By Glen Rosales
Special to the SUN

One of Pojoaque Pueblo’s buffaloes is being dangled as a prize for Saturday’s Buffalo Thunder Archery Challenge.

“It’s a really great opportunity,” Ken Casados, an archer out of Española, who plans to compete, said. “Most shoots, you’re winning money or you win a buckle or some sort of prize. It varies from shoot to shoot. This is the first one that I know of in New Mexico that’s offering a buffalo. It’s an amazing opportunity.”

Truth be told, however, the grand prize winner will not actually be loading a buffalo up in a trailer after the shoot is completed, Henry Roybal, who came up with the idea, said. Roybal is running for Santa Fe County commissioner and his campaign is sponsoring the event.

“If you buy a buffalo from Pojoaque Pueblo, they are processed traditionally,” Roybal said. “And it is done using traditional methods. It is processed and ready for pick up. It is quartered and the winner gets to keep the hide and the head if they want that.”

Roybal said he wanted to start a community event not only to raise awareness about his campaign, but also to build an annual and lasting local happening that would attract visitors from across the region.

“I sat down with community members and we talked about what would make this competition stand out and be well received,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that we had some prizes that really caught people’s attention, something that would be cool.”

Extreme Archers, a Northern New Mexico-based club with members from around the state, is putting on the shoot at the Towa Golf Club and it has been getting significant attention not only from club members, but from archers in Colorado, as well, club president Monick Martinez said.

“It’s different,” he said of the grand prize. “It’s always a guesstamation, but I’d say we’ll have 80 to 120 archers. It could be more.”

Archers will shoot from 20 animal target stations in the morning session and another 20 in the afternoon. Competitors move from station to station in groups of five, firing at stationary targets that include anything from rabbits to deer and antelope to elk, with a range anywhere from three yards to 60 yards, “depending on how mean I feel,” Martinez said with a chuckle.

There will be 12 classes from traditional to freestyle, as well as youth divisions.

The latter is important, Roybal said, because archery is very much a family affair even if not everybody is shooting.

“Me and my son, we used to compete in a lot of different archery events, 4H, different clubs,” he said. “We did a lot of traveling. It’s something when you get out there, it takes a lot of precision and patience for these archers, and practice. It really is a skill. That is, you have to dedicate a lot of time for that skill. But the other part of it is it’s a family event. You see a lot of kids participating. A lot of families go and have a good time. It is really community focused.”

And it’s really just a way to get the community involved in having a good time, Roybal said.

“This seems like it would be really fun and a good way to get families engaged,” he said. “It’s cool to focus on the talent that we have in Northern New Mexico and around the state.”

Casados said he is looking forward to competing against the top archers who are planning to attend. His wife, Donna Casados of the local State Farm agency, also shoots.

“There’s going to be some great shooters there,” he said. “I just want to be able to compete and have some fun. Archery shoots are amazing. They’re a lot of fun and great sportsmanship. Everybody is real nice.