RICE -- A Sartell Boy Scout started a project that the St. Cloud area community can enjoy.

Fifteen-year-old Brian Amundson decided to build an archery range at Mississippi County Park. Amundson needed to do a project to pursue his Eagle Scout and he thought an archery range would be a perfect addition to the community.

Amundson says he took up the sport of archery at a young age.

"My dad started teaching me how to shoot when I was a little kid and I didn't really get into archery until about 3 years ago, I really started to get into archery and then I started to go bow hunting," says Amundson.

Amundson says as he started to practice more he saw a need for an archery range for the St. Cloud area.

"August 2015 we [Boy Scout Troop 211] started brainstorming ideas for Eagle Scout projects and an archery range came up so we met with the Stearns County representative Ben Anderson."

After discussing his plans with Anderson, Amundson got approval from the county and the county started to develop. Ben Amundson, Brian's father and scoutmaster, says the county had to do a lot of work to get the site ready for a range. 

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"They had a road grader, they came in and they leveled the range, then they laid the range out and drilled the holes for the targets," says Ben Amundson.

The range ended up being nearly double the size of the proposed range.

"I wrote the project up and originally it was only going to be six targets from 10-60 yards but people just loved the idea so we decided to go bigger," says Brian Amundson.

The range features 11 targets from 10-80 yards with shooting stations.

"Each target has its own shooting station with two bow hangers and on the front there's a holder for your arrows and then we have granite slabs donated from Cold Spring Granite that you can stand on while you shoot," says Brian Amundson.

Although Brian Amundson doesn't shoot competitively he says he enjoys watching the Olympics.

"It's mostly just target archery, their equipment is very expensive, it's the best you can get, it's fun to watch, I know I've watched it a few times and they're are really good at shooting and that's why they are in the Olympics."

In the Olympics targets are 70 meters (76.5 yards) away from the shooter and scores range from 1-10 depending on where the shooter's arrow lands. The closer the the bulls eye the more points the shooter will receive.

Events in Olympic archery are divided into individual competition and team competition.

In individual events shooters with the best scores after five series of three arrows shot will move on. In team events, the best teams will move on after four series of six arrows.

The grand opening of the Mississippi County Park archery range will be today (Saturday) at 9:00 a.m. Anyone is welcome to come out and use the range.

Chrissy Gaetke, WJON
Chrissy Gaetke, WJON
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