Straight Arrow : From Veteran Bow Hunters to Beginners, Archers of All Abilities Refine Their Skills and Practice Safety at Range in Woodley Park

Michael Hogbin draws a bead on a buck 25 yards away. He aims for its vital organs, the optimum target for a bow-hunter’s arrow.

Hogbin sends four more arrows whirring toward the deer’s heart and lungs before he approaches his target. The shots have hit their mark, penetrating the buck’s chest and neck. Hogbin surveys the damage, retrieves his arrows and resumes target practice.

In 12 years of bow hunting Hogbin, 38, has never bagged a deer. The buck filled with arrows is an image on a life-size poster that Hogbin drapes over a hay bale at the Woodley Park archery range.

With deer-hunting season opening this month, Hogbin needs the practice. The Granada Hills man hones his bow-hunting skills on the range before testing them in the field.

Bow hunters such as Hogbin and Patrick Kelley of Reseda meet daily to practice at the expansive, isolated Van Nuys archery range. With their khaki-colored, compound hunting bows, they stand out from the novice and competitive target archers who sport recurve or straight bows.

“I took this up because it is a little quieter than rifle hunting and there are less crazies out in the hills in this sport,” Kelley said. “I really enjoy archery; it’s like therapy in a sense.”

Kelley, 27, became interested in archery because of his fondness for sports that use “projectiles,” such as pistol and rifle shooting. He uses a compound bow for hunting deer and small game. Kelley has been hunting for two years, but like Hogbin, has not killed a deer. Bow hunters share the Olympic-size range with archers of all abilities, the distances varying between 25 yards and 90 meters. For archers with their own equipment, the range can be used anytime the park is open.

Since its construction in 1983, the range has been a haven for enthusiasts of the centuries-old sport and pastime. The Woodley Park facility is the only complete target range in the Valley. It is used regularly by dozens of the seven million in North America who practice archery.

Marty Bernal of Monterey Park visits four times a week for target practice. He is constantly preparing for archery tournaments, including state and national competition. Bernal currently is gearing up for the Pacific Coast Championships in Sacramento next month and a possible 1988 Olympics berth.

“Not too many people follow archery,” said Bernal, 32, who took up the sport 11 years ago. “It’s one of those things that if you’re not shooting, it’s boring to watch. It’s not like watching football.”

The Easton Sports Development Foundation, a division of Easton Aluminum of Van Nuys that was involved with building the range as a training site for the 1984 Olympics, maintains the target bales and training range. The L.A. City Dept. of Recreation and Parks maintains the grounds.

Free instruction is offered through the Woodley Park Archery Assn. (WPAA), which makes free equipment available for beginning archery lessons. The association, which offers free membership, also stages tournaments.

Beginning classes are held Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to noon and Sundays from noon to 2 p.m. There is also a Wednesday evening class from 5:30 to 7:30. The Junior Olympic Archery Development program is open to youth interested in the sport.

Beginners learn the fundamentals on a fenced-off training range where target butts are shot at from distances of nine and 20 meters. (A butt is the surface or material, such as a hay bale, behind the target.)

Volunteer instructors such as Tom Harris of Canyon Country or Dan Kaplan and Dave Cochran of Van Nuys teach beginning archery classes for the WPAA.

“It’s volunteer slave labor,” said Kaplan, 54, of Van Nuys. “This is one of the few programs in the city that is free. All that we ask of the people is that they listen.”

Kaplan and Cochran volunteer their time because they are avid archers who want to instill their enthusiasm for the sport in others.

“I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping kids,” said Cochran, 48. “It’s better than sitting home and watching TV.”