HAMPSTEAD — With one eye open, Hampstead resident Jamie Brown sized up the target, pulled back an arrow on her compound bow and let it fly. She struck the 3-D deer in its side from about 25 yards away. "I shot too low," said Brown, sporting her blonde hair in a ponytail while clad in light blue jeans and a T-shirt that read "Yeah, I hunt like a girl." "People don't look at me and say, ‘Oh, she shoots a bow and an arrow.'"
During the week, she's a music instructor at North Carroll High School, but on Sunday, Brown relaxed by shooting still targets in the humid woods during the launch of the 3-D archery range at the United Coon Hunters Association in Hampstead. The range will be open bi-weekly until Sept. 11, said Preston Bowers, club member and organizer of the shoot. Bowers plans to have the range open each summer.
There were 24 3-D targets set up throughout the woods, including beavers, turkeys, bears, deer, bobcats, pigs and coyotes. Most hunters came out to get practice for archery hunting season, which begins in September.
"It keeps the bow in your hand all summer long, so you don't get rusty," Bowers said.
Walking out of the shaded, muddy woods, Manchester resident Donald Kincaid, 47, was chatting with a friend who had just finished the course with him. It was Kincaid's first time shooting on a 3-D course, and he said it was very realistic and there were a good variety of targets.
Kincaid said he's looking forward to hunting season, but he may need to visit the archery range a few more times before it begins. "I'm definitely going to need more practice," Kincaid joked.
Even though he organized the event, Bowers still had time to get out his compound bow and practice himself. Bowers, 31, has been hunting since he was 12, and his 10-year-old son, Colby Smith, is following is his father's footsteps. Though he's not skilled enough to enter the 3-D course, Smith has been practicing shooting box targets.
So far, he can nail a target from 10 yards away, and he's working on shooting from 20 yards away, Bowers said."I'm getting better," Smith said while holding a compound bow that was almost as tall as him. "I really want to go out next summer." In the woods, Hampstead resident Billy Allenbaugh, 17, was getting plenty of on-ground practice.
He said he usually hunts deer and other animals from the trees. Stealth hunting gives Allenbaugh an adrenaline rush because the animals don't know he's above them, he said.
"You're in their house now, and when you shoot something, it's just as big an adrenaline rush," Allenbaugh said. "You get an up-close look at nature that most people don't get to see."
Besides Brown, about 20 people attended the event for summer practice before hunting season opens. Brown said bow hunting is a great way to relax and relieve stress.
"It's something different from my everyday life," Brown said. "I'm used to noise and music all day, but out here in the woods, it's quiet." |
