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Ayden’s Archery Journey
By: Ayden Walker
Age: 7 years old
From: Wisconsin
Hi, my name is Ayden Walker and I am 7 years old and I love to shoot archery. I am too little to shoot in 4-H but my mom is the Archery leader, so I go and show the other kids how I shoot and show my medals.I practice in our basement and at Critters. Critters is the archery store we go to when we go to the city. I love to shoot there because then my mom gets me chicken and lets me drink lemonade. Mom buys my arrows from there too and I get to pick my color for my feathers and watch them glue them on.I love to shoot everywhere and do a lot of 3D shoots by our house with my little brother and sister. I shoot at our state shoot and drive far to shoot with my mom and stay in hotels. I even took an airplane ride to Las Vegas twice and watched my mom shoot. I really want to shoot at Las Vegas because I want togo on the airplane and shoot really far. My mom said I can go to Las Vegas again when I can shoot 20 yrds so I am practicing.
When I was a little boy my mom let me sit with her in the turkey blind in our woods. She said I was way too loud and I had to remember to whisper and stay still so I didn’t scare the animals or knock over her bow. Mom had to walk me back to the house early. Now that I’m big my mom took me hunting with her to my papas’ cabin. I was super excited because I got to sleep over in the cabin and a lot of my mom’s uncles were there. The cabin has an outhouse and no water inside. We woke up really early and she said come on, get up, you can’t shoot a deer sleeping in the cabin. We walked through the woods in the dark and I had a compass and she said if we ever get lost always remember to walk North to the road otherwise you will walk for hours. We walked forever to the blind and then we sat very quiet. I brought anotebook and pencil with me so I could write down and draw what we saw, and mom said that will keep me quiet. My mom said if she picked the gun up, I had to very slowly reach up and plug my ears. We waited ALL day until lunch and did not see any deer. We walked back to the cabin and had some lunch and I saw a dead deer hanging on the pole by the cabin that my mom’s cousin shot. After lunch we walked back out to the blind and sat there until it was almost dark and then we went back to the cabin for the night. I saw lots of birds and squirrels but no deer. We stayed there for 2 days and we never even saw a deer. I am going to go again this year and hopefully my mom will get a deer. I can’t shoot one because my mom said my .22 won’t kill anything but a squirrel.
I love to shoot at competitions! When I did my 1 st shoot I was 4 yrs old and I got 6 points. I had a little green bow and I made a lot of friends, so I said I wanted to keep shooting. Every time my mom goes to a shoot I go and shoot and my little brother and sister watch. A lot of the times they stay home with dad because they don’t sit still when mom is shooting. I love to stay in the hotels and sometimes we go to fun places like a trampoline park after we are done shooting. I get to see my friends and then never see them again until the next shoot. We all did a decoder book when the other line was shooting, and they helped me with words I couldn’t read. I like to call the arrows for score on the colorful target but sometimes on the blue target I accidently say 10 for the center. I eat lots of snacks, watch all the other shooters and look at all the tables with stuff to buy. We always buy a shirt and sometimes super cool stuff with an archery guy on it for my room. I shoot Cub barebow and even got 1 st place at a couple shoots. We live in WI, so I shoot WI, IL, IN and IA pro/ams. This one time in IN I was shooting really good and then I forgot to close my eye and I got super excited to shoot and missed the target. Sometimes I miss the target but then I keep hitting the target after that when I remember to count to 3 bullseyes’ in my head. One time at the Iowa shoot I had a bounce out that I had to shoot, and everyone was watching me because I was the only one that needed to shoot an arrow. I was nervous and then some older boys told me not to be scared just shoot like no one is watching. I stood on the line, aimed, and shot a bullseye! Everyone clapped and I was so happy I almost touched my arrow before it was scored.
At one shoot I saw a lot of other shooters had cool target pins. We walked around the shoot and then found the EZ pin table and I got a pack of green ez pins. Now I can hang up and take down my target all by myself. My bow is a recurve bow and I really like outer space so when I saw the planets on the limb in the Lancaster archery catalog, I showed my mom. She said I don’t know anything about recurves, lets email them and get you the right stuff. I got the Cresent riser in green because it’s my favorite color, it had a moon on it, plus it looked like Brady Ellison’s bow. I got Galaxy 16 lb limbs, a stick-on rest, a bow stand, carry bag, and a black string. After I did a lot of shooting, I got another string from Critters and I picked green and black to have strings so I could be like a pro shooter. I keep getting older so I can shoot the bow a lot better and it doesn’t feel heavy or super hard to pull back anymore. I shoot with my Brady Ellison hat on backwards otherwise I bump it with my string sometimes.
My mom gave me a little tiny Bear shot bow for my 3rd birthday and I shot it and liked it a lot. I like spending time with my mom, going to hotels, and fun places by the hotels. I love to shoot and have fun and dance to the music in between rounds when we are scoring. I compete a lot because I love to and want to get better so I can beat Brady Ellison.
I love Brady Ellison because I like him and he’s a pro. He always takes a picture with me when I see him, and he is super famous. He wins a lot of trophies and he won the world trophy. When mom went to the Vegas shoot this year, and I had to stay at home she snuck my hat out of the house. I was upset because Icouldn’t find it anywhere and then she came home with it and said guess who signed your hat? It said Brady Ellison with an arrow. I jumped up and down screaming. Now Brady has my pro autograph too because before my mom left for Las Vegas we printed a picture of me shooting and I wrote my name on it for him to have.
When I was a little boy my mom let me sit with her in the turkey blind in our woods. She said I was way too loud and I had to remember to whisper and stay still so I didn’t scare the animals or knock over her bow. Mom had to walk me back to the house early. Now that I’m big my mom took me hunting with her to my papas’ cabin. I was super excited because I got to sleep over in the cabin and a lot of my mom’s uncles were there. The cabin has an outhouse and no water inside. We woke up really early and she said come on, get up, you can’t shoot a deer sleeping in the cabin. We walked through the woods in the dark and I had a compass and she said if we ever get lost always remember to walk North to the road otherwise you will walk for hours. We walked forever to the blind and then we sat very quiet. I brought anotebook and pencil with me so I could write down and draw what we saw, and mom said that will keep me quiet. My mom said if she picked the gun up, I had to very slowly reach up and plug my ears. We waited ALL day until lunch and did not see any deer. We walked back to the cabin and had some lunch and I saw a dead deer hanging on the pole by the cabin that my mom’s cousin shot. After lunch we walked back out to the blind and sat there until it was almost dark and then we went back to the cabin for the night. I saw lots of birds and squirrels but no deer. We stayed there for 2 days and we never even saw a deer. I am going to go again this year and hopefully my mom will get a deer. I can’t shoot one because my mom said my .22 won’t kill anything but a squirrel.
I love to shoot at competitions! When I did my 1 st shoot I was 4 yrs old and I got 6 points. I had a little green bow and I made a lot of friends, so I said I wanted to keep shooting. Every time my mom goes to a shoot I go and shoot and my little brother and sister watch. A lot of the times they stay home with dad because they don’t sit still when mom is shooting. I love to stay in the hotels and sometimes we go to fun places like a trampoline park after we are done shooting. I get to see my friends and then never see them again until the next shoot. We all did a decoder book when the other line was shooting, and they helped me with words I couldn’t read. I like to call the arrows for score on the colorful target but sometimes on the blue target I accidently say 10 for the center. I eat lots of snacks, watch all the other shooters and look at all the tables with stuff to buy. We always buy a shirt and sometimes super cool stuff with an archery guy on it for my room. I shoot Cub barebow and even got 1 st place at a couple shoots. We live in WI, so I shoot WI, IL, IN and IA pro/ams. This one time in IN I was shooting really good and then I forgot to close my eye and I got super excited to shoot and missed the target. Sometimes I miss the target but then I keep hitting the target after that when I remember to count to 3 bullseyes’ in my head. One time at the Iowa shoot I had a bounce out that I had to shoot, and everyone was watching me because I was the only one that needed to shoot an arrow. I was nervous and then some older boys told me not to be scared just shoot like no one is watching. I stood on the line, aimed, and shot a bullseye! Everyone clapped and I was so happy I almost touched my arrow before it was scored.
At one shoot I saw a lot of other shooters had cool target pins. We walked around the shoot and then found the EZ pin table and I got a pack of green ez pins. Now I can hang up and take down my target all by myself. My bow is a recurve bow and I really like outer space so when I saw the planets on the limb in the Lancaster archery catalog, I showed my mom. She said I don’t know anything about recurves, lets email them and get you the right stuff. I got the Cresent riser in green because it’s my favorite color, it had a moon on it, plus it looked like Brady Ellison’s bow. I got Galaxy 16 lb limbs, a stick-on rest, a bow stand, carry bag, and a black string. After I did a lot of shooting, I got another string from Critters and I picked green and black to have strings so I could be like a pro shooter. I keep getting older so I can shoot the bow a lot better and it doesn’t feel heavy or super hard to pull back anymore. I shoot with my Brady Ellison hat on backwards otherwise I bump it with my string sometimes.
My mom gave me a little tiny Bear shot bow for my 3rd birthday and I shot it and liked it a lot. I like spending time with my mom, going to hotels, and fun places by the hotels. I love to shoot and have fun and dance to the music in between rounds when we are scoring. I compete a lot because I love to and want to get better so I can beat Brady Ellison.
I love Brady Ellison because I like him and he’s a pro. He always takes a picture with me when I see him, and he is super famous. He wins a lot of trophies and he won the world trophy. When mom went to the Vegas shoot this year, and I had to stay at home she snuck my hat out of the house. I was upset because Icouldn’t find it anywhere and then she came home with it and said guess who signed your hat? It said Brady Ellison with an arrow. I jumped up and down screaming. Now Brady has my pro autograph too because before my mom left for Las Vegas we printed a picture of me shooting and I wrote my name on it for him to have.
