My wife informed me early last week that I needed to reserve Friday for "Date Night". For most guys the term alone is enough to make your skin crawl. But my wife, bless her heart, has adopted my passion for archery and our Friday date night was a trip to the Carver Park 3D archery course!

I bought my wife a bow a few years ago when she expressed interest in shooting. I picked up a Diamond Razer Edge because it would work well for my son too, plus it supports one of my favorite charitable organizations, Kicking Bear. Within a month my son had taken full ownership of the bow so Kristin needed her own....I reached out to my friend Randy Hermann, Owner, Pimp My Bow, and he happened to have a great bow on hand....a Bowtech Equalizer with pink and black accents and a pink/black VaporTrail string. I figured a tricked out bow would look great in her hands and I was right!

Our date started at the stationary range to make sure she was still sighted in. The 20 yard target was a deer with vitals...no scoring ring. After a few warm up shots I told her to shoot for the nose of the deer as we could both see the dark-black circle pretty clearly from 20 yards.

She proceeded to jam an arrow into the deer's nose which pretty much set the tone for our walk around the 3D course.

There are nine different stations at the park and each one has a bow rack/arrow holder, target stand and paper target. Our goal was to get Kristin more comfortable shooting different distances and with targets laid out 10 to 70 yards throughout the course, we had plenty of opportunities. Once she put a good shot on a target we would move to the next....she didn't need many do-overs! I had a pretty good as well but I've spent a lot more time practicing and have been shooting for over 5 years.

We enjoyed a picture-perfect evening and amazing fall weather as we made our way around the course. The 7th station consists of 4 targets at 10-20-35-45 yards shot from an elevated platform about 25 feet off the ground. Coming off of a 70 yard miss from the previous station Kristin was motivated to redeem herself. She stepped up and took a poke at the antelope target 45 yards away. With my binoculars I could see she made a great shot....in the heart!

Kristin closed out the last couple stations with more great shoots. I think she's been practicing without me! We headed over to Lola's Lakehouse in Waconia for dinner on the deck for a more traditional ending to date night. I believe more guys would probably embrace the concept of date night if they were more like these!

About the range....

The range is open April 1–Nov. 15; Elm Creek in Maple Grove has a range that's bigger and is open year-round. It's field tip only expect on one 20 hard target designated for broadheads. Leave the beer and pets at home! There are some great events at both locations including events for youth, seniors and beginners.

For more information visit the Three River's Park website.