Screaming Eagle Archery providing opportunity for ever-growing sport of archery

When it’s cold and dark outside, Screaming Eagle Archery in Wasilla offers archers a place indoors to practice their shooting skills and participate in friendly competition this winter. Several different shooting leagues and competitions keep a shooter’s skills sharp and prepares them for the next hunting season. Owners Chris and Beth Alderman welcome people from across the Valley to participate in the ever-growing sport of archery.

“During the winter it gives something for people to do. It gets them out of the house, gets kids involved… instead of sitting on the tv, playing video games,” Beth said. “We try to make it a big community.”

The Alderman’s purchased the archery shop in 2013, and as the business has grown, Chris said they’ve tried to keep it family oriented. They now operate out of a Fairbanks location and are slowly building their presence in the local archery culture. Their children have grown up in the shop and often help restock inventory and work behind the counter.

“We try to treat everybody like family when they walk in the door,” Chris said. “Most of our friends that we call family in Alaska we met here in the store shooting a bow.”

Their Wasilla location, on Park Avenue in the downtown area, has a 20-yard range with 18 lanes for shooters of all ages. The range stretches across an old basketball court, and the markings remain on the gym floor. They have a selection of 3-D targets and blocks to shoot. Screaming Eagle Archery also has a retail selection of new gear for everything from new bows, to quivers, releases, sights and a selection of high quality arrows. They also have the ability to tune and work on bows to dial them into each and every shooter.

The winter shooting leagues are meant to be a fun, lighthearted and competitive way to practice and get more people involved in archery.

“It’s fun, it’s competitive,” Chris said. “You can be competitive with yourself and you can be competitive with your buddies.”

Youth leagues are held on Tuesday nights starting at 6 p.m. Children of various ages step up to the line to shoot at a variety of 3-D targets. Chris explained that Disney movies and games like Minecraft have played a large influence on the next generation of archers. He said the shop has kids coming in constantly wanting to learn how to shoot a bow. In many cases, their curiosity sparks an interest in the parents.

“It’s good family time,” Chris said. “You would think that mom and dad bring kids in to get them into archery. It doesn’t happen that way. The kids bring the parents in.”

Wednesday and Thursday nights are Open 3-D, where upwards of 20 people show up to participate. Chris said Wednesday nights tend to bring in more traditional archery shooters and can be more competitive. Thursday nights tend to bring in a greater variety of archers with varying skill levels.

Friday nights are their paper target league, and archers can buy in to compete and shoot at the end of the night for money.

Screaming Eagle Archery hosts homeschool classes, private lessons and more. For a list of weekly events, prices and other designated competitions, prospective archers can check the Screaming Eagle Archery website and Facebook page to stay up to date.

Their indoor range is open during business hours for walk-ins. Shooters pay $15 and can stay as long as they want. Punch cards are also available to shoot for multiple days at a slightly discounted rate. 3-D target rentals, broadhead tuning, bow rentals and lessons are available upon request.

Archery is a stress reliever to many folks, Chris explained. He said they have people come in to shoot their bow, get away and out of their head even if it’s just for a little while. Chris said it’s a great way for families to connect and spend time together participating in the same activities.

“It’s an outlet,” Chris said.

Owning and operating the shop has introduced them to hunters and shooters from all over the world, Chris said. He explained that his favorite part about owning the shop is meeting all of the great people that walk in the door.

“The amount of people that we get to meet… I’m a fortunate guy,” Chris said. “Archery has brought us a lot of awesome experiences. A bow and arrow has taken me all over the world doing wild stuff. You meet great, like-minded people having a good time sharing the outdoors.”

Keeping the business and facility running is a labor of love and their customer base is what keeps them going.

“We have some pretty awesome customers,” Beth said.

Screaming Eagle Archery is currently hiring for their Fairbanks location.