow scale, bow press (to take strings on and off), fletcher (to put feathers on the and an indoor paper turning arrows), chronograph , .1 . . f i.i i . t , p r, |