Stansbury Oquirrh Bowmen practice skills indoors at Deseret Peak in anticipation of big weekend shoot

At Deseret Peak, a line of archers stand with arms stretched back, bracing before releasing arrows through the air toward 3-D artificial animal targets across the indoor arena. It is mostly silent, save the sound of arrows slicing through the air and thumping against their targets.

This is the scene nearly every Thursday from November to the end of February as the Stansbury Oquirrh Bowmen Archery League — and anyone else who wants to participate — practice their skills during the Winter Indoor 3-D Animal League.

“We’ve got 60 to 70 shooters every Thursday night,” said Jay Walk, president of the Stansbury Oquirrh Bowmen.

Life-size animals, including bears, turkey, fish, fox, elk, warthog, coyote, cougar and even a jackalope, serve as targets for the archers hoping to improve their skills or just have fun.

During the winter, shooting is held inside at the indoor arena. At other times of the year, it’s done outside at the Deseret Peak Archery Range.

Between 20 to 30 percent of those in attendance last Thursday evening were from the Salt Lake Valley. Walk said this is the only facility nearby where archers can shoot the long distances indoors offered here.

“In the winter they have no place to shoot long distances indoors,” he said.

Other indoor facilities in Salt Lake, for example, only allow about 30 to 35 yards, while archers can shoot up to 65 yards at Deseret Peak.

“The archers in Tooele County are very fortunate,” Walk said.

Like Walk, the majority of people at the league on Thursday were bow hunters.

“This gives them a place to practice all year long,” he said.

Tooele resident Bryan Warr, who is the secretary/treasurer of the league, has been shooting for 28 years. Warr is a bow hunter as well and said hunting with a bow presents unique challenges, like getting close to an animal.

He said he also enjoys bow hunting because there aren’t as many people around and he gets to view wildlife in their natural state.

Walk, who is from Grantsville and is also president of the Utah Bowmen’s Association, has been involved in archery since 1957. When Walk was working as a welding apprentice, he met Jim Pickering, another apprentice, who convinced him to pick up a bow.

“We took his motorcycle into Skull Valley and hunted rabbits,” Walk said. “Jim went on to be probably one of the greatest archers ever. So I picked it up with that and ended up doing shooting competitions.”

Walk’s wife, Saranell, even started shooting and still holds a distance world record in the women’s amateur.

Last year, Walk and his wife — both 71 — drew Vernon permits and were able to bag bucks.

“I’ve been in this game forever and I still get excited,” he said when talking about the animals he and his wife were able to get.

All of Walk’s four children grew up shooting bows. Three of the kids — Ron, Randy and Kristie — bow hunt, while Wendy doesn’t. However, she shoots bows in competition and even holds a world record for shooting 800 yards when she was a teenager. That record still stands.

“It’s been a family thing,” Walk said. “Our whole vacations my kids knew was bow season.”

Walk’s son Randy is even president of Hoyt — a well known Salt Lake City-based company that manufactures archery equipment.

Over the years Walk has been involved in the sport, he said the thing he has enjoyed most is the relationships with the people he’s met.

“If I look over the 50 years I’ve been doing this, the biggest single factor is the people I’ve met,” he said. “I’ve never been a real top notch shooter, but the people I’ve been able to meet have been great.”

Grantsville resident Cory Brunson, vice president of the league, has been involved since 2002. He said the winter indoor 3-D animal league and competitions available to archers is great practice for the hunt.

“It’s good exercise, too,” he said, adding the league draws a lot of people from Salt Lake. “People come out here because of the long distance shooting that can be done here.”

Jay Hayden, who travels from Hooper to shoot at Deseret Peak, said he’s been shooting for 27 years.

“It’s an individual sport,” he said, “so it’s all you, not a team, so there’s a lot of gratification when you work toward mastering it.”

The ability of participants range from amateur to professional, and women even get involved in the action.

“A lot of women come out here,” Walk said. “It makes it nice when the women can come out and shoot with their husbands or boyfriends.”

In Linda Reed’s case, she shoots to spend time with her family who also join in. The Grantsville resident has been shooting for about three years and really enjoys it.

“My husband and youngest started shooting and got me into it,” she said. “I get to spend time with the kids and it’s good practice.”

Shooting fees for a member of the Stansbury Oquirrh Bowmen is $5, for members of the Utah Bowmen’s Association it’s $8, and for those who are unaffiliated it’s $10, which Walk said is still a great deal.

Much of the league, which has about 60 members, is preparing for the eighth annual Deseret Peak 3-D Indoor Shoot happening Jan. 17 and 18. Last year the event drew 360 people from all over Utah and the West, hoping to win at least $3,000 in total cash and prizes. The first year the shoot was held, it only attracted 50 people.

“It has turned into one of the biggest and nicest shoots in the state,” Walk said.

This weekend the indoor arena will be transformed into a natural outdoor setting for the shoot, complete with hillsides of dirt, berms and even a pond. The 3-D artificial animal targets will be placed throughout the scenes as they would in their natural environment. The smell of the arena will also be enhanced with 50 to 60 recycled pines trees leftover from Christmas.

The competition will include bow hunter and freestyle money shoots, non-competitive shoots with prizes, and a team shoot.

Doug Palmer, of Draper, travels to Deseret Peak to “shoot with the best league in the state,” he said. Palmer plans on attending the shoot this weekend and said archery can actually yield impressive cash and prize totals.

The public is invited to Deseret Peak to watch the competition this weekend, which will be a good opportunity to see some of the best shooters around. Pickering is even going to be there, Walk said.

“We’ll have a good number of the top shooters from Utah and that’s a good number of the top people in the United States,” he said. “Utah has some tremendous shooters.”

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com