NEW SCOTLAND – Flying Arrow Sports III on Route 85 "is in a position to fly," says the store’s manager, Gary Despart.
The store is a "full-service hunting shop," said Despart, who opened it about a month ago in the building that was formerly Kissel’s garage. The store carries archery and hunting supplies; paintball accessories; and fishing, tackle, and live bait. It also offers maintenance and repair on all makes of archery equipment.

Despart plans to add an outdoor paintball field and three-dimensional shooting range next year.
Albany County is a "bow-only" county, Despart said. "There’s a big market of bow hunters in this area," he said. "I’m looking to run a customer-friendly archery establishment."
Though the shop is "a store more than anything," it also features Rinehart targets and a three-dimensional archery shooting range – equipped with foam animals such as a crocodile, turkey, wild boar, and black bear. Customers can also go on a techno hunt – an interactive archery game, where archers shoot full-strength, full-size arrows, with a specialized tip, at a movie screen with scenes from the wild, allowing the archer to shoot at a moving target.

When the arrow’s blunt tip hits the screen, said Despart, it bounces off and drops to the ground. The screen shows a picture of the arrow on the spot where it hit, and informs the shooter of a bull’s eye, a miss, or an obstruction in the shot, Despart explained.
"Bow hunters are in love with this thing," he said. "It’s a hot setup."

Michael Clemente and Thomas Ardis own Flying Arrow Sports, founded in Carmel, N.Y. in 1998. About a year-and-a-half ago, Despart’s brother Jimmy started a second location in East Greenbush.

Jimmy is a champion archer who has competed around the world. He works with Corey Monohan, a 15-year-old national champion archer.

Despart and his brother have been archers since they were kids. Their father – a tournament archer in the 1980s – got them involved when they were about 8 or 9, Despart recalled.
"There are more opportunities now than when we started," Despart said. "The sport has progressed," he said, explaining that bows today are faster, and the arrows are lighter than when he first learned to shoot.

"Singular sport"
Archery is all about the individual, Despart said. "It’s a singular sport."
Though archery is often associated with hunting, which is typically male-dominated, "there are tons and tons of women shooters," said Despart, remembering a woman who had come into the shop without any archery experience, and walked out with a few thousand dollars worth of equipment.

Jessi Lengfellner has been shooting for four years. Lengfellner is a 17-year-old senior at Bethlehem High School and lives in Feura Bush.

Don Howard is Lengfellner’s instructor. He has been teaching archery for 30 years and works as a bow mechanic for Despart. Howard is an Olympic-certified instructor, and has taught in Israel and Canada.

Lengfellner will participate in a youth league, beginning in August, at Flying Arrow Sports III. The shop will offer three-dimensional and target archery leagues on Thursday and Friday nights, in levels ranging from beginner to expert, Despart said.
"I got her a small bow, and she’s been winning competitions ever since," said Lengfellner’s stepfather, Bob King. Lengfellner recently ranked 14th at an indoor national competition.
"I like the competition of it," she said, adding that she wants to go to college in Texas, and is hoping to be awarded an archery scholarship and continue competing there.
"This here, it’s all you," said King, as Lengfellner unloaded her bow from its case before target practice. "It’s a great ego booster," he said.

King is a bow-hunter with six children, he said. He relies on venison to feed his family, he said, adding that two of his kids are allergic to beef.
Archery, he said, is something that he and his daughter "can do together."