ATHOL - Paul Clock vividly described of one of the best parts of being a bowhunter.

"It's usually dark when you first get out, so you can hear the day coming alive," he said Saturday afternoon. "It's quiet, and then all of a sudden you start hearing the wind, birds, you see the sun come up."

He usually shoots with a compound bow, but he has mastered the traditional bow as well in his more than 30 years of archery experience.

"Archery is a part of North Idaho hunting tradition, but there's a lot more to archery than just hunting," said Clock, of Coeur d'Alene. "There's the hunting aspect, which is cool, but some people don't really like that. The 3-D (shoot) is a sport and then there's indoor archery in the wintertime, Olympic archery, so there's all different facets of it."

Clock is the president of Coeur d'Alene Bowmen, Inc., a family-oriented archery club that welcomes all ages and experience levels to discover and enjoy the sport of archery.

The club hosted its third and final 3-D shoot of the year Aug. 1-2 on state land adjacent Farragut State Park. About 300 people attended the "3-D Fall Warmup and Fun Shoot," where they trekked along two separate loops to fire their field-tipped arrows at life-sized targets. Each loop contained 20 different targets, ranging from the small, lifelike rabbit and raccoon targets to the massive moose and moving elk.

"This gives them a chance to practice and to see how accurate their judgement is or how accurate their rangefinder is," said Coeur d'Alene Bowmen secretary Karen Vanskyock. "We have a lot of families, a lot of kids. It gets them outside instead of sitting on the couch with their little electronics."

Karen's husband, Bob, has been a member of the Coeur d'Alene Bowmen for 25 years and has been using a bow to hunt since he was 10. He often hunts elk and mule deer.

"It used to be not too crowded, it's starting to get crowded now," Bob said. "It's just getting out in the woods, being quiet out there, you have to get real close to the animals. You see more animals than you do in rifle season. They're a little tamer, but they're still smart ... You have to put a lot of time and effort to be consistent at it."

Bob said once an animal is struck, "usually they take off just as fast as you've ever seen something go, for a while, then they'll calm down, they'll bed down someplace. You got to follow the blood trail."

Kobe Banks, 14, of Clark Fork, was out with his family for his first 3-D shoot during the Fall Warmup, but he has been practicing with his compound bow for three years.

"The toughest part is needing more muscle," he said, closing one eye as he lifted his bow and aimed.

He was excited to report that his biggest prize as of yet was a 35-pound bobcat he shot in Washington.

"It was awesome," he said.

Clock said he sometimes jokes that schools have soccer, softball and traditional sports, but once students finish school, they no longer play those sports.

"This is more of a life sport," he said. "You'll see whole families out here. There are a lot of kids come out. This is something they can do with their parents their whole life."

The Coeur d'Alene Bowmen are always happy to welcome new members. The club will post its 2016 winter league and 3-D shoot schedule on its website when the information is available.

Info: www.cdabowmen.com