Calling all archery hunters

Published 5:00 pm Tuesday, June 6, 2006

<I>The Eagle/Tina Cook</I><BR>Coby Moulton works on a bow. He runs a complete pro shop in Prairie City.

PRAIRIE CITY – Coby Moulton ran a bow shop through his home in John Day for 14 years. Having the shop in his garage made it difficult for him to separate home from business.

“I got so burnt out the last couple of years that I just kinda quit,” Coby said.

Coby found a solution to his dilemma. He moved his business out of his home and found partners to help with the workload and expenses.

Bob Fitzgerald and Bill and Sandy Johnson are his partners. The shop, SWAP (Strawberry Wilderness Archery Products and Game Calls), is at 109 West Front Street, Prairie City.

Bill makes custom game call cases. Sandy is the receptionist and bookkeeper. Bob does janitorial and answers phones.

“Coby’s the archery expert,” Bob said.

Coby has been bow hunting for over 30 years. He has killed 27 bulls with his bow.

“It’s been a hobby my whole life and I turned it into a business,” he said.

Now that he has partners he has more time to devote to the parts of the business he likes best, research and development of his own line of bow calls and accessories, and promoting his products to archery pro shops throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia.

The shop is a complete pro shop. They sell Bowtech Bows, calls, peep sights, virtually every high-end product needed for archery hunting. He uses Winner’s Choice bow strings on the bows he sells. The shop even sports a shooting lane.

Coby also does elk calling seminars from mid-July through August.

“Most tapes that teach hunters how to hunt for elk aren’t intended for hunting on public ground,” he said.

His two-hour seminars focus on teaching hunters techniques for hunting on public ground and what call sounds elk make.

Coby lives in Prairie City, with his wife, Jodi, and their two children, Mitch, 9, and Mariah, 6.

The shop is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Info: 820-4212.

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