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Brian Smith and Tony Bierwagen were the only two area shooters in last weekend's Montana State Field & NFAA Northwest Outdoor Sectionals archery tournaments south of Butte, but they both represented Sanders County quite well.

By the time the tourneys were concluded Sunday, Smith, who resides in the Trout Creek area, had earned first place honors in both of the tournaments which were run concurrently, taking first place in the Male Senior Freestyle Class in the Sectionals and the State Field Shoot. Bierwagen, who lives in the Thompson Falls area, shot down first place in the Silver Senior Bowhunter Class in the Sectionals and placed third in the Senior Bowhunter Freestyle division of the State Field championships.

Smith was required to go into overtime to win his Sectionals title, out-shooting his opponent in three ends (rounds of shooting) of four arrows each. The two top-tier shooters had improbably ended up in a dead heat after shooting 250 arrows each in the two days before Smith won the shoot-off to claim top honors.

After recently turning 60 years old, Bierwagen became eligible to compete in the Silver Senior Bowhunter division for the first time and took advantage of that opportunity in winning best in class in the Sectionals shoot.

Bierwagen said that over 100 archers from the NFAA (National Field Archery Association) Northwest Sectional member states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana gathered at the Silver Bow Archers Archery Range about six miles south of Butte for the competition last week.

The layout of the Silver Bow Archers Archery Range makes for an extraordinary shooting experience, Bierwagen said. "Their field course is one of the best in the nation, very well set up and in spectacular surroundings," he said. "And the weather was perfect all weekend, about 70 degrees, partly cloudy and very little wind."

In addition to the Silver Bow Archers club, Flaming Arrow Archery (out of Kalispell) and the Lewistown Bowhunters co-sponsored the shoot.

Bierwagen said there are a couple more archery shoots coming up in July.

This weekend at the Silver Mountain Ski Resort in Kellogg, Top Pin Archery, an association of archery and outdoor equipment manufacturers, will host the Shootout at Silver Mountain, a 3-D target, marked distance event. Only several years old, the Shootout has quickly become one of the premier archery shoots in the Pacific Northwest.

Offering several shooting categories, including teams and pairs competition, Bierwagen said he planned on teaming up with Kathy Woods of the Whitefish area to compete in the mixed doubles division.

Bierwagen said he also plans on attending the Shoot for the Cure tournament in Townsend July 13-14. The Shoot for the Cure is a benefit 3-D archery shoot held at the Huth Ranch at the foot of the Big Belt Mountains outside of Townsend.

All money raised from the popular shoot is donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in furthering attempts to find a cure for breast cancer.