When I was 16, I started bowhunting. My dad, my uncle, and I spent a lot of time shooting together at the farm, eventually graduating from paper plates on hay bales to 3D targets and courses. At the time, I would have told you we were “practicing for hunting.” I don't think that's why I kept shooting.
I was shooting with my dad and my uncle. That was my archery community. I just didn't know it yet.
Around 2010, I moved about two and a half hours away from the farms and most of my hunting opportunities. Eventually, I put the bow down completely. The strange thing is, I never stopped wanting to shoot. At the time, I thought I'd lost my opportunity to hunt. What I'd really lost was the people I shot with. If I'd understood that then, maybe I would have found a shop, club, range, or just some other guys with bows. Instead, I didn't shoot again for more than ten years.
In 2021, my wife Rachel and I rented bows for our anniversary and immediately remembered how much we enjoyed it. We bought a couple of inexpensive bows, some cheap 3D targets, and started shooting in the backyard. And we had FUN. We bought my son his first bow, found a local club, and got him involved in indoor archery. That's when I found the people again.
There were people who just...shot bows all year? Leagues. Tournaments. 3D shoots. People hanging around a pro shop talking about bows for an hour longer than they probably needed to. You mean there's an entire community built around doing the thing I already love doing?
Yes! I was all in.
Eventually, I started shooting at the shop myself. I met people. I found a coach. I made friends. And somewhere along the way, archery stopped being something I did by myself in the backyard and became somewhere I belonged.
There's nothing wrong with shooting alone. I still love standing in my backyard and sending arrows downrange. You don't need tournaments, a league, an expensive bow, or a coach to be an archer. But hobbies are easy to put down.
Life gets busy. Hunting season ends. You skip shooting today, then tomorrow, and before long the bow sits in the case. The community gives you somewhere to show up. People know you. You shoot together, give each other crap, talk equipment, share the good rounds, and understand why one stupid arrow has been bothering somebody for three days.
The backyard gave me peace. The community gave me a reason to keep coming back. That's the part I didn't understand when I was younger.
So if you love shooting a bow, find your people. Maybe that's a pro shop, club, league, or 3D course. Maybe it's just a couple of buddies destroying a target in somebody's backyard. And if you don't know anybody who shoots? Go somewhere archers are. Try a league. Show up at a tournament. Talk to somebody.
Archery is more than pulling your bow out a month before hunting season, and it sure as hell isn't just for the professionals you see on YouTube. There's a community out there full of people who simply love shooting bows.
Go find yours!
Five Arrow Archery