Bull Creek 3-D Program Hoping For Big Year

By Bob Frye.

 

There was a time when the 3-D archery program at Bull Creek Rod and Gun Club was as active as any.

That disappeared for a long while.

There's an effort underway

to change that, though. The Tarentum club, led by members Jason Siefried and Bill Norris, re-initiated a 3-D program on a small scale in 2013. It ramped things up a bit last year and is looking to really grow it starting this spring.

“It's been a lot of work getting to the point where we are now,” Siefried said. “But we keep doing better and better every season.”

Indeed, a few years back, they had just a few old targets to offer shooters. Now the club has 36 or so, including whitetails, standing and bedded elk, caribou, bears, a raccoon, groundhog, porcupine, moose, and a dinosaur that's proven popular with young shooters.

There's even an alligator that came in especially handy last year.

“We had a small pond, so we stuck some duck decoys out there and had the alligator positioned like it was sneaking into the water after them,” Norris said. “The kids just wanted to shoot at it all day. They had a ball.”

The club will offer six shoots, one a month from April through September. They're open to all archers, including those with crossbows.

The course will vary from time to time, with whitetail targets placed to replicate actual hunting scenes dominant at the last one, to help archers get tuned up for bow season, Norris said.

In time, the club may even try to start a 3-D league, or host an International Bowhunting Organization shoot.

That's down the road, though, Siefried said.

For now, the emphasis is on getting shooters — and especially kids — out with their bows, and coming to Bull Creek.

“It seems like every shoot, we're drawing in a few more people, so the snowball's kind of growing,” he said.

Bob Frye is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bfrye@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobfryeoutdoors