Archer finds fun, success in sport

Wendy Drake holds onto the arrow as she

pulls back her bow. Her eyes are focused on her target at the end

of the room. Her feet and shoulders are squared up. The muscles in

her arms remain taut.

She doesn’t breath. Her only thought

is: Dot. Dot. Dot.

She fires. It’s a hit.

The moments before Drake releases the

arrow at her target are tense. Even at a practice shoot she feels

the pressure.

“I read this book, “Idiot Proof

Archery,” and it says to think that before you shoot,” Drake

explains. “I had target panic.”

Target panic is when an archer has

anxiety about releasing an arrow. This can cause the archer to

release too soon or make it seem impossible to release the arrow at

the target.

The book taught Drake to clear her mind

by repeating “dot, dot, dot” before shooting. She also implemented

a routine of quickly shooting 20 arrows at target at 5 yards to

help her overcome her anxiety.

It’s a method that has apparently

worked. Just last month Drake shot her highest score in

competition.

“I felt like I accomplished my goal,”

she said. “My goal was to shoot a 290 and I did it in Vegas at one

of the biggest indoor shoots.”

Drake competed at the National Field

Archery Association World Archery Festival in Las Vegas. She

finished the three-day competition with a total score of 859.

Target archery scoring is based upon

where the arrow hits in the target. Targets are marked with evenly

spaced rings that have score values. The closer to the center an

arrow hits the higher the score.

Hitting her goal came down to the last

target. It had been a long-three day shoot. Some 3,000 people

competed in the event. There were about 60 people shooting at a

time.

“I had two minutes left and three

arrows. I knew I was almost out of time,” she said. “I was shooting

the best ever. But I had shot a 28 the target before and I had to

get a perfect 30 to shoot 290.”

Much of Drake’s spare time focuses on

archery. She spends about three times a week practicing archery

indoors and outside. She often uses her lunch break from her job as

an accounting deputy with Lincoln County to practice. She’s the

president of the Libby Archery Club. Drake and her husband, Eric,

travel around the state and country competing in archery

shoots.

Drake, whose maiden name is LaCoss,

graduated from Libby High School in 2003. She grew up participating

in outdoor activities, but just a few years ago was very much a

novice to archery.

She got her first bow in 2008. Eric,

her boyfriend at the time, gave it to her as a birthday gift.

Drake admits to being a little bit

upset at the gift.

“I thought he spent too much time

shooting his bow,” she said. “The first time I went to shoot we

were going to a wedding and I was in a dress.”

Those first shots didn’t go so well,

but Drake persevered. Her friend, Emily Veyna, who competes

professionally, encouraged her.

“I’m not really a competitive person,

but I like hanging out with my fiends,” she said. Archery was also

a way to spend time with Eric.

Drake went to her first competition two

years ago with little knowledge of the sport. Since the she has

placed first in state indoor and outdoor competitions. She placed

14th at the Western Classic Trail Shoot in California.

It wasn’t much longer before she went

hunting for the first time, both with rifle and bow. That didn’t

come easy either for the self-described animal lover.

“The first year I went with my husband

and friends I didn’t really want to shoot the deer,” she said. “I

pretended I couldn’t get a good shot. Then there was a deer about

50 yards away and I had to shoot it. It was an instant adrenaline

rush.”

Now she hunts every year. Her wedding

last year was scheduled around archery competitions and she spent

part of her honeymoon deer hunting.

These days Drake prefers to hunt with

friend Juli Cooper, but she and Eric still spend time doing

archery. They’ve also opened Backcountry Archery Proshop.

“I always used to ask Eric ‘Why do you

need two bows?’” she recalled. “Now we own our own shop and he

still has two bows and I have three bows.”

Drake also competes in outdoor 3D

shoots, which generally uses animal-shaped targets.

“I really like 3D because you have to

judge your own distance,” Drake said.

Archery can be physically demanding.

Shooting at targets all day means pulling a bow back and holding it

about 50 times. Drake often finds herself with sore arms. Outdoor

competitions often mean hiking up hills to get to targets.

Last year at a state competition the

weather provided a challenge of its own.

“It was raining and snowing,” Drake

said. “I had bruises on my arms from the hail.”

No matter the conditions, it’s how

Drake prefers spending her time. Whether she’s at a competition or

practicing at the archery range.

“I like going out shooting with the

girls and hanging out together,” she said.