We read with sadness an obituary in Monday's paper for Dr. Shelby Woodiel of Little Rock, an avid sportsman pioneering bowhunter.
Woodiel's most famous bowhunting exploit was having killed the first wild turkey in Arkansas with archery equipment since the 1800s.
We interviewed Woodiel for an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette feature that was published on March 25, 2007, a week after Woodiel was inducted into the Arkansas Bowhunters Association Hall of Fame.
He recalled at that time the influence bowhunting had on his life.
"I had a new dental practice, had a wife and kids, and I was up to my rear end in debt because I had to borrow so much money to go dental school," Woodiel said. "A friend told me I needed something to take that off my mind. I went to Pine Bluff and bought a second-hand bow at Ben Pearson's. I started hunting with it and got real lucky."
In 1963, Woodiel killed the fifth turkey in Arkansas with archery equipment, but he was famous for the 1960 kill at Storm Creek Refuge near Helena. Woodiel sustained a lot of scrapes and bruises trying to recover that turkey, which he found the next day wedged in a tree thanks to some help from his friends, Dr. Dwayne Holloway and Dr. David Bosma.
Holloway and Bosma informed Ben Pearson, the legendary Pine Bluff bowyer, that Woodiel had killed the bird with a Ben Pearson Bushmaster Takedown bow. He killed the second turkey with that bow, as well.
"He flew down and gave me a new Bushmaster bow," Woodiel said. "That started a friendship, and he was as dear a friend as I've had. We went to British Columbia to make a moose hunting movie. Ben shot a Bushmaster. That was his favorite, and that's what I used from then on."
There is more to the story about the first turkey. Jess Essex, owner of Essex Funeral Home in DeWitt, said Woodiel was a close friend and bowhunting rival of the late Dr. Rex Hancock of Stuttgart, a fellow dentist and a giant in Arkansas conservation.
"That happened in the early 60's when I was a kid, but I remember the event well," Essex said. "It made a heck of a stir. People talked about it for weeks. Shelby loved it that he did it before Rex Hancock, and it galled Rex for years thereafter that Shelby beat him to it."
At the end of the 2007 article, Woodiel said that if could do one thing differently, he said he would have taken up bowhunting at a younger age. With all the great memories the sport has given him, he said he'd recommend it to any youngster.
"Bowhunting could really help a lot of kids," Woodiel said. "You have to really concentrate. It's a sport, and it's competitive. It would give kids something to do in good, healthy sport, and it would be good to promote this in schools."
In 2008, The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission established the Arkansas National Archery in Schools Program in 2008. Nearly 57,000 students from 550 schools, from grades 4-12 participate in the program.
Clearly, Dr. Woodiel was ahead of his time. His funeral will be today at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church in DeWitt.
Fur banquet
The Arkansas Trappers Association and National Trappers Association will host the Fur Bearers Unlimited banquet May 19 at the Doubletree Suites at 301 SE Walton Blvd., in Bentonville.
Tickets cost $50. A special room rate of $109 is available if reserved no later than May 5.
There will be a cocktail hour and dinner, as well as an auction. Among the firearms that will be auctioned are the Ruger Predator in 204 Ruger, a Ruger American in .22 Winchester Magnum, a Ruger 10/22 carbine, a Savage Axis XP in 308 Winchester, a Savage Axis XP in 30-06, a Savage II Trophy Hunter XP in 243 Win., a Remington 870 Express Turkey 12-gauge, a Marlin XT 22 LR and a Marlin XT 17 HMR.
A Heritage Trapper 22/22 magnum revolver will be given away as a door prize.
For more information, call Wayne Watson at (479) 283-7004.
Sports on 03/29/2018