By Tim Leeds
Brett Borst has recently opened a little corner of archery in Western Trailer and Marine Sales and Service in Havre.
Borst opened his archery supply center, Milk River Archery, Nov. 1, 2000.
"We stock a lot of traditional archery stuff," Borst said, "we also have supplies for the compound shooters."
Milk River stocks compound bows, recurves, self bows and long bows. There are also wooden, aluminum and graphite arrows and supplies for people to construct their own.
Customers at Milk River Archery can buy anything they would need to make their own arrows, buy premade arrows or have Borst make them to their specifications.
"I handcraft these at home," he said, "right here in Havre."
He also offers handcrafted bows, made by Cory Fox out of Chinook.
Borst said he doesn't keep a lot of different bows in stock, although he will have a few more closer to summer. He said there are so many different bows out there he couldn't keep everything possible on hand. He said he can special order just about anything people could want, though.
"There's so many being built now, it's pretty tough to stock them all," Borst said.
Milk River stocks quite a supply of accessories as well. Along with the fletching equipment, there are gloves, arrow rests, sights, bow tuning kits, custom made Flemish strings are available, and targets are for sale.
Borst said he has been involved in archery himself for about 27 years, since he was 15, so this was a natural business for him to get into.
He said there is a strong contingent of bow hunters in the area, as well as people participating in target shooting. There are two local organizations, the Bear Paw Bowmen in Havre and the Chinook Archery Club. Both clubs hold activities, with each putting on two one-day shoots every year and a combined two-day shoot in June.
