I spent the week trying to figure out what my wife wanted to do for her birthday today. I figured the best thing she could have was a day without her constant companion, Sydney, my 4 year old Daughter. Natalie said that was fine, and to take her with me to the Sonoma County Bowman’s Ultimate Bowhunt Archery shoot. So I got to kill 2 birds with one arrow so to speak.
Now my kids are no strangers to archery. Each spring and early summer we hit the Wednesday night 3d league. My older daughters at 13 and 10 have their fair share of year end awards from the archery club. Today however they had to attend a 4-H function all morning and the early afternoon. Little Sis had me all to herself.
Anyone with a 4-5 year old child knows that patience and attention span are not the hallmark of children this age. I had no delusions that I was going to have a easy time dragging a pre schooler over an archery course with 28 targets spread over a 200 acre ranch. I fully expected to have to call it a day after half or less of the targets.
We left home for the shoot and Sydney had her little green bow and a quiver of bright yellow arrows ready to go. At the shoot , she enjoyed the French toast and sausage breakfast as I had a cup of coffee. We were grouped with Hans and Adrienne Olufs, club officers, Archery Pro-Shop owners, and parents of a toddler. They were childless today though and I was grateful that I was with some folks who understood and liked children. Also in our shooting group was Wes Coffin, who I had shot with once before at a 3D night. I found out he had a young child at home as well. So I breathed a sigh of relief that these folks would probably tolerate my daughter as she moved up to shoot closer at the targets and the inevitable arrow search behind the 3d targets.
On the first target Sydney and I kind of fumbled getting her lined up and an arrow nocked, but she shot 3 arrows and we scored and pulled and moved on to the next target without too much fuss and without the group behind us breathing down our neck. With 85 shooters on 28 targets rotating around the potential was there for traffic jams but the day seemed very smooth. Us adults would shoot and then Syd would run up to her spot 5-10 yards from the target and fling her arrows and then look for the wayward ones while we scored. By the fifth target she knew the routine and was nocking her own arrows. While us adults shot from the farther stakes, she hung back and didn’t distract, but was ready to go when it was her time to shoot.
I waited for her to tire of the walking in the ever warming sun, but she seemed to remain jolly. Adrienne is an elementary teacher, and Sydney really took to her friendly and encouraging words. They joked back and forth with one-another the whole day.
After 14 targets I refueled the youngster with a Gatorade and half of a Twix. That was as many targets as a normal Wednesday night, and we were entering new territory. We cautiously started on the back 14. The kid surprised me…She seemed to get stronger and more confident. She said matter-of-factly to me : “Dad you can carry my arrows, but just put them down in front of me and I’ll nock them myself, ‘K?”
So the day continued, with the four of us adults shooting, then Sydney running up close to shoot, usually hitting with one or two arrows, a short arrow search while we scored, and then on to the next target. Hans, Wes and I were pretty evenly matched throughout the day. Wes established a lead and never weakened enough for me to move up on him in the score, and by the end of the shoot he had a score of 864 while I had an 849. A 924 (28 targets x 3 arrows x 11 points.) was a perfect score with a bullseye worth 11 points per arrow, a kill-zone hit was 10 points and anywhere else on the foam critter was 8 points. The highest score of the day was Freestyle Pro Dave Bengston with 906 points.
Sydney finished the day with a smile and 266 hard earned points. As the sole Pee Wee Female Barebow shooter, she was awarded a Blue ribbon and SCB Pin for her accomplishment. You would have thought it was the Vince Lombardi trophy.
I finished the day with second in Men’s Freestyle A class, behind Wes Coffin, Hans took 3rd in Bowhunter freestyle A class, and Adrienne took second in Women’s Bowhunter Freestyle A class. We all agreed it was a good outing. Sonoma County Bowmen put on a first-class shoot, and there were smiles all around, especially for one 4 year old barebow shooter.
