RESITUATED FAMILY FINDS ARCHER IN CAPE IS FUN

Webster's New World Dictionary describes a toxophilite as "a person who is especially fond of archery." Toxon is the Greek word for bow.

That pretty well describes Danny Yarbrough; his wife, Ginger; and their two children, Terry and Regina, who participate as a family in the ancient sport of archery.

Toxophilite societies date back to ancient times. Archery tournaments held in England and elsewhere have kept the sport alive today in all parts of the world.]

The bow-and-arrow has played a vital role in history.

The popularity of archery increased sharply in the United States during the late 1920s. Today archers compete in tournaments or take to the field to hunt for game much the same as the English bow hunters did while searching for deer in King Richard's Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire.

When the Yarbrough's moved to Cape Girardeau in December 1990, they left a warm and sunny southern Arizona to arrive in a land covered with ice, sleet and snow. "It was a real shock," said Ginger Yarbrough.

Yarbrough was working as a linesman for Arizona Public Service Co. when he was laid off due to a cutback at Buckeye, Ariz. He saw a Union Electric Co. ad in that town's newspaper that enabled him to move his family to Missouri, a little closer to their native state of Georgia. He is now a linesman with Union Electric in Cape Girardeau.

The family lives north of Cape Girardeau on County Road 635, where they have plenty of room to set up their archery targets for practice.

"I was born and raised in south Georgia, about 60 miles north of the Florida state line," said Yarbrough. "I've hunted and fished since I was old enough to carry a gun and pole. I picked up bow hunting as just another way to hunt."

Yarbrough also raced modified stock cars while the family lived in Arizona. Ginger said she liked it a lot better when her husband decided to take up archery over car racing.

Yarbrough said he really got into archery after moving to Cape Girardeau. He discovered there were indoor archery ranges where an archer could practice on cold winter nights. One is the Six Gold Indoor Range at 612 rear Broadway; the other indoor range is operated by the Bootheel Bowhunters Club of Cape Girardeau.

At first, Yarbrough was the only member of the family to take up archery, and he did it for hunting. But it wasn't long before Ginger found out about the recreational and social aspects of archery competition. Their enthusiasm for the sport passed on to Terry, 11, a sixth-grade student at Nell Holcomb School, and his sister, Regina, 4.

"When I came down to the indoor range with Danny one night, and saw the other ladies who were shooting, I decided to give it a try," said Ginger. "But I really started to enjoy it when we began participating in the outdoor competitive events and met more people.

"That's what's nice about archery; it's a form of recreation but it's also a social event when everyone gets together for a weekend outdoor activity."

During their first winter in Cape Girardeau, the Yarbrough's spent a lot of weekday nights at the indoor archery range improving their skills. They still go in, but not as often, to practice for the spring and summer tournaments that will start in a few weeks. The family also belongs to the Bootheel Bowhunters Club, which sponsors a number of tournaments.

The couple use adult bows while Terry uses a youth bow and Regina has a toy bow of her own.

"Bows today are a lot different than they used to be," said Danny Yarbrough. "Even the arrows are much different than those made 40 to 50 years ago. Most of them now are made of lightweight aluminum."

He said today's high-tech bows can shoot an aluminum arrow down the target range at over 300 feet per second.

Yarbrough said safety is just as important on the archery range as on the firearms range. Both Terry and his sister have received extensive instruction on range safety. When tournaments or outdoor competition are going on, Yarbrough said a range safety officer is on duty.

Yarbrough said the modern, high-tech bows are specially designed for competition or hunting. They bear little resemblance to the famous and deadly accurate English "longbows" that won many battles in the Middle Ages.

"The English longbow was simply a long staff with a string," said Yarbrough. "Later they developed the recurve bow, which has a small curve at each end of the bow. That created more accuracy and speed."

Yarbrough said there are still archery clubs and enthusiasts who make and shoot their own recurve bows and arrows. "It's a lot like black-powder shooters," he said. "Some people like the modern rifles, but other people like the old muskets. It's the same way in archery."

Yarbrough said he enjoys the sport because other archers are always willing to stop and help a novice archer improve his or her skills. "It's a very competitive sport, but not so competitive that the other experienced archers won't take a minute or two to help you out if you've got a problem," he said.

Yarbrough says anyone who would like to learn more about the sport of archery should come by the indoor range some evening and watch and talk to the archers. "It's really a great sport and a great way to do things outdoors with your family," he said.