Specialty Archery originally began by manufacturing competitive scopes with a clear housing that allowed more light to come in, making it easier for the archer to see the bubble level and the aiming dot. After the Super Scope was on the market for a while, Specialty Archery came out with a line of stabilizers and started adding other accessories from there, but according to the company’s general manager, Mike Andrews,

“We are probably best known for our series of peep sights.” Peep sights are pretty straightforward at first glace—basically a hole in the string, a rear sighting system. That’s true unless you’re looking to perfect the peep in the way Specialty Archery has done. “We have six different types of peep sights with 37- and 45-degree string angles in our standard peeps, which are both available in hooded and nonhooded models. For hunters, we also make a quarter-inch hooded and nonhooded model,” Mike explained.

However, the feature that’s always set Specialty Archery peep sights apart from the competition has been the ability to add and change the aperture inside the peep. “You can take any of our standard peep housings and replace the insert with any one of our five different sizes of apertures,” Mike said. “Specialty Archery is also well known for its line of clarifiers. Clarifiers are really for use with a scope and are more of a competitive archery product. The clarifier gives the archer a clearer view of the target,” stated Mike.

However, with the increased popularity of the larger quarter-inch peep, the demand for a larger clarifier was also being heard. “We listen when a consumer requests something new. The second time we hear it, we really take notice. The third time we hear the same request from the consumer, we know it’s time to take action. This was the case with requests for a larger clarifier. We noticed an increase in the number of pin sights that incorporated a lens and made a larger clarifier to serve their needs,” Mike explained.

Older eyes tend to find focusing on the pin sight harder and harder. In response to this problem, Specialty introduced its Verifier line of inserts. “The verifier works similar to a pair of reading glasses and brings the focus back toward the pin, allowing the shooter to see their sight pins again,” Mike disclosed.

In 2009 Specialty Archery purchased Bodoodle and has seen an increasing demand for arrow rests. “I was surprised how popular Bodoodle actually was,” Andrews said. “I came from a competitive shooting background and have been shooting professionally for about the past 17 years, and I knew Bodoodle had always been popular with the 3-D shooters. But once we looked inside the company, I saw demand across the shooting industry. For 2011, the Timberdoodle II is set to be one of our top-selling products.”

(712) 580-5762; www.specialtyarch.com