We Should Have Ourselves a Coon Shoot!

Written by Walt in Archery

Over the past few months my life has been especially hectic. Between my wife’s school schedule and my work schedule, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to myself. It seems like if I’m not working, I’m taking care of children – sometimes I even do both at the same time.

Pistol shooting has been a complete bust this season. Archery, on the other hand, has been something I’ve been able to do when random bits of free time present themselves.

Making short semi-regular trips to the archery club has allowed me to become a more active member. It has also allowed me to discover that I enjoy Field and Indoor Target Archery every bit as much as I do 3D Archery.

Being one of the few members to regularly use the Outdoor Field Course at Stowe Archers, I got to talking to another member about running a Fall Field Tournament of some sort.

I took to the Stowe Archers website and posted a sign-up form gauging interestOpens in a new tab.. I was hopeful that it would stir up a few interested shooters but it was a complete bust. Myself and two others put our names on the list.

Last week, right before the Monday Night Youth GroupOpens in a new tab. started, I had a very brief conversation with another member. He suggested that perhaps we try something a little different and hold a Coon Shoot.

On the outside I was politely smiling and nodding, on the inside I thinking that this guy was out of his mind.

NFAA Raccoon Archery Target

“We setup a raccoon target on all 14 bunks and shoot at night”

“We shoot at night?”

“Yeah, guys bring their own lanterns and flashlights. It would be a maximum of 30 yards for each shot”

When our very short conversation concluded, I was at a loss for words. I mean, think about it. You would have a bunch of guys walking through the woods, in the dark, slinging arrows at 300 feet per second. The course is laid out well at Stowe but I have to imagine that the likelihood of someone getting stuck with an arrow is greater in the dark than it is in the daylight?

By the time I convinced myself that the idea was borderline batshit crazy, I put it out of my mind and wondered how I could kick up interest for a Fall Field Tournament that lacked enough interest to get it off the ground.

As this week has gone by, a funny thing has happened. The concept of the Coon Shoot has popped into my mind at odd times. Oddly enough, each time it came up, it won me over a little more. I’ve gone from thinking that it was a bad idea to actually wanting to see it happen.

We have a general membership meeting at Stowe Archers today and I think I’m going bring it up when asked about new business. I’ve never done a Coon Shoot nor have I heard of anyone else in the area holding one. Perhaps it is something different enough to spark some interest and get people out on our Field Course.

Walt

Hi There, My name is Walt White and as the name of this blog suggests, I am a Pennsylvania resident. In addition to having numerous hobbies that I discuss on my blog - I’m also the father of three little girls and a pitbull.

2 thoughts on “We Should Have Ourselves a Coon Shoot!”

  1. We do night USPSA-style matches and one thing that helps just to keep everybody from walking into each other all night while maintaining some kind of light discipline (no really bright lights other than the shooter) is we get a bunch of those chemical glow sticks and tie one on in front and one in the rear. Just anywhere convenient, I use my belt. They throw enough light to identify people and even see the ground a bit but don’t help the shooter see the target at all.

    1. Doug,
      That is an excellent suggestion. I’m going to try and get one of these events going and plan on using glow sticks to mark shooting positions.

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