The Ozarks Chronicle/Agriculture

Entertainment on the farm


Shelton dairy farm near Houston

is destination for bowshooters

By R.D. Hohenfeldt

Jeff Shelton tells the story of an older man who stopped him in town and said, “Hey, I hear you’re running bow hunts out on your farm now.”

“That’s right,” Jeff told him, and confirmed that they were 3-D shoots, meaning that the targets are foam-like and life-sized models of animals rather than paper or cardboard pictures.

“Well, there’s a few of us dinosaurs left that like that kind of shooting, and I’m thinking about getting back into it,” the man told him.

“Come on out and try it,” Jeff said, adding, “You might have to step across a wind row of hay or dodge a cow patty or even watch out for a cow, but I think you’ll like it.”

The man replied, “That sounds like the place where I used to hunt,” and he eventually joined the growing number of bow shooters who participate in the monthly events at Ellis Prairie 3-D Bow Hunts, located 13 miles northwest of Houston on Highway 17.

Jeff designed the shooting range on the 220-acre dairy farm where he grew up and which he continues to operate with his mother, Carolyn.

There may be some disagreement about whether or not it fits into the category of agritainment, a movement to add entertainment to agriculture to draw attention and customers to farms. Some farms offer pick-your-own-produce plans, gift shops, hay rides, petting zoos, corn mazes and other attractions as sources of new revenue and as ways to market farm products.

Jeff Shelton’s 3-D bowshooting range is not directly related to dairy farming, so it might not exactly fit the definition of agritainment or agritourism, but it uses the farm’s open fields, rock bluffs, ponds and creek to create a realistic setting for a hunt along a trail that stretches more than a mile.

“It’s more like a real hunting situation,” Jeff says of his design, which changes monthly. “Most 3-D bow hunts are in woods. Being on a farm, you can set the targets in different environments.”

Jeff says he takes a lot of time—perhaps

too much time, he says with a wry grin—to set up the targets along a 1 ¼- to 1 ½-mile trail.

“I try to make it as a realistic as possible,” he says. He’ll set a deer next to a pond, because deer like to drink from ponds. He’ll place a buffalo beneath a shade tree. Elk and caribou are animals of mountains, so he’ll put them on a hill or bluff.

Moreover, he takes time to place some of these animal targets in challenging places. For instance, he will sometimes place an animal where it’s only visible from the shooting spot through a hole in the trees. He also changes the course each month, moving both the animal targets and the shooting stations around.

“Sometimes I have them shoot off the top of a bluff; it makes it altogether different,” Jeff says.

For the interest of families with kids, he adds some novelty shoots and unusual animals. Bow shooters walking the Ellis Prairie farm trail might find a dinosaur, a “jackalope” (a jack rabbit with antelope horns), or a bear raiding a beehive. There might also be a bear in an outhouse this season.

Jeff has about 60 targets to choose from, and he sets out 40 for each hunt.

This year Ellis Prairie 3-D Bow Hunts will be held March 10-11, April 14-15, May 12-13, June 9-10, July 14-15, Aug. 11-12 and Sept. 8-9. The “trickle start” hours are from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and 1-3 p.m. Sunday.

The Shelton dairy farm is 13 miles northwest of Houston on Highway 17. It’s best to call Jeff ahead of time at 417-967-3058 for information about fees and directions. Then look for signs on your drive to the farm.

With a herd of 140 Holsteins , 75-85 of them requiring attention morning and evening seven days a week, along with all the other farm chores, such as haying and maintaining fence, Jeff stays plenty busy.

“The week before the shoot is quite hectic,” Carolyn says. “Jeff sets up the trail, and he’s very meticulous about it.”

Jeff adds, “And I’ve got to mow the grass and run the mower over the trail.”

Carolyn makes sure to have plenty of ice and soda in the club house and at the rest station midway through the trail.

The club house is the old farm house.

“We’ve been here about 25 years,” Carolyn says. “We lived on a small acreage before that. This farm was my husband’s aunt and uncle’s farm, but it’s been in the family a long time. My husband’s mother was born in the old farm house.”

Many of the people who visit monthly from March through September enjoy spending time in the farmhouse as well as the shooting trail.

“People like the farmhouse,” says Carolyn. “They’ll ask if they can look through it, and they’ll say, ‘This sure takes me back.’”

This is Jeff’s fourth season for the bow hunts, and he’s only been bow-shooting for about eight years.

“I got my first bow in 1999,” he said. “My brother started bowhunting while he was in high school in the mid-1980s. I never did think I was interested in it, but I found out I like bowhunting and now I’ve just about give up rifle hunting.”

In addition to bowhunting, he also started going to 3-D hunts and found he enjoyed the challenge. He decided to try setting up a range or trail himself. Ironically, he now finds that he doesn’t have much time to go through the course each month, but that doesn’t displease him.

“I really enjoy setting the targets up more than shooting,” he says.

And he and Carolyn enjoy the people who come out to participate.

“It really is a family thing,” says Carolyn. “One woman with a new baby has come just about every time. She came out with that baby in a back pack when it wasn’t but a month old, and later she brought a stroller. It is just fun to watch.”

There’s at least one family with three generations shooting together.

“A lot of families come out and shoot,” Jeff says.

Groups of friends come out, too. There’s one group from Raymondville who meet in Houston for breakfast, then drive out to the Shelton farm and go through the course together. They offer a lot of advice to one another, and Jeff says it’s fun to listen to them.

“When you’re out and around, you can’t help but hear them talking, laughing at one another and visiting,” he says. “They really enjoy themselves.”

They’re serious about the hunt, though, as are all the participants. Bowhunting and target shooting can be a pricey endeavor, and people with a significant investment in the sport aren’t interested in tomfoolery.

Consequently, the Sheltons have no worries about harm to their herd in spite of the number of people who visit during the summer and in spite of the number of arrows let loose seven weekends each year.

“It’s really a neat, clean-cut sport,” Carolyn says.

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