New archery tag location in Vaughan

Archery is soaring in popularity, propelled by the Hunger Games film series with its bow-toting heroine and hit TV shows "Game of Thrones" and "Arrow" in which bows feature prominently as the weapon of choice.

Now three Markham entrepreneurs are aiming to capitalize on growing interest in the sport and they’re pretty confident they’ve hit the bull’s eye with a new 10,000-square-foot archery tag facility in Vaughan.

“We believe this is going to be a blast for people who live around this area,” said Shawn Huang, who along with partners Kent Chung and Kevin Park officially opened their facility dubbed The Archery Game on Saturday.

“We’re going to target corporate events, birthday events and other private events. It’s great for team building because it’s really simple game, but it involves a lot of strategy if you want to be serious about it,” he added.

Developed in the United States, archery tag pits two teams against each other in a dodgeball-type battle. But instead of balls, players try to take each other out with custom-made, foam tipped arrows that “feel like a birthday punch” when they hit you, Huang says.

“It’s not like paintball where you get bruised and two days after it hurts all over your body,” he said.

The official version of the game is played by two teams with five players each, but it can be played with teams consisting of as few as four players or as many as 10.

“It’s actually a really good workout as well,” Huang said. “You’re running around. You’re going up and down. It’s agility and upper body strength, so you burn tons of calories.”

The Archery Game is located at 2501 Rutherford Rd. unit 18, directly behind Reptilia.

Chung says they were fortunate to find a space in the heart of what could be considered Vaughan’s entertainment district, which boasts Canada’s Wonderland, Legoland Discovery Centre, Sky Zone indoor trampoline park, WEGZ stadium bar and Reptilia all within a few blocks.

‘It’s not like paintball where you get bruised and two days after it hurts all over your body’

“We were lucky to actually get a location here where all the fun is,” he said. “There’s a lot of energy here.”

Archery tag has caught fire in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and British Columbia, but it’s just starting to take flight in Ontario, Chung said.

Vaughan is the second community in the GTA to host an archery tag facility. Toronto was first with The Archery District, which opened in Scarborough back in January.

“The reason we picked Vaughan is that we don’t really want to just focus on the Asian community,” Huang said. “A lot of Asians, know about this game, but there’s still a lot of people who don’t know about it. I’m sure because of the Hunger Games hype, people will want to try it and Vaughan is a very diverse place.”

And, Chung noted, they’re taking steps to set themselves apart from the competition.

“We do variations on the official game, we also invented a few of our own really unique creations,” he said.

Texas Veterinarian kills Cat with Arrow

There is a difference between bowhunting and animal cruelty. The veterinarian in the photo to the right apparently doesn't know the difference. Kristen Lindsey was practicing archery in her backyard, saw a stray cat (someone's lost pet) and decided to shoot it with an arrow.

First off, that is not hunting. That is randomly killing animals for the sheer pleasure of it, which qualifies as animal cruelty.

It is also not hunting because she had no plans to eat the cat, and the cat was not a predator killing her livestock (as is sometimes the case with wolves or similar predators killing a farmer's livestock).

She then took it a step further by having her friends take photos of her and then post it on Facebook, to show off to her friends that she had been "hunting".

But as stated before, she was obviously not hunting for food and she was not hunting dangerous predators - which means she was just randomly killing a stray cat.

Kristen Lindsey claims the cat was feral, but that is still no reason to randomly kill a stray cat. She did it for her own personal pleasure of killing animals - which is an odd thing for a veterinarian to be doing. She must really hate cats for some reason.

"The only good feral tomcat is one with an arrow through it's head!"

Yup, really hates tomcats apparently.

Since then another video has surfaced from Texas showing the same cat (whose name is Tiger) in question riding on the front hood of a John Deere Gator farm utility vehicle (it is basically a golf cart painted green, repurposed for farm use).

So evidently what happened was one of Kristen Lindsey's neighbour's cats went for a stroll one day, wandered off her owner's property and was passing through Kristen Lindsey's backyard. Kristen Lindsey saw the cat, and thought it would be funny to shoot it.

Since then Kristen has been fired from her veterinarian job, there is an online petition to have her veterinarian's licence revoked, and police have been pondering charges of animal cruelty.

Her former employers posted this on their website:

"We are absolutely appalled, shocked, upset, and disgusted by the conduct. We do not allow such conduct and we condemn it in the strongest possible manner… Please know that when informed of this we responded swiftly and appropriately and please do not impute this awful conduct to the Washington Animal Clinic or any of its personnel."

The Texas Veterinary Medical Association and Colorado State University, where Lindsey earned her doctorate, have also condemned the act of animal cruelty.

"If this did occur, it's a criminal act," says Austin County Sheriff Jack Brandes, noting that a charge of cruelty to a non-livestock animal is a class A misdemeanour under the Texas penal code. Three investigators were assigned to the case. "It's disgusting and very alarming," he continued. "Yet our job is to investigate, then present a case to the district attorney. People are concerned, but we can't convict someone of a crime based on a picture on Facebook."

Since then no charges have been laid, which is unfortunately the status quo with animal cruelty cases. Most times charges don't even get made and the person committing the act gets away with it.

While we can take solace that Kristen Lindsey was fired from her job - and likely will never work again as a vet because who would take their pets to someone who enjoys shooting pets for fun? - it does show the sad state of affairs in which animal cruelty felons gets a free ride often because the police cannot find enough evidence that the act took place.

See the following Huffington Post article if you want to read more about animal cruelty and how the felons often get away with it.

Cat Cruelty Goes Viral Online and Nowhere in the Courts

Funny or Die Archery Tricks from Geena Davis

Funny archery videos are a rarity. Here is one made by Funny or Die, starring Geena Davis.

Archery in the Bible

There are many instances of archery within the Bible. Here are some of the best examples. There are also various stories of saints and their use of archery (or being shot with arrows, like in the case of St. Sebastian).

Genesis 21:20
God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer.

Genesis 25:27
When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.

Genesis 27:3
"Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;

1 Samuel 20:18-23
Then Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. "When you have stayed for three days, you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on that eventful day, and you shall remain by the stone Ezel. "I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target.

1 Samuel 20:35-38
Now it came about in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field for the appointment with David, and a little lad was with him. He said to his lad, "Run, find now the arrows which I am about to shoot." As the lad was running, he shot an arrow past him. When the lad reached the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the lad and said, "Is not the arrow beyond you?"

1 Samuel 31:1-3
Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons of Saul. The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was badly wounded by the archers.

2 Samuel 1:22
"From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, And the sword of Saul did not return empty.

2 Samuel 11:14-17
Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die." So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men.

2 Samuel 11:24
"Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead."

1 Kings 22:34
Now a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel in a joint of the armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, "Turn around and take me out of the fight; for I am severely wounded."

2 Kings 9:24
And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between his arms; and the arrow went through his heart and he sank in his chariot.

2 Kings 19:32
'Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, "He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it.

1 Chronicles 5:18
The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, consisting of valiant men, men who bore shield and sword and shot with bow and were skillful in battle, were 44,760, who went to war.

1 Chronicles 8:40
The sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor, archers, and had many sons and grandsons, 150 of them. All these were of the sons of Benjamin.

1 Chronicles 12:1-2
Now these are the ones who came to David at Ziklag, while he was still restricted because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men who helped him in war. They were equipped with bows, using both the right hand and the left to sling stones and to shoot arrows from the bow; they were Saul's kinsmen from Benjamin.

2 Chronicles 14:8
Now Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were valiant warriors.

2 Chronicles 26:14
Moreover, Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows and sling stones.

2 Chronicles 35:23
The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am badly wounded."

Psalms 7:12-13
If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.

Isaiah 13:17-18
Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold. And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children.

Isaiah 66:19
"I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory And they will declare My glory among the nations.

Jeremiah 4:29
At the sound of the horseman and bowman every city flees; They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks; Every city is forsaken, And no man dwells in them.

Jeremiah 51:11
Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for His temple.

Lamentations 2:4
He has bent His bow like an enemy; He has set His right hand like an adversary And slain all that were pleasant to the eye; In the tent of the daughter of Zion He has poured out His wrath like fire.

Lamentations 3:12-13
He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow. He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts.

Ezekiel 5:16
'When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the staff of bread.

Zechariah 9:13
For I will bend Judah as My bow, I will fill the bow with Ephraim And I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece; And I will make you like a warrior's sword.

Archery in Islam

Archery holds a special place in Islam, being 1 of the three sports endorsed by the Prophet Muhammad:

Archery
Horseback Riding
Swimming

It is therefore no surprise that archery played an important role for hunting, war, and the simple sport of friendly competition.

For example during the Battle of Jamal, which took place at Basra, Iraq on 7 November 656, archery and camel riding played a very important role. Elephant howdahs also played a role in the battle.

The Battle of Jamal

Quotes about Archery in Islam

"The Prophet (peace be upon him) once passed by a group of his Companions who were competing in archery. He encouraged them, saying, “Shoot, and I am with you.” "

"The Prophet Muhammad said: “Learn the shooting of arrows, and do not be averse to it, for the areas between the two targets holds a garden of the gardens of paradise.” "

"O Khalid, let me tell you what I heard the Messenger of Allah say. He said: “Allah admits three people into Paradise because of one arrow. The one who makes it, doing so with the intention of good, the one who shoots it and the one who hands it over to the archer. So go out and train in archery and in horseback riding. And I prefer you train in archery. Entertainment is appropriate in only three forms: Training your horse, spending time with your wife, and archery. And whoever learns archery and then abandons it has rejected a blessing from Allah” "

"The Prophet (peace be on him) said, “Practice archery; that is good for you.” "

"The Messenger of Allah passed next to boys playing a game of archery. He said: “Shoot children of Ismael, your father was a great archer. Shoot and I will join so and so” and he joined one of the teams. The Messenger of Allah then said: “Why did you stop?” They said: “How can we do so when you are with them?” He said: “Go ahead and shoot, I am with all of you!” "

"I saw Jabir bin Abdullah and Jabir bin Umair al Ansari target shooting while one of them got bored and sat down. The other told him: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “Everything that is not remembrance of Allah is in vain except four things: Your walking between your targets, training your horse, playing with your wife, and swimming practice” "

"Amr bin Absah Radiya-allahu anhu said we were laying siege to al Taif and I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “Whoever shoots an arrow in the sake of Allah will be rewarded like one who has freed a slave” Amr said I shot 16 arrows on that day."

"Utbah bin Abd al Sulami Radiya-allahu anhu narrated: The Messenger of Allah told his companions: “Stand up and fight!” So a man stood up and shot an arrow. The Messenger of Allah said: “This man is granted Paradise” "

"Faqeem al Lakhmi Radiya-allahu anhu told Uqbah bin Amer Radiya-allahu anhu: “You are running between these two targets and you are at this old age!” Uqbah(RA) said: “If it wasn’t for some words I heard from the Messenger of Allah I wouldn’t have gone through this” The narrator asked what those words were, he Radiya-allahu anhu said: “Whoever learns target shooting and then abandons it is not one of us – or he said, “has committed a sin” "