Mit-ti-Quab Archery Club

At our banquet this past spring, 2009, a survey was conducted to determine just how much interest there was among club members about creating an outdoor range.  The survey results were highly in favor of having an outdoor range and it was suggested that we try to work with the city of Wadena and lease the property that the club had used for an outdoor range from 1992-1994.  It is known as the "old slaughterhouse property", and is located on the Southeast edge of Wadena along County Highway 100.  The city currently was, and is, using the land to dump street sweepings during the summer, and dumping snow during the winter.  About half the land is open, the other half is wooded.

After looking over the property, and thinking that it would make a nice little outdoor range (with enough area to set up 14 targets which would make it a legal NFAA Field Course, or could also be used as a 3D range).  President Dave Trout and Sec/Treas Elroy Podratz met with the city council with a proposal and course layout and the city agreed to lease it to the club under the same conditions as had previously been set up.  We were given permission to use the property three days a week (we chose Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday) as long as we posted signs warning the public that the area was being used by the club for archery shooting.

Elroy Podratz and Gary Larsen spent a considerable amount of time getting the course laid out and measuring distances to targets.  Elroy had 6 target butts to donate to the club, and the club had two styrofoam animal targets along with the 4x4 target butt from the indoor range.  Dave Trout had Anita Hoeper sew up two fiber bags that were filled with plastic for two more target sites.  One target butt was used for two distances: 60 & 65 yards.  There are 12 target sites with a layout for 2 more (an NFAA Field Course has 14 targets.  Most of the target areas were set up in the woods and distances range from 10 yards to 80 yards.  A shooter would walk around a path in the woods and stop to shoot at each target at the designated spot (anywhere from 1 to 4 arrows), then retreive (and score if they wished) and move on to the next target.  A full field round consists of 28 targets, so an archer would have to go around the course twice if he wanted to shoot a full field round.

A work night was set up for Thursday, August 20th, 2009, with the club furnishing hotdogs, chips and water.  Club members who showed up to work were Dave Trout, Elroy Podratz, Ron Broker, Todd Anderson, Cory Anderson, Conrad Van Batavia, and Jay Fitzsimmons with his two sons.  Most of the work got finished that night, and organized shooting began on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009.  Although the maximum number of shooters on a given night was 6,  all enjoyed shooting the new range and it is hoped that the low attendance was due to the late date when the course was finally ready and that next summer the attendance will be better.