Jared Landin’s first few axe throws were far from bullseyes. Last fall, Landin spent weeks practicing axe throwing, often landing hits everywhere except the target. Over time his persistence paid off, earning him the chance to represent the University of Montana’s Woodsman Team at timber sports competitions around the country.
On Friday and Saturday, April 25-26, Landin and other members of the team will compete in the annual collegiate and Pro-Am competitions at Fort Missoula. The UM Woodsman Team is a co-ed collegiate sports team that competes in events that harken back to traditional logging practices – skills like crosscutting, log rolling and axe throwing. The team meets three times a week at its Fort Missoula practice grounds, where team members hone their skills, learn new ones and practice for upcoming competitions.
Among the student competitors are several veterans, including Landin, who have found a new form of camaraderie with the team. After four years in the Army and a couple of seasons as a wildfire ambulance driver, Landin arrived at UM where he immediately sought out the Woodsman Team.
“Doing difficult things with the same group of people over and over again is a rewarding experience no matter where you’re doing it,” Landin said.
Twenty-five years earlier, Army veteran Pete Caffrey had a similar experience. He credited UM’s Woodsman Team with helping student veterans make the transition from the military to college.
“Soldiers want to do something with their hands to feel success,” Caffrey said. “Going to the gym is one thing, but being on a team and feeling the successes of a team competition? That’s really special.”
For student veterans like Landin and Caffrey, the team provided not just a physical outlet but a community of people that work hard and celebrate shared success. Though timber sports have their roots in logging and forestry skills, the UM Woodsman Team draws students from a variety of majors – everything from business and journalism to anthropology.
Alex Kaper, a UM junior and former team captain, said the diversity of perspectives is one of his favorite parts about being on the team, especially as a veteran.
“I think veterans tend to get siloed in the vet community, but most of the people in the real world aren’t vets,” Kaper said. “My friends think nothing like me, look nothing like me, but we strengthen each other and offer different perspectives on the same cause. My college experience has been so awesome because of that.”
Kaper majors in management and information systems and credits the team with broadening his opportunities. Despite having no formal experience in forestry, skills gained from the Woodsman Team secured him a job in forest management that has paid his way through school. Along the way, he’s developed leadership skills that will transfer to any career he pursues – a sentiment echoed by Caffrey, who also served as team captain.
“As I stepped into a leadership role, I learned more about interpersonal relationships and that flowed into how I lead people in the military,” Caffrey said. “There’s a lot of personality in those kids, and they came to the team from a lot of different places. It was hard to meet everyone where they were at. I learned to leverage their unique skills and knowledge. I can’t be a subject matter expert on everything, but I can find people that know more and set them free.”
The annual Pro-Am competition at Fort Missoula is the culmination of the hard skills, leadership and thousands of hours of practice the team puts in each year. For Kaper and Caffrey, the competition and the preparation leading up to it are some of their fondest memories of being on the team.
“I remember competing in birling [log rolling] at the Pro-Am competition when I was there,” Caffrey recalled. “I had been in the water for 20 minutes trying to secure the logs so everyone else could compete, and it was freezing. I remember the sacrifice of making sure everyone else got to have fun, and I didn’t think I would do well. But then I started warming up and did my best birling event yet.”
Prior to the competition, the team harvests wood for chopping blocks during the annual “block run.” It’s not too different from a logging operation, but instead of becoming milled timber, the wood becomes blocks used for the competition’s events.
“Last year’s block run was the coolest thing,” Kaper said. “It’s the epitome of everything the team is capable of. You had students running a grapple skidder, students organizing the sizing and decking of the log – basically running a logging operation independently. You got to see all the skills that every student has been working on for years.”
This work ethic and dedication to the team is what binds everyone together, whether they’re a veteran, a forester or a business major.
“The magic of the team is that it’s not a specific place for vets, but vets thrive here,” Kaper said.
Landin is the latest in a long line of student veterans whose college experiences have been transformed by the UM Woodsman Team.
“Alex told me my opinion would change,” Landin said. “I went from saying I wanted to do OK at competitions to saying I want to dominate. He has that effect. And I’ve seen improvements since I started, so right now I’m just trying to live up to that potential.”
This year will be his first Pro-Am competition. Landin alongside Kaper and the rest of the team will showcase everything they’ve worked on for the past year.
“What the public sees is the pinnacle of west coast timber sports on the college and professional level,” Kaper said. “But what they don’t see is the years of training it took to get there.”
Landin encourages audiences of all ages to come check out the collegiate and Pro-Am competitions, which are free to attend.
“There’s going to be some real talent on display there,” he said. “People will be chopping through two-foot blocks and climbing 50 feet in the air. You’re going to want to see that.”
By Libby Riddle, UM News Service