It was a beautiful day for the eighth annual Dylan Heinonen Memorial Bow Shoot on Saturday, Sept. 16 in Trenary. The event also saw one of its highest scores ever, as Cole Paul shot a 311 of a possible 360 points to take the title.
“It was probably one of the best courses we’ve had yet,” Paul said, taking home his first win in six total appearances in the competition. “It looked easy walking up to it, but it was hard in the end.”
The bow shoot takes archers through the winding woods of the Cady Family Farm, as competitors will shoot at life-size animal targets. Traditional 12-point scoring systems is used among the 30 targets of bucks, turkeys and the famous carp on shot 30. This year’s event saw a shorter walk through the targets, as eight shots were lined up on the edge of the farmland before turning into the woods, the most on the course since the event went public. It included considerably tougher shots earlier on, including a buck target 20 yards out where archers had just a six-inch window to shoot through four trees. Paul distanced himself from the field by almost an entire target’s worth of points, as runner- up Steve Sontag finished with 30 points in the last pairing to finish the course. Chad Lintula took third with 298 and Brandon Maki took fourth with 294.
But while the championship is a nice experience for Paul, there are other things on his mind as he took the title.
“It’s easiest one of the best weekends of the year and a little bit of bragging rights with the family, but ultimately it’s for charity,” he said.
Dylan Heinonen, nicknamed Dewey by family and close friends, was a 2000 Superior Central graduate and member of the U.S. Marine Corps. He was awarded with the Purple Heart in his second tour of Iraq before coming back to the area and working at the paper mill before passing away in a hunting accident in 2015.
His family, including co-organizer Natalie Cady, organized the bow shoot in his honor and to raise funds for a trust for Heinonen’s daughter, who was just three years old when he died.
“It brings tears to my eyes,” Cady said. “It’s one of my favorite days of the year to see these people go to Trenary. It shows that there are still good people that want to do fun things for good reasons and we’re happy to (host the event).”
The field this year was the largest in shoot history, which is including more and more competitors outside friends, families and locals. Increased interest is being shown in regional archery groups and veterans organizations.
“Seems like every year it’s been growing. Just new people from different areas coming and having a good time,” Cady said.
