Larry Easton Archery Range

[CliffD]

I hope everyone has been doing well! I haven't been on the forum much, but not that the weather is cooling off, I hope to stop by more often!

A friend loaned me an older, low end bow since my daughter had expressed interest in getting into archery. I used to shoot myself many years ago (I wasn't too bad back then and considered an Olympic tryout)...but I haven't shot for 20 years. Anyway, our garage is extremely deep and I set up a quick range. In a short time, I became impressed with her abilities! She really enjoyed it too and was bugging me several times to let her shoot.

I thought, well, if she's going to get into this, I need to step her up to her own bow before she develops any bad habits. We picked out a decent Youth bow and all the accessories. We got home and I let her fire off a few rounds to get used to the draw, let off, etc. I then started teaching her how to use the sights. She obviously picked it up very quickly lol.

Our "in house" range is only about 30 feet. Here is her first attempt at using freshly installed sights:



I make a few quick tweaks and within a short amount of time, here is the result:



So I decide she needs a bit more range. Yesterday, I took her and one of her friends to the Larry Easton Archery Range at Schramm Park outside of Gretna. We duly paid our $5 vehicle pass, spent a few minutes walking through the aquarium and the girls each made a $3 donation. We then head up to the range.

I had bought my daughter's friend an inexpensive bow set from Wal-Mart before heading out so she wouldn't feel left out. We did some ground targets and they were consistently hitting their marks. I finally let them go up onto the stand to really test their skills.



The friend with the low powered bow struggled to reach the target, but soon she was compensating. It was a bit funny to watch the arrows bounce back though lol. But, again I was impressed as every arrow either hit the target or landed cleanly in the line of fire.

We then took the trail and we all had a blast. I was making them walk quietly and I'd whisper as we came upon the next target. They were in full blown hunting mode lol. I only allowed them one shot per target each before we moved on. Though they had several on target hits, they only got 3 clean "kills". But, during the 3 hours or so we were there, they didn't lose a single arrow

All in all, it was a blast. I highly recommend this place to anyone wanting to get out and bow shoot for an afternoon. It has an awesome practice and sight in range and the trail is more fun than you can imagine

[SemperFiGuy]

CliffD:   Congratulations on the Father-Daughter Bonding Experience.   She's a Quick Study.   And a Good Shot.

Yes, That Larry Easton Range is a Cool Range.

With some Excellent, Odd Animal Targets to stimulate interest in bow shooting.

And so's the air rifle gallery and the trap range and the 5-stand and the rifle-pistol range.   Cool Stuff.

And the way you can tell who's an RSO, from their dress.   And behavior.   A standard for all ranges to adopt.

Just came back from doing an NRA range evaluation for an Ike's Range in Iowa.   They had a Walking Archery Range, sorta like Sporting Clays for Bowhunters.  Walk along the range, come around a curve, there's an....................Alligator!

Or a Wild Pig.   Coyote.   Whatever.

Made me think that a lot of practice arrows must be laying around just for the EZ pickup.    (Used to print my name on my golf balls.   Then realized that I was supplying actual testimony about my slice to whomever might come along later through the rough and find them.   "Oh.....here's another K-- M-----!!!   Found three this week!")


sfg

[CliffD]

Thanks SFG! Yeah, it was a lot of fun. They talked non-stop about it all day today lol. We were going to head down again for a bit, but I had to get her friend back, get groceries...all the non cool stuff.

I did find a couple of arrows buried in the grass, but they were either missing the point or the nock. I went ahead and picked them up and put them in the trash with the other discarded hopefuls  I am sure there were a few behind the trail targets though. I told them before we hit the trail..."Don't miss" lol.

Speaking of trash...there was absolutely none to be found! I've always had this group clean up the area whenever we head out, fishing mostly. We came prepared yesterday and never saw a single piece of paper out of place.

I'll have to stop by Ike's range when we're in the area. Thanks for the report!

[abbafandr]

(Used to print my name on my golf balls.   Then realized that I was supplying actual testimony about my slice to whomever might come along later through the rough and find them.   "Oh.....here's another K-- M-----!!!   Found three this week!")

Slice, what's a slice?  Snap hook, well that's an entirely different kettle of fish

[SemperFiGuy]

Slice, what's a slice?  Snap hook, well that's an entirely different kettle of fish

A Hook--as We All Know--is just a Slice in the Other Direction.   Think of it as a Great Big Draw Shot.   Like:  "i've been working on my draw.....Gettin' better!"

Hooks are usually --as we all also know--somewhat more spectacular than slices.   Like a Snap Hook, Duck Hook, etc.   It can be hard to believe that a golf ball will actually behave in such manner.

The Good Thing about Hook Shots is that they sometimes hit trees, rocks, stone walls, hazards, spectators, golf carts, and other players......And then wind up right back in the fairway as a playable ball.   Slices never do.

The Other Good Thing about Hook Shots is all you gotta do is move your left hand grip toward the right, then inject your left hand w/Novocaine to make it thoroughly numb, and the Hook Shot simply disappears.   

Now--if anybody wants to talk about Flinches in trapshooting......

sfgBTW:  My book, "How to be Lousy in Two Important Sports," is under current editorial review.

[shovelhead69]

"Larry Easton Archery Range at Schramm Park outside of Gretna"


Thanks for the post. I have been looking for a good range for the kids.







A coward blocks and hides when he is not man enough to confront in person.