Hello Fellow Archers! The spirit of excitement and cooperation was humming in the cool, rainy northern air when we arrived on Wednesday to set our camp trailer and join the volunteers to help get the targets and registration area ready. The ATV crews were carrying big targets out to the three winding course trails while the darkening skies continued to dump rain. We worked to set tarps and awnings for the tables to be used for the registration, raffle, and blanket shoot. As Thursday arrived, more campers and vendors came and helped continue the process of getting everything ready for the shoot. Don Schroeder drove from Twin Falls, Idaho with the colored stakes for the Bowhunter Challenge course and several of us joined him to hike the courses and help set the stakes for the difficult shots required by the challenge. Friday morning registration opened with Lisa Hall, Kathy Warford and myself working to get shooters registered and selling raffle tickets, t-shirts and mugs with the great logo that Shawn Carman designed. The weather blessed us with perfect shooting temperatures while the clouds blew over the mountains that surround the shoot site. Don and Lori Thomas arrived on Friday afternoon and shared a meal of hamburgers with Bill and me before setting up for their presentation. On both Friday and Saturday evening Don and Lori Thomas gave excellent talks on turkey bowhunting and Dangerous game bowhunting, complete with beautiful photographs projected onto a big screen. Having them make the long drive over from their home in Lewiston, Montana to share some of their experiences and wisdom was such a wonderful gift to the clubs involved in hosting the shoot. Thank you Don and Lori!
Saturday afternoon was devoted to novelty shoots, spear headed by John Zeiske, featuring the kids games with a pinata which Jordan organized, and the “adult” shrinking ring target, marble race, and the swinging potato shoot. Jason Christenson and Jessie Roberts won the shrinking ring event, Monti White won both the marble race and the potato shoot.
On Saturday evening before Don and Lori’s talk, the Selkirk Bowhunter chef, Tim Bertling dished up a delicious meal of brisket and fixins, with to-die-for cakes made by his sister. We gathered under the large wooden canopy at the picnic tables for the feast, which was served by Tim and his wife, Denny and John Zeiske. Thanks to Tim and crew for an excellent job of getting us fed!
On Sunday afternoon the awards were given out and the raffle winners were drawn. For the Kids Competition medals were given out for first, second and third places.
PeeWee (6 and under)
Bradley Childers 1st
Maverick Bowerman 2nd,
Bailey McDonough 3rd
Cub (7-10)
Leo Meacham 1st
Noah Roberts 2nd
Barrett Garner 3rd
Youth (11-13)
Josie Mehmke 1st
Wyatt Garner 2nd
Riley Smith 3rd;
Young Adult (14-18)
Henry Lapierre 1st
Sarah Wood 2nd
Thomas Car 3rd
Great shooting from our young archers!
Bowhunter Challenge top score was Jeremiah Dehmert (400), and top woman was Jolie Jantz (295) out of 38 participants. Thanks to Jack Wassard for crafting the beautiful primitive presentation arrow as the top prize for the Bowhunter Challenge course, and Kevin Schroeder for the lovely garden ornament women’s prize. The blanket shoot was the event where everyone who participated got a prize, and Nate Davenport was first to pick off the blanket with his top score for the three courses of 45 targets. The Raffle was aided by a group of young people lining up to draw the winning tickets with “runners” to help carry out the prizes and hand them over to the lucky winners. Many thanks to the folks who donated prizes for our raffle and helped make it really special.
On Sunday evening, Gene Gordner brought his guitar to the blazing fire ring and entertained the group with songs and stories of the cowboy way of life. A fitting ending to a very busy day.
Monday brought sunshine and white puffy clouds scudding across a blue sky. The courses were still open and several people went out to shoot a round or two before packing up to head home.
What a wonderful experience this event was for the many hardy participants who came to the spectacularnorth country; 201 registered shooters and probably another 50 or more non-shooters. They braved the forecasts of rain storms and winds to attend! Mother Nature was kind to us and actually kept the rain to a minimum, and the wind only destroyed a couple of tarps and our old ITB white tent awning that was on its last legs anyway! The targets and courses, the vendors and the camping areas were totally awesome. The leadership of the three clubs came together in a harmonious manner, each providing unique gifts which served to make this a memorable Western States Traditional Rendezvous. It was truly beautiful. Thanks to all who came! We have some extra XL t-shirts available if you’d like to get one, just let Tim, John, or Lisa know.
On Father’s Day the courses will be available again for the Extreme North Idaho Father’s Day Shoot, so those of you who missed this opportunity can have another chance to experience the gorgeous location and wonderful shooting that this special place and community has to offer.
In Gratitude, Janet Houlihan
