He's not stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, but Sam Vieaux pulled off a feat that has area archers referring to him as a "modern day Robin Hood."

Vieaux, a 13-year-old Seven Hills seventh-grader, recently showed just how accurate he can be with his bow and arrow. During a National Field Archery Association competition in Rocklin, Vieaux was peppering his target with several bull's-eyes before he landed the shot that has since been heard all across western Nevada County.

He fired an arrow right into the back end of another already sticking out from the center of the target. The feat, an acknowledged rarity, is known in the archery world as a "Robin Hood."

"I was not trying to do that. I was just trying to get it in the middle of the middle of the target," Vieaux said. "But I kind of jerked a bit by accident and it went right into the arrow.

"I'd thought I'd just skimmed the arrow or the fletchings on it, but (personal coach) Becky (Nelson-Harris) had her binoculars, and she said it was a 'Robin Hood.'"

Although an apparent quick study, Vieaux is a relative newcomer to the sport.

"When I was 6 or 7 years old, my dad and I picked up a little compound bow from a garage sale," he said. "But we put it up in the garage because I wasn't strong enough to pull it at the time.

"Then last year, my friend (and fellow Seven Hills student Austin Marks) came over to my house, and he had a little handmade stick bow. That reminded me that I had a bow in the garage."

What followed were several upgrades in bows between the two friends, who jumped into the sport together. They began taking lessons at the Nevada County Sportsmen's Club under the watchful eye of Nelson-Harris, their instructor. Both have since joined the local Junior Olympic Archery Development and the National Archery Association programs and continue to train with Nelson-Harris through private lessons.

Vieaux plans to stick with the sport and has some high hopes for down the road.

"I'm hoping to get into the Olympics," he said. "That's one of my goals."

Though many of his friends at Seven Hills seemed surprised by his shot, Vieaux said Marks was the one who was really floored by the feat.

"He really knows what that means. He knows how hard it is to do it," Vieaux said. "Splitting an arrow is a lot like hitting a hole-in-one in golf. It doesn't happen very often, and it's pretty incredible when it does."

Vieaux also knows a thing or two about holes-in-one, as accurate shots apparently run in the family.

His grandfather, Leo Granucci, scored an ace on the 15th hole at the Alta Sierra Country Club last June. That shot, fired during the annual Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Golf Tournament, earned Granucci a new ride - a Chevrolet HHR, donated by Weaver Auto & Truck Center.

Like his grandson, Granucci didn't know just how accurate his shot was until a friend shared the news.

"I didn't see it go in," Granucci told The Union in June. "It hit toward the right bunker and kicked back up from there. My partner, Tom Larkin, told me it went in but since I didn't see it, I thought he was pulling my leg.

"It wasn't until I saw the lady that was there spotting started jumping up and down that I realized I'd done it."

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To contact Sports Editor Brian Hamilton, e-mail bhamilton@theunion.com or call 477-4240.