When photographer Reese Zoellner and I arrived at the archery tent next to the Mail Processing Center on the northeast corner of campus, the members of dorm 6B were sharing their dream pursuits with archery instructor James Brandon. For the next 75 minutes that Tuesday afternoon, July 14, Mr. Brandon and assistant instructor Justin Wainwright would stress consistency and safety to the boy campers in dark blue shirts.

Dorm 6B has a variety of interests, as evidenced by the responses to Mr. Brandon’s question. Counselor Joel Hudson said he would like to climb the world’s 100 tallest mountains and make a documentary about it. Camper David, formerly of Guatemala, aspires to start a taco restaurant in his own house; that’s perfect, Brandon said, because tacos are his favorite food. Other responses included: flying planes, building stone tools, driving four-wheelers, traveling by hot air balloon, building a home theater, and owning a large plot of land for hunting and other exciting outdoor activities—the proverbial “redneck paradise,” as someone in the group called it.

After learning more about 6B, Mr. Brandon launched into his opening monologue. “This is the sport with the least injuries at camp,” he said, “but it’s also the only sport that uses weapons.” He emphatically forbade anyone from crossing the shooting line while fellow campers were still firing. He warned them that it is imperative to listen for the whistle before beginning to shoot, walking to the targets to remove arrows, or returning to the shooting line.

He also told 6B to move everywhere, from the tent to the shooting line to the targets, “as a group.” This would precipitate intermittent shouts of “as a group!” from 6B throughout the rest of class. Then he shared a personal pet peeve: strong, young men who walk without purpose. If 6B walked in a lackadaisical manner to a particular destination, he said he would “breed it out of you. I mean, beat. Word choices.”

“Archery is all about consistency,” Mr. Brandon said. The approach to every shot must be exactly the same, he pointed out. This includes the stance, posture, knocking, anchor point and aim.

After 6B partnered up, put on armguards, selected bows and arrows, and walked “as a group!” to the 10-yard shooting line, Brandon explained that the archery stands had no targets attached because he cared more about grouping the arrows together consistently than about hitting the bullseye occasionally. A tight grouping away from the bullseye means only a slight adjustment to the shooter’s aim is required, he said. Once the archers could group all six arrows per round within a tiny circle, Mr. Brandon added targets for their next archery class.

As each camper shot several rounds and the arrows thwacked into the round black black targets, I strolled from group to group and chatted with them about safety and consistency. We also covered a range of mankind’s most important subjects, including the heat, the ongoing Gold Cup soccer tournament, my upcoming baseball road trip, their admiration for their counselors, and their love for softball (I have indoctrinated them well).

Wainwright also fired off shots at a fake deer on the range. He said he could pierce its beady eye, and he did just that. He also sliced through the heart, kidney and rear end.

To finish class, Brandon moved 6B “as a group!” back to the 30-yard shooting line where he said they could earn one ticket per shot through the small inner circle of each stand. Too many arrows to count struck home, and Brandon joked that they had bankrupted him of tickets.

6B thanked the archery staff and trekked south to the John Amos Field House for dinner.