DATUS ARCHERY
ANCIENT GOLF, CLOUT, TARGET GAMES
By Eugene Halverson
A
Day on the Mountain
 |
| Eugene--Fred Larsen-- Bill Houghton |
In the old days Datus
always maintained a golf course at the Point of the Mountain just south of
Draper. There was always someone up there especially after work when the day
became cooler. I remember the evening Alene and Fred Larsen and I met up on the
“Golf Course”. We had shot several holes going up the mountain and the next
hole was off the ledge down to the valley below. It was a long ways away and Fred and I was in
deep thought. Well, “How far is it”, Alene
asked. Fred piped up with an, “I don’t
know”, “how, about a Clout Shot”, we told her.
Then she pulled the string back and raised it up to shoot, aiming way up
in the air. We watched the arrow fly and
fly, and then, “Pop”, she hit the puck dead center. I can still hear her scream, and see the puck
jumping and rolling away. We lost the course
and the mountain to houses.
Long
Bows |
| canting bow to look down the arrow |
In
the 1938 film Earl Flynn of the “Adventures of Robin Hood”, Howard
Hill shot an arrow into the “Bulls Eye” splitting one arrow with another. It was the most famous archery shot of all
time. He always shot instinctively, no
sight, he shot by feel, this requires time and effort. With this bow an archer could shoot an arrow
every five seconds and penetrate four inches of Oak. If I had of known about the accuracy and the
power of the long bow, I would have used it instead of the recurve, but the
recurve treated me well. It was the
stupid compound bow that ruined my shoulders and forced me to quit
shooting. I voted to ban it in tournaments
but it came anyway. I voted against
changing target faces too but lost again.
Howard
Hill’s bow was the “Old English Long Bow”. He made archery hunting possible. Very few
people took archery seriously until he came along. No one has ever beaten or
even matched his records. The Longbow dominated medieval
warfare. The long bow was used by the
English to a devastating effect. |
| Robin again |
Hill’s
fame with hunting had already came to Utah.
I remember back to 1938 when I was admiring the “Bow and arrow that
killed this large buck deer” hanging in Tracy Wigwam. Could I do that someday? I had many dreams.
Lee
My
brother, Lee began shooting while I was still in dream land; Lee and Garland began
shooting at a tub hanging on the old garage.
Well, they were lucky to hit the garage and I went away laughing. But they soon learned about buying the right
arrow for the bow and they really improved. I still remember the day Lee brought home the
two deer he had killed near Puffer Lake.
His stories finally woke me up.
I
couldn’t stand it so I borrowed his bow and some arrows and off I went. Well, they don’t call it “Bear Canyon” for
nothing. I heard many stories about it
so in the quite of the evening I often looked up and wishing I was there. The top was a light green and the rocks were
so white, white granite. I finally got
there and explored until the sun went down. It was beautiful, I had never seen such big
boulders, and I was happy. I looked over
the valley looked down at my house. I
was day dreaming again, so I got a late start home. I did get off the upper cliffs before dark
but I could never make a step down without touching and feeling each step with
the end of my bow. It was slow and I had
a terrible time getting off the mountain.
I t was about three in the morning when I finally got home all scratched
and bruised.
During the 1950’s Lee
and I shot in Les Hunt’s Archery shop in a league and it was fun. We learned with the help of other archers about
the basics of a good bow arm and a good release, and how to make arrows and
strings.
OLD ENGLISH WAR GAME PRACTICE
 |
| Gene canting bow for line |
My first tournament with
the Timpanogos Archers where we shot what we called the “American Round”
but it should be called the “English Round”. It is
the same target that Howard Hill shot in the movie; gold center, red, blue,
black and white. We shot 30 arrows each
at 40, 50, and 60 yards.
The
80 Yard “Imperial Round “(sounds English to me), we also call it a FITA
Round and measured in yards and scored it like an American Round. I have shot it at 80 yards; some even go back
to the 100 yard line.
The
Ancient Practice of CLOUT
The
term clout shooting is
derived from the act of shooting a clout.
The event dates back to Elizabeth the 1st it is an "old English
form of competitive archery at a single mark." Our target was a pole 180 yards away, the
center was a three foot mat the outer circle was a 20 foot radius mark from the
pole (40 foot diameter). This was a very
effective form of artillery. During The Hundred Years War, the outcome of
battles at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt would certainly have been different
without the massed firepower of these ancient archers. I think we scored it 5 and 10 points, I
cannot even remember how many arrows we were allowed to shoot. We never paid much attention to rules anyway.
Golf
The Scotts is
credited with the discovery of “Archery Golf” with a pleasant walk in woods
carrying a bow and arrows, it was called “Roving” today we call it “Archery
Golf”. The Pucks (4 inch rubber hose) set in
front of the Flag (Red, Yellow, etc. Courses)
18 Flags are placed from maybe 20 yards to 300 or more yards away. Every hole is a “Par 2” no matter the
distance. A shorter course is more
popular especially if “One Arrow” hits the puck making it “a hole-in-one”.
The DATUS is the home
of Archery Golf in Utah. It is their
favorite sport (mine too). It is a money
raising Invitational every spring and most of the money is given back in
prizes. DATUS invites anyone who wishes
to compete. An expert may win a Course
or even the whole event. But there are
also many prizes for the “Average Shooter” who otherwise could not
compete with the “Best”. DATUS members have
a “Campout” every year somewhere high in mountains in the National Forest,
playing this game and maybe a game of Clout.
They eat together, I remember roasting some pigs on a spit. What a wonderful smell, turn it a little pore
some more “Wine” then turn some more. “When
is it done’, I asked. Hooter said, “When
the cook falls in the fire”. The Datus
Campout was the high-light of summer every year, and I loved it.
We also had either a
set of Field Targets or Hunter Targets set up all summer long near the mouth of
Big Cotton Wood Canyon, on the abandoned Auerbach Estate in their garden and
under many, many trees. That disappeared with the 115 Belt Route.
All the outdoor shoots
except the Field and Hunter Rounds are old English Rounds and were war practice
games sponsored by the King.
Animal League
When I joined Datus
back in the 1960’s they were shooting the “Animal Round”. No other club that I know even knows what it
is or where it came from. I believe some
brilliant Datus member dreamed it up.
There are four animals on a white card-board and you shot from top to
bottom, 1st -a big goose, 2nd - a rabbit slightly
smaller, 3rd a small duck 4th tiny squirrel on the
bottom. 1st all four arrows
are shot from the 20 yard line. 2nd
- a walk up 20, 15, 10, 5. 3rd
- a walk back. Forth four arrows shot from the 20 yard line with double
score. Vital 10 points none-vital 5, with
a possible score 200. Many including myself
shot a few 200 games but no one ever put all three games together. This was a favorite game, even my wife began
to shoot, I can still hear the giggles, laughter and cackles. Everyone shot fast and had fun; no one was
allowed to hold up the game without getting yelled at. I remember Old S. K. Daniels, 90 years
old having the time of his life.
Datus Hunter League
With a new building I started
a new league just for the Bow Hunter.
When I used up all in Datus, I invited all my friends. We used the old blue and white indoor target,
5, 4, and 3 rings. This was a more
serious league but with all instinctive shoots it still moved fairly fast. Most of the best instinctive archers in the
state were now competing every week. I would
name them but there were just too many real good archers. Many of us were shooting close to a perfect game,
close to the 290’s. These scores were raising
the eye-brows of the sight shooters (Freestyle) people. So UBA changed the target face and a few
others to boot.
DATUS stands for—Devoted
Archers True Utah Sportsmen
DATUS ARCHERY CLUB
About 1961 we had a
“Wild Cat Strike” and it was very successful a couple of years later I had
given up my Boiler shop job and was now a Mechanic. Well I was now working with four or more
Datus Members. They signed me up and I
loved it. We rented a building for
meetings and the winter archery leagues.
One was right next to the Railroad tracks and the next was in a stores
warehouse. Both were small and crowded,
it felt like we were in a closet.
Then in 1978 after 22
years of renting we decided we needed $20,000.00 to build our own club house,
so we assessed each member $200.00 and eventually built our club house in West
Jordan. Jim Jensen was contracted to
build the cement walls. Soon after we
put a roof on it and shingled it. Then
it just sat, nobody doing anything. I kind
of took charge and asked Larsen to pour the floors, Kartchner to sheetrock
it. Butch put in the gas line. We put the deck in and did a hundred other
things; most everybody I asked worked and was able to have our winter leagues
and invited other clubs to our tournaments.
If we failed to get our leagues going we would be in trouble with the
bank and the town.
A few years ago I
opened up a box from Datus and in it was the most beautiful plaque I had ever
seen. I had a lump in my throat and a
tear in my eye. |
Thank you DATUS for making me a
LIFETIME member
|
GENE HALVERSON
HOORARY LIFETIME MEMBER
DATUS ARCHERY
This was printed on top
of the Datus Arrow point symbol. I heard
the deer in the Quaky Forest was cut, burnt and colored by Doyle Atwood. I thank all of those who had any part in
making this and bestowing the Honor. It
has always hung on the wall where anyone can see it and of course I brag a
little. I have always felt privileged to
have been a member of the Greatest Archery Club in the world. We all worked and we all did our share or
else we would have been in deep trouble that year.
The building was near
completion and the black top was holding things up. We would poor cement after work but if it was
wetter than usual I had to come back later.
It was very dark that night it was about eleven o’clock. I had returned to finish the concrete
curbing. I was alone with a flash-light
in one hand and a trowel in the other. All
of a sudden it was light as day and a bunch of Cops were pointing guns at me. Here I was with a trowel in my hand, “Drop it so I dropped my trowel”.
I spent many hours and
days in the West Jordan Inspectors Office getting help and clearance before
they were happy. If I wasn’t happy with
what they decided I would demand another conference. In the end we were all happy.
Short Bows
I learned that the Long Bow was more accurate and had better penetration. If I did I would have used them instead of my
short recurve. Jim Pickering let me try
a dozen different “Carol Recurve Bows” . I shot the "Gentleman Jim" he developed the most accurate
bow they had. I always shot “Bow Hunter
Class” (no sights). At one time there
were more Bow Hunters than any other class. Compound Bows don’t even look like old bows
and I don’t like it. The Bare Bow people
and Bow Hunter Classes used to be the largest group in most tournaments, now
they have kind of disappeared. Now all
you see are sights and gadgets.
Field Round
A Field Course has marked yardages. The NFAA field round is made up of 14 targets
and usually shot twice to make the round. You may shoot all four arrows from one marked
stake or you walk up and shoot one arrow at four different stakes. Distances vary from 20 feet to 80 yards. There are four different size targets.
Targets are black and white with 20 points possible.
Hunter Round
uses an all-black face with a white dot and the distances vary between 33 feet
and 70 yards. All on the roving course.
Scoring is identical to the field round.
Animal Round
The target is a colored
animal faces with marked distances using three marked arrows. A hit with the #1 arrow ends that target, but
if you missed you keep moving until the third arrow is shot. A vital is (20, 16, or 12) and non-vital is
(18, 14, or 10).
An Aggregate score is
the total of all three rounds.
In the summer of 1971, I scored enough
points to place “3rd in the 26th National Tournament
in the National Forest above Cedar City.
It was the total aggregate score of all three rounds, with 5 day score. I was in high Heaven. There were a couple a thousand people
shooting for five days. I was shooting my
new white Carroll Recurve developed by Jim
Pickering from Datus, it was called “Gentleman Jim”.
The Archers and Ceder City did a wonderful job taking care of us. You should have seen the Steak and Dutch dinner they provided after the
ceremony.
In 1972 I won 2nd second
place in the “Southwest Sectional, (all western states). This was hosted by the “Timp Archers, it was
a two day shoot with hundreds attending.
Lee won the first
indoor tournament we ever competed in. It
was hosted by the Brigham Archery Club.
But I won all the “Indoor
and Outdoor Tournaments” in Utah for next ten years.
As I got older and my
eye-sight began to fail I was on borrowed time but I kept a going until I could
no longer shoot without pain in my shoulders.
I blame the “Stupid Compound Bow” for ruining my shoulders and
ending my beloved sport. It made it easy
to draw but the shock was too much for my shoulders. I remember when “Jennings” built the first
one. Soon all the manufacturers were
stealing his ideas and compounds were everywhere. Compounds caused quite a stir all over the
country and UBA had to decide if they would be legal to use them in their
tournaments. I voted against them. They did not even look like a bow, it was an
abominable contraption. The shortness
made it ideal for hunting but without the releases and stabilizers, it was a
piece of junk.
The Bow Hunter Class
must shoot hunting bows and arrows during all tournaments, 125 grain points, 40
pound bows. He must have one finger
above the arrow (no string walking). He
must shoot instinctively
(no sights).
I
got ribbon from UBA that said;
Eugene Halverson belongs to the “Fellowship of Robin Hood” he has Duplicated ye most Extraordinary feat of “Robin of Sherwood” who shotte wythe his Bow and dydde splitte an Arrow previously lodged in ye Eyye
of ye targette.
 |
Eugene with "Gentleman Jim, Carroll Bow"
I shot higher scores with it than with any compound Bow |
INVITATIONALS
The Buckhorn Bowmen in
Price was the regular field/hunter round, but the long distant animal shoot was
always fun. For 25 cents you competed
until someone hit the lion in the heart.
The ONE MILLION BC INVITATIONAL
that the Logan Bowmen put on was the greatest of all. Giant Mammoths at 90 or better yards, but
there were every kind of dinosaur at various yardages and even a couple of pterosaurs
(giant birds) came flying overhead, 10 or 15 miles an hour. The last shot of the day was from the top of
the mountain to quilt on the bottom of the canyon. It was a long shot 180 maybe 200 yard, like a
clout shot with an unknown yardage, with three animal marked arrows.
Beehive Wasatch held
their big Animal shoot out at Park City.
The fee included the ride on a ski lift to the first three dimensional
deer targets in Utah.
There is an
invitational every week somewhere in in Utah.
UBA regulates them so the smaller clubs are not lost in the shuffle,
money to survive is necessary.
BOW HUNTING for DEER and ELK
I went hunting during
the 1960’s but I did not have the best bow or it seemed like I was not good but
lucky. I went alone up to the East Fork
of the Bear I had lots of shooting but the only thing I hurt was my feelings. I went to Fish Lake with Lee and chased deer
all over the place. I went Billy, Lee, Darald
and even Keith Cowdell to Robins Valley.
We could hunt and fish and look for arrow-heads it was a marvelous mountain. I
followed the Datus Club to Monroe Mountain, it quite enjoyable at night
spinning stories about the days hunt. But
I made the mistake getting stuck in Bob Covington’s deer drive; the poor deer
were literally chased down and shot, I was left far behind.
Elk Ridge,
up Cotton Wood draw out of Blanding was something I still dream about. I had never seen so many big bucks in such
big herds.
We hunted the Bear’s Ears and
Elk Ridge mostly. Lee’s wife Carol shot
the biggest buck we ever got. I hit a
few monsters that I lost because I failed to wait long enough for them to
die. The ones I took home were like babies
to the ones I should have taken home. I learned
to follow blood trails and not to make so many mistakes. Coyotes traveled in packs, sometimes they
would completely devour a deer left over night.
In the winter they would kill even the big bucks. Mountain lions were all over and they were
killing everything. Bears were thick as
flies and doing lots of damage. It seems
like all the fauns and the does were being eliminated as fast as fast as they
were being born.
Bow Hunting for Deer
and Elk
Around 1971, Ally Burke
represented UBA and was able to get us the privilege to hunt “ELK” for the
first time ever. We did not have to draw
for a license, you just bought one. A deer
license gave you two deer, what a deal.
Every week end I was somewhere
looking for a place to hunt both of them, especially a place where I could camp
on a fishing stream and hunt up. One day
I found an old Forest Service manager who told me about the “Muddy”. What a wonderful out of the way place that
was. If you happened to be there when it
rained you stayed there until it dried out.
 |
The MUDDY
|
We camped in a grove of Aspen below the road on the Blacksmith’s Fork Creek. We were so busy hunting we did not know about
all its fish. Our drinking water came
from the coldest and biggest spring on the mountain. We were in the middle of an ancient Aspen
forest with top of the mountains covered with pine and fir trees. The “Bear Hole” below us with Elk and Bears
and the tops were full of them too. One of
us was always telling a story about a cougar, a bob cat, a coyote, a badger or
a bear he had seen that day. It was wild
and beautiful. Lakes full of fish all
over the place. There was petrified wood
and arrow-heads to look for.
Sage Hens
were on the flats with Pine Hens and Ruff Grouse above us. But with all the predators it was like Elk
Ridge the deer and elk were very cautious.
It took all our hunting skills to get close enough for a shot. If you drove up the road as far as the old
saw mill, the elk would just leave, so we learned to walk up and where to walk
up.  |
white top mountains
|
In a few years I was
getting an elk and a couple of deer every year.
I was making clean kills and not having to trail them as far.
Then Jim Bell who took
my job as UBA’s Hunting Representative gave us an elk season and a separate
deer season that ruined everything. I would
be alone; my relatives could only be there during the deer hunt.
But my eye-sight as well
as my shoulders was hurting and I was no longer making these great shots. The last year I hunted down there, I had
wounded two deer and an elk. So I quit
and went fishing. I did go down on the
Boulder Mountain with family and went out and made a perfect deer shot, he
dropped in his tracks, but I really did not like killing animals anymore even if I loved
the meat.
I took the deer back to
the Shingle tree Camp Grounds and hung it in camp. Then Jay Dee brought one more in to
hang. The Camp Host said, she was going
to write me a ticket if I did not get it out of camp. I said go ahead. So here comes the Forest Ranger and he said
it was perfectly legal to hang them there.
 |
| Fish too |
That night I fried up
lots of liver and onions, my favorite dinner.
I also boiled the heart in salt water. But how do I get the kids to even taste it? So, I called Marcie and Ashley over. I cut a teeny tiny piece of the heart and got
them to dare the other to eat it, and they loved and asked for more, soon all
the kids wanted some. Soon it was all gone;
I was lucky to steal a piece for myself. Well it was fun while
it lasted, I have some wonderful memories to dream about.
