Originally posted by: I should be fishin' on 9/24/2007 8:43:05 PM

Celeste and I went to the DEC in Avon, NY this past Sunday to celebrate the National
Hunting and Fishing Days. They had everything there. She fished for a while, I ate
a buffalo burger (Actually it was a sausage) and Celeste was able to try out a small
compound bow. She hit the 3-D deer target 2 out of 3 times..... and she fell in love
with it! That's my girl! I have wanted to take up archery for years now, and my
baby took the bull by the horns and did it herself!

We were getting ready to catch the shuttle bus back to our car, when I saw some
vendors we hadn't looked at. One we walked past sold all kinds of bows and arrows.
I went to the fishing tackle vendor and Celeste kept nagging me to see how much
the bows cost. FINALLY I went with her to them and we looked at the long bows.
( I guess that is what they are called) The man running the booth asked what she
could pull back. I shrugged, not knowing. He had her pull back one and it was too
tight. Then he had her pull back another, he looked content. Then he disappeared
and I saw him pulling up 3 arrows from the boxes of arrows he had for sale for $1
each.. They had no arrow tips on them, just the feathers. He handed them to her
and said... "Here ya go, now you have your FIRST bow." She was THRILLED!!!!! He
told her that next year, if she outgrows it, to come back and he'd set her up again.

We came home and she had a grand time. She was shooting at an old tomato today!
With practice, she is going to get good I think. She may never hunt... but she may
just have begun a new hobby.

I hope next year, Celeste and I can go back and tell the man how much she loves this
new hobby and how far she has come. Godfrey's Pond has an archery range/trail.
I may have to check it out for her.

PS.. The shuttle bus driver is the one who TOLD me about this event. She is a
childhood friend that I keep in contact with. If it weren't for her, I'd have not
known about it. We had a great time!

Here she is getting hooked on archery at the archery range!





Here is her new to her Bow and arrows




here she is fishing at the DEC Pond. she was skunked!
She was too busy watching everyone else.. and kept missing her strikes.