5 Gift Ideas for the Archer (or Future Archer) in Your Life

Archery has long been a popular sport among youth, whether dads are sharing their love of hunting and the outdoors with their children or students are competing with school teams.

In the last five years, though, its popularity has grown with movies such as The Hunger Games and Brave, both which feature strong female characters with bows and arrows. It's a diverse sport — target archery in a range, field archery with the challenge of shooting at different elevations, 3D archery featuring foam animal targets and bow hunting. It can be a family activity, an individual challenge or a team sport that increases concentration and hand-eye coordination.

Whether you have an avid hunter in your family or someone who might like to give it a try, here are some gift ideas courtesy of our friends at Hoot & Holler Archery, a family-owned business at 601 Barksdale Blvd. in Bossier City:

1) Beginner bow package. Hoot & Holler Archery can help you find the bow perfect for your needs and goals. (They'll even set it up for you based on your draw length and strength and service it for you!) Recurve bows are lighter and easier to maintain, while compound bows have more accessories and a pulley system that makes it easier to shoot accurately. Beginner recurve bow packages are $150 to $350 at Hoot & Holler, while compound bow starter packages are $350 to $450.

2) Bow rental and range time. Hoot & Holler features a 10-lane, 20-yard shooting range and bow rental for beginners, as well as a number of leagues, tournaments and classes. Click here to learn about range time. Click here to learn about events and here to learn about lessons. (Anyone younger than 17 must have adult supervision in the range.)

3) Bowfishing equipment. For avid fishers, why not introduce them to bowfishing? The equipment comes in traditional or compound, includes barbed arrows and can be attached to a line.

4) Targets. If your archer has put in hours of practice at a range, new targets that they can set up at various locations can give them a fresh challenge. Hoot & Holler has paper targets, 3D targets, foam targets, bag targets and crossbow targets.

5) Gift cards. If you're not an archery enthusiast yourself, a gift card to Hoot & Holler can be an opportunity to support a friend's or family member's passion without having to guess what equipment they want. The staff at Hoot & Holler can help them find something that fits their interests and skill level and complements their other equipment.

In fact ... Hoot & Holler Archery is partnering with Kiss Country 93.7 to give away a $350 gift card. That could go a long way toward purchasing prime equipment for your favorite archer!

Remember to shop local!