Bearpaw Bowmen holding 3D Archery Shoot Sunday

Bearpaw Bowmen Archery Club is holding its Spring 3D Archery Shoot Sunday at Eagles Campground in Beaver Creek Park.

The 25 3D targets - life-sized animal targets - will be a variety of sizes from the archery club's collection, which includes everything from small rabbits to big game and even a Sasquatch, club President Clyde R. Thomas Jr. said. And the shooting distances will be anywhere from 3 feet to 70 yards.

"That's why they have these 3D shoots is to get people into practice of judging distances and elevations," Thomas said. "It might be uphill, it might be downhill, it might be crosswind. I've been at shoots where I've been able to reach from the stake to the target and touch it with my arrow and other ones are 70 yards out there.

"Most hunters don't usually shoot 70 yards, but it's a fun thing is what it is. It gets you into practice for things like that," he added.

The 3D shoots have a mix of bow hunters and other archers who are into archery for the competition.

"There's people that hunt all the time with their bows that come to the shoots, but then there's other people that that's all they do all summer long is go to competitionsl," Thomas said, "And then, of course, the families that come to the shoot, it's all for fun. They get together with their family and they have a family competition, or a group of guys get together and they have a competition between all the guys.

"We have a lot of people that have never gone to one before and they come out and we take them through and we show them how it works," he added.

The competition will also have different distances set for traditional and compound bows, and for the youngest group of archers.

The competition will be broken into three age groups of 12 and under, 13-17 and adults, 18 and older, with a cost of $10 for competitors 17 and younger, and $15 for adults. They can enter in any of six categories.

Two of the categories are for traditional bows - Longbow and Recurve. The other four categories - Freestyle, Unlimited, Limited and Barebow - are for compound bows, and the divisions are set according to how many aids, such as sights, pins, releases and compensators, are allowed from Freestyle, where anything goes, to Barebow, which doesn't even allow sights or releases, Thomas said.

Registration for the competition, which is open to all archers, begins at 8 a.m., and all shooting will be done by 3 p.m.

They will have concessions onsite, and beyond the awards for each of the classes, the club is holding a raffle and awarding door prizes. Current COVID-19 restrictions will be followed.

Normally, Thomas said, the competition gets about 40 to 50 people, but they've had as many as about 150 people.

While the weather is looking good for Sunday, the competition will go one no matter the weather, Thomas said, and that can often affect the number of people who show up.

"Two years ago, we had maybe 10 people because it snowed 3 feet," Thomas added, but the course was set and the hardy shooters came out for it.

Other events

The spring shoot is the first of the group's two annual shoots. The Bearpaw Bowmen Barber Ranch Two-day 3D Shoot is held Father's Day every year.

This year the June shoot, held on the Barber Ranch in the Bear Paw Mountains, will be June 19-20.

Normally, Thomas said, they expect around 500 people from across Montana and nearby states, as well as into Canada.

"It's almost like a mini town out there at Frank and Bettie Barber's," he said, adding that the shoot was canceled last year due to the pandemic, but the previous year they had 110 campers and RVs brought in by people camping out there for the shoot.

Some people, Bearpaw Bowmen members and competitors alike, stayed out there for a week, he added.

This year, unless conditions change at the border, they don't expect Canadian participants-some of whom are world champion shooters, he said, including a 65-year-old shooter who has gone to and won at world championships for the past 10 years. And she's pretty serious about scoring, he added.

But most people who come to the two Havre-area shoots are from Montana and in it for fun and camaraderie, Thomas said.

They compete around the state all year around, and even the 45 members of the Havre group will travel together to attend shoots around the state and, in a normal year, the 12-13 shoots just across the border into Canada.

Anyone interested in the shoots or the group can get info online at http://www.bearpawbowmen.com and the Bearpaw Bowmen Archery Club Facebook page.

People can also call Thomas at 265-4572, Nick Siebrasse at 390-0402, or Mark Daniel at 390-3579.