Kalispell youths draw a bead on archery skills

Three fingers were hooked around the bowstring.

Feet were shoulder-width apart.

One arm was outstretched.

The other hand pulling, straining … way, way back … almost there … finally to the side of the mouth.

Sight down the arrow, then release it.

One arrow bounces off the target; another arrow skids along the floor behind the target - but no real bull's-eyes.

Yet.

"Awww! Durn it. I was going for the bull's-eye," Ciara Rickard, 8, of Kalispell moaned after one shot.

Her friend Hailey Kouby, 7, of Kalispell had to lean back as she struggled with the six-pound pull of her bow. A light adult bow has a 50-pound pull.

"Kids are used to playing video games with their thumbs. Now they're using the muscles in their backs," said shop manager Joe Drager of Spirit Quest Archery.

The archers ranged in age from 7 to 13 -most measuring their bow-and-arrow experience in weeks or less.

This was an after-school outing of the Kalispell Parks and Recreation Department's fledgling archery program, funded by a $500 national grant.

In January, the department began taking youths from Elrod School - where the city has a five-day-a-week after-school program from 3:30 to 5:45 p.m. - and sending them by van to Spirit Quest for archery lessons and practice.

The sessions are every other week from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays. For information, people can call 758-7975.

The current archery program runs into June, with the department considering reviving it in the fall.

Each archery session has had the maximum of 12 Elrod after-school students volunteering to go.

"If the kids continue to enjoy it, we'd like to continue offering it," said Jennifer Young, the department's recreation supervisor.

In late January, Rickard's mom signed her up for the archery sessions without asking her. Kouby's mom did ask her prior to signing.

"I said: 'What's archery?' She said: 'It's bows and arrows,'" Kouby said.

Each in her second archery session, both girls liked shooting arrows.

So how close to a bull's-eye has either shot?

Kouby held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. A quarter-inch separated Rickard's fingers.

Rickard's last shot of the day hit the edge of the white bull's-eye.

She shouted: "That's as close as I got the last time."

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com