Superior girl aims for success

A local 4H Club Member got the opportunity to make Montana proud and go to a national air rifle competition and compete with youngsters from all of the United States last month.

Fifteen-year-old Dahkota Hayes, a 4H Member for more than five years now, represented Montana at the National 4H Shooting Sports Competition in Grand Island Nebraska last month and came in seventieth place out of 51 other competitors.

“It was a lot of fun,” Hayes said.

Hayes and her family traveled to the event together. The competition went from June 23 through 25 but her family left Superior on June 21 and got back on June 27 so they could enjoy the trip together.

In the air rifle competition Hayes had to compete in three different events, Three Position, Sanding and Silhouette. She placed eighth in Three Position, fifteenth in Standing and thirty-fourth in Sihouette.

Her mother, Staci Hayes, said that this was her first time ever competing in Silhouette and she did surprisingly well considering her lack of experience in the event.

“Lots of practice. That is definitely important,” said Dahkota Hayes about her performance at the event.

In order to qualify for the national competition, Hayes had to do well at the Montana State Shoulder Competition in Bozeman.

There she placed second in the Three Position Standing event, first in the 40 Shot Standing event, second in the 30 Shot Prone event, first in the Three Position Precision event and fourth in the Precision Standing event.

Hayes said that she enjoyed competing with the other 4H shooters in the competition and they had a great time hanging out together at the event.

“They were competitive but they weren't overly competitive, which was nice,” Hayes said.

In her five years in 4H, Hayes has been involved in 4H, she has sewed, and also raised steer.

At the Mineral County Fair this year, her 1,323-pound grand champion steer sold for $2.50 per pound to Mineral Pharmacy.

Hayes said that after she took up shooting, sewing took a back seat.

“I just kind of lost interest in it,” Hayes said.

Hayes has been shooting now for three years and she took it up after watching her younger brother, 13-year-old Matthew Hayes, shoot and compete at 4H events.

“It just kind of looked like fun,” Hayes said.

Hayes and her brother now shoot and practice together. She said that she tries to practice at least twice a week.

“It gets pretty competitive between us,” Hayes said.

She said that throughout the event her brother was very supportive of her, despite the fact that she had made it instead of him.

“I think that he wished he was able to shoot but he seemed to enjoy it,” Hayes said.

She said that shooting has come naturally to her and it is an activity she really enjoys.

“It wasn't too challenging when I started, it just kind of came easy to me,” Hayes said.

Hayes said that after one year at the national competition, she is not allowed to come back to compete in that particular event. If she wants to compete in nationals next year she will have to do so in either air pistol, one of two different archery disciplines, small bore rifle, .22 caliber rifle or small bore pistol.

“I've considered it,” Hayes said.

While shooting is something that Hayes enjoys and has fun doing, she is constantly aware that safety is important when firing a gun.

She said that when shooting, competitors must always keep their barrels pointed downrange with safeties on and barrels open until they are ready to shoot. They also keep a chord down the barrel of the gun to further illustrate that there is not a pellet in their air rifles.

Hayes said that there are also range officers who tell them when to shoot.

“It's very safe,” Hayes said.