Turkey Hill Ranch - 3-D Archery Tournament

[Phil Lilley]

I did something yesterday I'd never done before. Not really up my alley (I'm not a big bow hunter and hadn't shot in years), but I traveled with about 18 guys from Branson Friday evening to Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp north of Rolla, on the Gasconade River, and participated in a 3-D Archery Tournament on Saturday.

It turned out of be a really nice event, great people, wonderful ranch on the river. Thirty targets over about a half mile with shots at all angles, with obstructions, through trees, branches and awkward stances.

About 70 people participated. It was their 3rd year of hosting the tournament. They had some nice prizes and drawings. There were "Fun Shots" too. $1 per shot. The shots included shooting an apple off a foam head, a ping pong ball, a steel turkey shoot (about a 3-inch hole in a metal turkey shaped plate) and others. Distance was 20 yards.

Food was great too. Only $20 for the tournament, breakfast and lunch. Most of the archers went through the round twice, some did it 3 times. It took about 90 minutes to complete.

They're planning it again next September. I'll be sure to post it here on OA.

[fishinwrench]

3-D shoots are a blast, I used to run all over the Northern half of the state to shoot the different club courses, then for some reason they stopped putting them on. If they start making a comeback I'll have to get back into it for sure.

I'll never forget one we shot in Laurie during a bad ice storm. You'd study your target for a bit, decide on yardage and pick a flight path, draw your bow.....then your feet would start sliding. Next thing you knew you and your equipment were crashing downhill through the woods to the closest holler. It was pretty dangerous really and a few guys got hurt kinda bad, but it was absolutely hilarious, and we we're all beat, bruised and sore for weeks afterwards.

[Mitch f]

I used to shoot the 3D archery range owned by McDonnell Douglas for their employees back in the eighties. We had a heck of a club back then and even had Fred Bear attend one event. For me the highlight of the events was having Darryl Pace, the Olympic champion archer, compete in the event with us. Since he was used to shooting at standard yardages, he wasn't used to having to guess the yardage and didn't compete well....however, he later was given the yardages with a laser range finder and I guarantee you couldn't put a quarter in between his arrow and the bulls eye on every shot after that. It was truly amazing. The good ole boys stopped snickering then.