Hunter the Archer

from Waverly

BY EMMA MCCLATCHEY

Three years ago, if you asked Hunter Telleen’s loved ones which sport he’d excel at in high school, archery would likely never have crossed their minds.

They’d probably have guessed cross-country or track, pointing to the records Hunter set running meets as a 7th grader at Waverly-Shell Rock Middle School. Buck hunting, a hobby the Telleens practice every deer season on their family farmland in Lucas County, was another possibility. They might have even chosen something equestrian, since Hunter’s dad Lynn Telleen was the longtime owner of The Draft Horse Journal, a quarterly publication out of Waverly, Iowa focused on heavy horses. (Fun fact/disclosure: Lynn recently sold DHJ to Little Village owner Matthew Steele.)

Sure, Hunter enjoys all those things. But his sport of choice takes him off school grounds and out of Iowa to competitions around the country, where the 14-year-old shoots for perfect scores and ranks among the top youth competitors in the U.S.

Hunter became incurably curious about archery in 2021, after shooting some arrows at foam targets with a friend at a local 3D shooting range.

“I wanted to get a bow, and then I got one,” Hunter said. “I shot it so much that it was, like, falling apart, so I got a better one and then I started shooting competitions.”

They bought his first bow up at Cabela’s for a few hundred dollars. His new bow was specially ordered online and cost upwards of $3,000.

“I felt like I had to practice a lot better,” Hunter said.

The quality is something you can feel, he explained, lifting the blue aluminum and fiberglass contraption out of his dad’s truck. Hunter shoots a compound bow, which utilizes a system of pulleys and cables to make handling the bow at full draw easier than recurve bows (the kind you see in the Olympics), improving accuracy at great distances.

“The bow with everything on it is like 13 pounds,” he said. “You want it heavy because then it doesn’t jump up in my hand as much as a lighter one. You have a sight and rest, put an arrow on the rest, and then you have this little D loop here, you usually have a release, pull back and then—let go.”

Hunter’s parents have been supportive of his passion from the jump. They had no idea what it would mean to raise an elite archer, but it was clear Hunter had a natural talent. They’ve taken cues from Hunter’s coaches, including

Linda Beck, a bowhunting world champion and USA Archery-certified coach with North Central Elite Archers.

“It’s kind of an elite archery club that you have to be invited to,” Lynn explained. “[Coach Linda] scouted him out. Being involved with the North Central Elite Archers involves getting some one-on-one coaching with her, which is invaluable. She’s got several Olympic archers under her. She’s top-shelf as far as a coach. So it’s all just compounded to make him even better.”

Less than two years after picking up his first bow, a 13-year-old Hunter attended his first major national tournament, the 2022 Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD)

Tuesday, July 4 at 8 a.m. Pulpit to Pulpit 5K & 1 Mile Fun Run & Walk, Pulpit Rock Brewery, Decorah, $15-30

Saturday, July 15 at 9 a.m. Glyn Mwar Wine Run 5K, The Local Glyn Mwar Wine Bar, Mount Vernon, $25-50

Saturday, July 15 at 7 a.m. Lake McBride Trail Races, Lake McBride, Solon, $50-70

Saturday, July 22 at 9 a.m. Olathea Creek Wine Run 5K, Olathea Creek Vineyard & Winery, Le Claire, $25-50

Saturday, July 29 at 8 a.m. Walker Pickle Days 5K and Fun Run, Walker, $25-30

Saturday, Aug. 5 at 6:30 a.m. Wapsi Wiggle: 5K & Half Marathon, WGWL Trailhead & Welcome Center, Riceville, $20-40

Saturday, Aug. 12 at 7:30 a.m. Wizard Run, Des Moines, $35-60

Saturday, Aug. 12 at 7:30 a.m. Mines of Spain Trail Races, Dubuque, $25-50

Saturday, Aug. 19 at 8 a.m. Watermelon Stampede 5K & 10K, Muscatine Community YMCA, $25

Sunday, Sept. 3 at 7:30 a.m. NewBo Run Half Marathon & 10K, Cedar Rapids, $35-50

Saturday, Sept. 9 at 7:30 a.m. Pleasant Creek Trail Run, Pleasant Creek Recreation Area, Palo, $35-55

Saturday, Sept. 9 at 8 a.m.

Friends of Pilot Knob Trail Race, Pilot Knob State Park Stone Shelter, Forest City

Sunday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 a.m.

Women’s Half Marathon & 5K, Downtown Des Moines, $25-75

Sunday, Sept. 17 at 9 a.m. Fireside Wine Run 5K, Fireside Winery, Marengo, $20-60

Sunday, Sept. 30 at 9 a.m. North Shore Distance Classic, Lake Macbride, Solon, Donation-$60

Saturday, Oct. 14 at 8:30 a.m. Hot Cider Hustle Half Marathon, 10K, 5K, NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids, Free-$89.99

Sunday, Oct. 15 at 8 a.m. Des Moines Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K, Historic Court District, Des Moines, $40-139

Outdoor Nationals in Decatur, Alabama. “He was shooting against several kids a year older, with more experience, but still ended up 10th in his division,” Lynn recalled.

Rules, standards and scoring systems vary depending on the competition—there’s indoor and field archery; recurve, compound and barebow styles; target, field and 3D competitions, etc.—but Hunter typically shoots down

30-meter ranges (adult competitors shoot up to 70 meters) at five-ring targets, a dime-size X marking the center of the smallest ring.

As Hunter sums it up, the goal is “just trying to get them all in the middle.”

This March, Hunter placed ninth at the National Field Archery Association’s Indoor Nationals tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, scoring 299 on the first day and a perfect 300 on the second day of the competition.

“My scores used to be like 200, and now they’re like 299s out of 300,” he said. “A lot of it is really mental because you want to shoot a perfect score.”

This drive fuels some friendly rivalry with his fellow shooters. Many of Hunter’s best friends are archers he’s met at competitions, some of whom hadn’t even heard of Iowa until they met him.

“We place bets and we [put] a lot more pressure on ourselves than we actually need,” he said with a laugh. “We talk smack when we get to the tournament. We’re all like, ‘OK, hope you do good.’ And then after we’re like, ‘You’re trash!’”

These friendships are now more important to Hunter than mastering the sport. Asked about his ultimate goal, he said with a grin, “To beat all my friends.”

Lynn is happy to see Hunter thrive, even if Lynn’s still a bit confused about the scoring system at competitions. The single greatest investment he’s made in Hunter’s archery career has been time—hundreds of hours spent on the road heading to shooting ranges across