CHEYENNE – There’s hunters enjoying their time afield thanks to the Cheyenne Field Archers.

The archery club recently donated $1,000 to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Access Yes program. That makes a total of $14,833 the club has raised for hunter and angler public access since it started hosting competitive shoots in 2006.

“The Cheyenne Field Archers are proud to support a program that helps hunters and anglers get afield and enjoy Wyoming’s great outdoors,” said Mac Wilson, president of the 250-member organization.

The money contributed by the field archer’s in 2017 will lease approximately 5,000 acres of private-land access for a year. Walk-in areas, as their name implies, can be accessed on foot by properly licensed hunters or anglers for the species listed in the atlas. Hunter management areas are generally larger parcels Game and Fish has leased for big game hunting and require hunters to obtain a free access slip through the Game and Fish website.

Jason Sherwood, Game and Fish’s access coordinator for southeast Wyoming, says support from organizations like the field archers is vital to the walk-in and hunter management programs. “The Game and Fish wholeheartedly thanks the field archers and really appreciates their support because donations are the lifeline of the Access Yes program,” Sherwood said.

On two evenings each year the field archers sponsor a competitive 3-D shoot – including a moving target – open to the public at their indoor facility east of Cheyenne. Local businesses support the event by donating door prizes to the competitors. The shoot attracts youth, adult and senior archers.

Hunters and anglers are encouraged to donate to hunting and fishing access in any whole dollar amount when applying for or buying licenses.