I am by no means a professional archer, but that doesn’t mean I don’t take shooting seriously. I shoot as many 3D tournaments as I can, plus the 3D outdoor summer league at my local archery club. I have made it a point to not push my kids into shooting a bow, since they are still very young and I don’t want to drive them away from the sport by being overly aggressive with them. My oldest daughter, Caitlyn, started shooting summer league with me last year, but her interest fizzled out after about the fifth week, or halfway through the season. At the end of the year, she went to the league banquet with me and they gave her a camouflage backpack for her effort. I think that helped keep her interested and this year we are nearly halfway through, and she is still going strong wanting to go along and shoot every target.
This year my four year old daughter, Emily, also wanted to start shooting. She did pretty well her first time out, shooting 14 of 20 targets before she wanted to do something else. She skipped a couple weeks and went along again today, but she only wanted to walk along with us. She did end up shooting a few targets, but it’s not a priority for her. I need to remember she is only four years old, and the course is roughly a mile long of hills and valleys.
Then there is me. I didn’t shoot particularly well today. The course took pretty heavy damage in a major windstorm last week. I was struggling with my feeling sorry for myself over a less than ideal trail camera card pull yesterday and the guilt of not helping clear downed trees on the course instead of shooting. The girls were fighting a little about things little girls fight about. I was getting frustrated.
Suddenly it hit me. It’s the 4th of July. There have been generations of heroes who fought and died to make this a free nation which allows me to do the things I love. The little things that were bothering me seemed to fade away, and I remembered I needed to stay positive and encourage the girls to have fun. If the fun goes away, so does the interest. If we are to ensure today’s youth gets involved in hunting and shooting and stays involved, we need to get them involved and keep them interested. Be patient with them, and remember, keep it all in perspective.