Teamwork rejuvenates Fort Sill archery range

By Mr. James Brabenec (IMCOM)October 8, 2015

Perfect practice
1 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Master Sgt. Kurt Douglas practices his archery skills at the Fort Sill Archery Range Oct. 2, 2015. Douglas from the Fires Center of Excellence Detachment took a late lunch to fire a couple quivers of arrows before heading back to work. The improved r... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Securing shade
2 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Marine Warrant Officer Eric Weidel secures camouflage netting to a tent frame providing a shaded area for people to practice their archery. Marines and Soldiers from Warrant Officer Basic Course Class 16-15 did a class project to rejuvenate the Fort ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Classy warrant officers
3 / 3 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT SILL, Okla. Oct. 8, 2015 -- A short drive from the Natural Resources compound west on Punchbowl Road then left onto a winding gravel road the stresses of everyday life and work drift away on an Oklahoma zephyr. There at the Fort Sill Archery Range, archers preparing for fall's hunts perfect age old skills releasing arrows to fly straight and true into targets.

Tranquility bathes those who practice here. On the range's south side beyond Medicine Creek, the eminence of Medicine Bluffs rise up, silent and impervious, an eternal sentinel hushing the surrounding landscape while calming the soul. In that sanctuary, focus pinpoints as archers draw bows, breathe and loose arrows.

Unlike those bluffs, the archery range had shown its age due to a lack of funds and manpower to care for it. All that changed through a joint effort between Sportsmen Services and 19 Soldiers and Marines attending Warrant Officer Basic Course (WOBC) 16-15 here.

Mark Conklin, Sportsmen Services supervisor, provided the equipment and materials, and WOBC students chipped in the manpower to see the project through to completion. Archers can now fire arrows at ground level shaded by three 30-by-15-foot tent frames covered with camouflage netting or ascend two steel platforms that raise them about 6.5 feet off the ground giving them the feel of shooting from a tree stand. Targets stand at 5-foot intervals from 10 to 40 yards away with one farther at 50 yards for long-shot artists. Six-foot high cylindrical hay bales back each framed target.

Key components of the renovation -- the guard towers and hay bales -- came from post, cost-free other than moving them to the archery range. Larry Aller, Range Operations chief, said Soldiers previously used the towers to guard Contingency Operations Location Sanders during training exercises. As the training facility is no longer being used, its accessories were freed up for other needs.

The hay comes courtesy of the Fort Sill Agricultural Lease program that Chris Deurmyer, program manager oversees. Each year, farmers raise and cut hundreds of bales from Fort Sill's training areas providing feed for their cattle. That agrarian management helps keep the post's wild lands open and useful for military training.

A boon to Conklin's small staff, the warrant officers class project arrived at the right time shortly before fall hunts now in progress.

"We're limited in our manpower in what we have here with four special duty Soldiers, but three of whom work the Sportsmen Services front desk," said Conklin, who added the office provides 24-hour access to Fort Sill ranges. "As I requested and received materials, the warrant officers built and assembled the range improvements."

Throughout the rehab, work progressed when archers were less likely to be out practicing. In fact, Conklin said the range remained open throughout the effort.

The towers give hunters a second place to practice on high as Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation also operates an archery range with raised platforms at Lake Elmer Thomas Recreation Area.

Conklin said the converted guard towers should prove beneficial to hunters.

"When shooting from an elevated position, most archers shoot over the top of the animal," said Conklin. "This usually results in missing the animal or even worse, hitting but only wounding it."

In those instances, too often deer or elk run away, suffering and dying lost to the hunter.

"We're trying to educate people getting them a little more experience shooting from an elevated position," said Conklin.

Deurmyer, the post's wildlife biologist, said the improved range will benefit people who use it for recreation as well as those who work to keep healthy deer and elk populations on post.

"Any time you can get good practice and be a better shot, hunters will realize a more successful, more fun hunt. Perfect practice makes perfect," he said.

Marine Warrant Officer Scott Leising said once he and Conklin started the project, he and his classmates worked hard to speedily complete it.

"With no funding coming in, this was a way to give back to a resource that needed improvement with no cost to the Marine Corps or the Army," said Leising.

Growing up in upstate New York, he has enjoyed hunting most of his life. Patience, especially in bow hunting can be crucial for success, something he demonstrated at great length waiting till near the end of the drawing to finally hear his number called to claim his elk hunting permit.

"I've been out there practicing every day for the past two weeks," he said, appreciating that the archery range is a short drive from where he lives on post. "As a user, I couldn't ask for a better place."

Like his classmate, Warrant Officer Tyler Wetter enjoys hunting though bow and arrow is a more recent weapon he's taken up expanding his hunting craft.

"I was stationed here from 2010 to 2014, and the archery range was not that good, so I went to a facility in town to practice," he said.

Now, he whets his archery appetite in mere minutes a few times each week before his drive home at night.

An avid hunter, Wetter is a perfect example of the military man E.J. Ardoin and Glen Wampler have sought to attract to Fort Sill's woods and fields. Wetter is even one of Wampler's "smoke pole" hunters, as he enjoys hefting his muzzleloader harkening back to Davy Crockett, iron sights and stalking game animals before the days of advanced technology.

"Between this and the privately owned weapons range it means a lot to have this form of recreation available," said Wetter.