Hello Fellow Archers and Bowhunters!
My husband, Bill, and I have returned from our 3 week journey to Petaluma, California where we participated in the 2025 Western States Traditional Rendezvous at the beautiful coastal ranch belonging to Steve and Marilyn Dutra.
We made plenty of extra stops along our way, both going and returning. We left Cascade Idaho and began in Oregon at Crystal Crane Hot Springs, then Klamath Falls and Cave Junction, traveling across the California border to the enchanting Fern Canyon, the magnificent redwoods and elk herds of Prairie Creek Redwood Park. We traveled down the coastal highway 101 to Bodega Bay Dunes campground and from there to Petaluma.
The 2025 Western States Traditional Rendezvous gathering was wonderful! Breath-taling scenery and green meadows for camping were welcoming. Three main shooting A/B/C courses were set with 20 targets each, including two rotating targets, moving targets and “par 2” targets.
There was an additional course of 15 targets, called the “Z” course, set up for a Bowhunter Challenge by our very own Don and James Schroeder, and a Smoker round of one wood arrow, one shot. In addition they had an awesome 9 “hole” archery golf course. They mowed 150-400 yard long fairways in the pastures with small 3D targets set at the end marked with numbered flags. Most shots were designated 3 or 4 par to get from the tee off to the target.
They also used glow sticks and lighted nocks for night golf, which seemed a little sketchy since you couldn’t be sure where the shooters were, but no injuries were reported. There were also several novelty shoots but I didn’t participate in any of them since I had plenty of shooting with the regular courses, the golf course, and the BC and Smoker round.
The scoring for the 20 target courses was different from what we were accustomed to; 10 points for vitals, 8 points for foam, 0 for miss. Two arrows were shot and scored for each target. With a total of 60 targets, two arrows each, a possible score of 1200 points!
The top scores were pretty high, several shooters over 1000. My score was 876 which was the top score for a female in my age group shooting a recurve bow and wooden arrows. I suppose I should be transparent and admit I was the only woman in my age group!
Ha!The food was plentiful and delicious, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner prepared by the volunteer crew, spear headed by Marilyn and Steve. Live music was provided by archer-musicians jamming on Saturday night. On Monday afternoon the raffle and shooting awards were given out. Hugs and goodbyes until next time were passed around as people departed for home.The weather for the shoot was beautiful, though a bit windy.
It was delightful meeting new people and catching up with old friends in a beautiful location. Our trip home took us to family visits in the Bay Area, Forestville and Winters. Mt Shasta and Mt Lassen were gorgeous as we traveled north through California into Oregon. Our last camp was in Farewell Bend in Oregon before driving the final 200 miles home to Cascade.
More later about our up-coming activities! Regards, Janet Houlihan
