Levi Morgan, who shoots for Mathews Archery, is the most successful competitive archer of all time (16-time world champion), and he started off his 2025 season with a recent win at the ASA Hoyt/Easton Pro/Am in Foley, Alabama.
In the YouTube video below, you’ll see Morgan compete in the Open Pro shootdown with four other archers. The qualifying rounds took place outdoors; the competitors walked through the woods and shot at various Delta McKenzie 3-D targets.
In the Open Pro competition, the targets are placed at distances up to 50 yards. It’s critical to understand that competitors in the Open Pro division CAN NOT use rangefinders. They use a binocular to look at each 3-D target before shooting to identify the various scoring rings, but they must estimate the range. (Archers in the Known Pro division can use rangefinders.)
Because they can’t use rangefinders, Open Pro competitors must be crazy-good at judging the distance, in addition to being superb shooters.
There’s also a lot of strategy involved due to the way 3-D targets are scored; see the video at the bottom of this page for a full explanation. Shooters must decide if they want to play it safe and shoot for the 10 ring on a target, or risk a lower score by trying to shoot one of two much-smaller 12 rings (which are located near the edges of the 10 ring).
And this is important: There’s an upper 12 ring and a lower 12 ring, but both aren’t in play on every shot — you have to pick which one is in play for you. Finally, during the pro division shootdowns, there’s a small 14 ring, but it’s located well away from the 10 ring, so if you attempt to hit the 14 but miss it, then you’ll score an 8, or perhaps only a 5. (FYI: The outside diameter of the 14 ring measures 1.375 to 1.625 inches; it varies depending on 3-D target size.)
As you watch the shootdown video below, keep in mind these two factors: First, these five competitors shot outside all weekend during qualifying and then moved indoors to fluorescent lighting. That can mess up any archer, especially those who must judge distance. They simply can’t see the scoring rings like they can outside; the dark targets lose their definition.
Second, even though all the targets in the shootdown stayed within the 50-yard maximum, this specific field layout for Open Pro was very long.
PJ Reilly, one of the commentators you’ll hear in the video, told me, “It was one of the longest I’ve ever seen in the seven years we’ve been broadcasting. I don’t think there was a shootdown target under 35 yards. Usually, they might have one target in the 45-50 range — this time, I think they had three. So every shot was a poke for those guys.”
Congrats, Levi on another outstanding performance in accurately judging ranges and then executing the shots needed to win!
Viewing tip: If you don’t have time to watch the entire 24-minute video below, I recommend watching the first minute to get a taste for the outdoor portion of the event (qualifying), then fast-forward to the 16-minute mark to see the final few arrows of the indoor shootdown. You’ll see a couple of archers who are trailing Morgan attempt to hit the 14 ring (top-right corner of the boar’s vitals); risky!
Need a refresher on how ASA targets are scored? Check out this 1.5-minute video.
