ECHO VALLEY ARCHERS Shoot Results

One of the best indoor 3D bow shoots… check that THE BEST.

This past Saturday a few of us from Victory Outdoors headed up to West Union, IA to hit up an indoor 3D shoot that I had heard so much about. For the last few years, word has gotten  out that there is an archery experience like nothing I have seen anywhere. This was my first time up to Echo Valley Archers (EVA) and Curtis Goettsch, Owner of Victory Outdoors, has been bragging this place up for years, so when he called and asked if I wanted to shoot in the Team Shoot, I jumped at the opportunity. I would be shooting with Curtis, Dan Gorman, Lee Pec, Tim Rigby and Tim’s 14 year old son.  My first thought was, it’s a bow shoot, see one you’ve seen them all. Man was I wrong! After making my way through the massive crowd of people, I finally realized why Curtis had been bragging this place up. I mean WOW is all I can say. The range was like nothing I had seen before, talk about feeling like you are on a hunt, but then realize it’s just an Indoor 3D shoot.

After getting registered, we hit the practice range and let a few arrows fly. Knowing it was getting close to our six man team lane time, we started getting pumped to get this show on the road. We found out the team shoot was running 45 min behind because there were so many shooters. Not just a few extra they had set a new all time record at EVA for shooters in one day. Time to sit down and let the nerves calm down and grab a bite to eat. The time came and we headed to the first station. I was partnered up with the boss man, Curtis, let it be known that this is the guy that I have yet to find something he is not good at, but hey I’ll let him go first. Just as I expected, he hammers a perfect shot on the first target. I thought to myself. “Great another thing that he can beat me at.” Just kidding! Curtis has shot a lot of 3D over the last 10 years and even has his own mini 3D set up in his backyard. He has worked at this for some time and I was there to learn and sharpen my archery skills. See, 3D Achery is a lot like golf, as long as you get better each time out that is all that matters. I wasn’t worried about beating anyone, I was just working to improve my own skills.

Roughly 2 hours later, we finished the 40 target shoot. We all sat down and started adding up the scores and on a positive note, I didn’t finish last so that was good. I finished a heck of a lot better than I thought I did. Yes if you didn’t guess, Curtis finished on top on Team Victory Outdoors. As a team we did well, placing 18th out of 35 teams. I learned a lot and had a really good time. Indoor 3D can be a great off season tool to make you a better archer!  For more info on ECHO VALLEY ARCHERS