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April listened to Brad talk at length about deer hunting. She watched him target shoot with his bow and arrows. April waited one hour after another for Brad to return from pre-scouting trips and fall deer hunts.
Hmm? What was so great about hunting, April wondered.
That was five years ago. Today, April Treu regularly tags along with her husband. In fact, she has shot five bucks in five consecutive years. However, April prefers to talk about the sport and how it has changed her life rather than the bow kills she has learned.
"Just try it. Don't rule it out as a sport," said April, a financial analyst at Mathews Inc. in Sparta, Wis.
Mathews, incidentally, manufactures bows and is owned by Matt McPherson, who has changed archery technology with his patented single cam pulley system. However, April said she didn't become interested in bows and bow hunting because she works for a bow manufacturer, although her husband also happens to be a sales representative for the company.
"My dad didn't hunt. One of my brothers did, but he was quite a bit older than me, so I was never around any hunters," said April, who was born in Iowa.
April's family moved to Sparta when she was two or three years old. April, 22, and Brad first met in 1997, about a year before he convinced her to tag along with him to get a first-hand look at what deer hunting was all about. April saw three does the first time she went with Brad. She decided to go again.
"I was sitting against the tree and he was above me," she said. "I just sat there and watched. A doe came by and I was hoping he wouldn't shoot her."
Brad didn't shoot the deer. April was pleased, but was interested enough to learn how to shoot a bow and maybe try hunting.
"Brad did everything from start to finish," she said. "He set up my first bow, took me out to the range, showed me the correct shooting form."
Brad also let his wife decide whether she wanted to only shoot arrows at a target, or if she also wanted to learn how to hunt.
It didn't take long before April was hooked on target shooting and hunting. Brad was a good teacher considering April shot an 8-point buck her first time out.
"The first deer I ever shot showed up out of nowhere," said April, who also shot bucks for the next three years.
Last fall she shot her fifth straight buck, an 8-pointer that green-scored out at 150. She also killed a nice-sized antelope with her bow in Montana last fall.
April said many people believe they can't pull back a bowstring. She shot her first buck with a 38-pound draw weight. She has eventually worked herself up to a 50-pound Black Max 2 bow, manufactured by whom else... Mathews.
April hopes to shoot a wild turkey with her bow next spring. She has already killed one with a shotgun.
Meanwhile, April said she has gained a new appreciation for hunters and the time and effort they put into their sport.
"Just try it," she said. "That's how I got started."
April also suggests that non-hunters ask their husbands, fathers or brothers if they can tag along on a hunt.
"I know those guys would eat that right up. They would really enjoy it," she said. "It's just so great to see the animals in their habitats."
And who knows, maybe the sport of target shooting and hunting would add another name to its list of millions.
"I know Brad is proud," April said. "Now I know how much he enjoys hunting because I do it myself. It's easy for me to
understand why he wants to be out there and why he puts so much time into it.
"Besides, now he can get away with being out there so long," she said, laughing.
Bob Lamb can be reached at (608) 791-8228, or at blamb@lacrossetribune.com
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