Our 4-H county shoot was last weekend, and that’s what’s been driving my kids to get outside and practice with their bows for the last couple months. They’re both registered for the state shoot, too, but that doesn’t seem to be as important to them as the county shoot was.
In the past, they’ve both been gung-ho to get out and practice every chance they had up until the county shoot, but between county and state, they found every excuse to skip practice. I don’t want to push them to do something they don’t want to do, but if they don’t go out to practice, that means I can’t, either.
This year might be different, though. The youngest sprained his right wrist at summer camp a few days before county shoot. He still tried to shoot at county, but it caused him too much pain, so he had to bow out. That might make the state shoot seem a little more important to him.
And the oldest just didn’t shoot as well as he knows he could at the official shoot. I know he wishes he’d done better, so maybe he’ll want to practice more before the state shoot comes around.
And then there’s me. I could really use the practice. I shot with Colby at our last practice session, and the little varmint came within a few points of beating me in our round of shooting at the 3D targets. That tells me either I need to practice more or he’s shooting a lot better than I’ve been giving him credit for.
I hope between the disappointment of the county shoot and the opportunity to show up their old man, both the boys will be more enthused about going to practice this year. Archery antelope season’s only two months away, and if I’m going to have any hope of sticking a goat, I need a few more rounds on the targets. Well, that and better stalking skills, but I’ll concentrate on one thing at a time.
