In the mid to late 1980's interest started building (in the local area) in the sport of archery. Archers started gathering at a local farm to shoot together. In 1989 under the direction of Mr. Allen Thompson the Tupper Lake Archers became a chartered club. The archers set up a course on some land and began shooting on a regular basis.
A couple years later the members started shooting indoors at the local Catholic School gymnasium during the winter. The club started hosting 2-D shoots in the summer then eventually went to 3-D targets. As membership grew so did the interest in finding a permanent home. After meeting with the Rod & Gun officers an agreement was reached were the archery club would be moved to the Rod & Gun facility with the only stipulation being that all archery members must also be rod & gun members in order to be covered under the insurance.
It seemed each winter the club was always searching for as place to shoot indoors. At one of the meetings it was mentioned that the club needed to find a way to raise money. The 3-D shoots at the time were only showing a profit of about $200 for a days work. This is when the Mountain Challenge was born. It took a year and a half of work to put on the first Mountain Challenge. The first event saw almost 300 archers for the 2 day event. It has grown each year to a record high of 400 shooters.
Since the start of the Mountain Challenge the Tupper Lake Archers have been able to fulfill their dream of building an indoor range. In 1998 an eighty foot by forty foot building was erected through the help of many volunteers. Since then the membership has grown to almost 130 archery members.