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Teen archer beats odds, places 3rd in world championship
By all rights, Mike Parkinson should have never hit the target.
As he sat in the tree stand several feet above the ground, the odds were already stacked against him. He could see the full-size deer target positioned 25 yards away, but a heavy layer of tree limbs seemed to block any clear line of sight.
None of this seemed to bother Mike as he raised his bow and fired arrow after arrow into an area of the target roughly the size of a baseball. What started out as one bull's-eye became two, then three, then four...
Not too bad for someone just 10 years old on his first hunting trip.
Four years later, the Mountain Home High School freshman continues to defy the odds as he refines his talents as an amateur archer. Earlier this month, his skills with a bow landed him at the top of his trade, earning him a third-place finish at the International Bowhunter Organization's world championship in Ellicotville, N.Y.
Even when he was young, Mike always seemed to have a bow in his hands. He started off with a little toy bow and by age six upgraded to one better suited for his age, which allowed him to "grow" into it over time.
Bow hunting remains a part of the Parkinson family. His parents worked at a bow manufacturing company in Michigan, and everyone in his immediate family was regularly involved in local and regional competitions.
"I guess archery just carried on to our entire family," Mike said.
But it was on Mike's first hunting trip with his father, Tom, that his parents realized their son's hidden talent. While on vacation in Winfield, Kan., father and son spent the day practicing their skills at a friend's cabin while preparing Mike for his first hunt.
"I figured it would be a good experience for him because he's not hiking through the mountains," said Tom, a chief master sergeant stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base. "He had his bow up in the tree stand and shooting arrows at this deer target. He just kept hitting the 10-ring bull's-eye on the target."
The 10-ring, the second inner circle on these three-dimensional targets, is slightly larger than the more elusive 11-ring, which is roughly the diameter of a golf ball.
After his son finished shooting, his father climbed out of the tree stand to check out the target.
"I looked up to where he was shooting from, and there was no way that you could get an arrow through (the tree limbs) and hit that deer. Somehow, he was threading the arrow through a spot and hitting that 10-ring."
Tom and their hunting partner were amazed at Mike's ability. Both veteran hunters tried in vain to copy the 10-year-old's technique.
"We couldn't do it. We kept bouncing arrows off the limbs," Tom said. "In fact, the deer (target) wasn't even set up for the tree stand. It was set up for another."
Right then, Tom knew his son had a gift for archery. His dad began entering his son in local archery competitions where Mike's skill with a bow became evident. By age 11, Mike won his first state championship, posting a perfect score in the process.
"He excelled at it right away that we never let him shoot in his own age group," Tom said. "He's always been shooting in an age group above him."
Mike's secret to success lies in his ability to accurately judge the distance to each of his targets using only nearby trees, shrubs and ground as a reference.
"When you get up to the (starting) stake, you have to guess the yardage to the target," Tom said. "You can't discuss it with anybody. You have to figure it out on your own. Mike can walk up to a stake and look at a target and know the yardage right away. That's really been the secret to his success."
It's all memory based, Mike added. He compares the yardage of his earlier practice shots to targets he fires at during the competition, which helps him maintain his accuracy and consistency.
In May, Mike earned a shot at the worldwide finals after winning the third leg of the International Bowhunter Organization's triple crown in LaGrande, Ore.
He compared the worldwide competition as "practice for hunting."
"We take a ski lift to the top of a mountain," Mike said. "Once you get to the top, you follow these orange ribbons to your target which are based on hunting scenarios. When you walk up on a target, you have to judge the distance based on the trees and shrubs and anything you can see around you."
In some instances, the shooters have a limited amount of reference guides to help them judge distance. In some cases, the shooters can't even see the ground leading to their target.
The first day of the worldwide competition didn't go as well as expected for Mike, who ended up in seventh place out of 50 competitors in the 13- to 14-year age group.
"I was walking up to a target and not really paying attention to where I was going," he said. "I was talking to one of the people in my group, and I stepped on a really slick patch of mud and fell on my back. I jammed my release and the cams on my bow with mud. I was more embarrassed than anything, and that just brought me down for the rest of the day."
Undeterred, Mike moved up in the rankings on day two, improving to second place and earning him the right to compete on day three with the other top four shooters.
"I checked my marks on my sight and everything was shooting fine," he said. "I felt good that day and tried to forget about the day before."
When he's not busy shooting, Mike remains active at school where he previously served as the president of the Junior Honor Society at Mountain Home Junior High School.
"I don't do many things different than a normal kid would," he said. "I come home and relax then do my homework and then find things to do. I practice when I can."
Mike considers his skill with a bow a combination of natural talent and practice. "I think talent does come naturally, but to push it forward you have to practice," he added.
Now that he's taken on the world's top archers, Mike hopes to return to this yearly event although he tends to prefer competing in local competitions closer to home.
"It's a great family sport," his father said. "It teaches the kids discipline and integrity, and you get to meet a lot of nice people out there."