Hello ITB Members!
The upcoming Zoom meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 6:30 PM MST. Check out the agenda to review what we’ll be discussing and be thinking about any ideas/concerns you may wish to share. Thanks for your participation!
See you on Zoom! Janet Houlihan
Greetings ITB Members! I am happy to announce that an agreement has been reached to engage the two active clubs in the northern region of Idaho, the Selkirk Bowhunters, under the leadership of Tim Bertling and the (Extreme) North Idaho Bowhunters, under the leadership of John Zieske, to join with our club, the Idaho Traditional Bowhunters, as the “umbrella host club” to put on this event in Moyie Springs, Idaho on Memorial Day weekend, 2024. Thanks to all of you who gave your input in this decision making process, both pro and con. It is my hope that this choice will be good for all parties involved, bringing in more membership and helping to unify our organization state wide. My visit to the site and meeting Tim Bertling on July 16, 2023 confirmed the reports I’d been hearing about the area, both from the standpoint of the courses and camping topography, and amenities available. It is beautiful! The enthusiasm, experience, and willingness of the northern clubs to partner in the organization of this shoot was very encouraging to me. Their previous success with the Father’s Day shoot (200+ shooters) gives promise to the feasibility and attractiveness of the area to draw a large number of participants. Hopefully, we can all join together to make this upcoming gathering spectacular. Please put it on your calendars for next May!
Join us for the coming Zoom meeting, August 10, 2023 6:30pm MST where will discuss details of this event and other happenings of the Idaho Traditional Bowhunters. Zoom link; https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88169189462. Zoom link can also be found on the ITB website.
Best regards and happy shooting!
Janet Houlihan
Hello ITB Members! Driving directly north from our home in Cascade, Idaho on Highway 95, we made our first stop in Moyie Springs to visit the site of the Father’s Day bowshoot that happens in the extreme northern part of our state. We met with Tim Bertling, the representative of the Selkirk Bowhunters, and he graciously gave us a tour of the area. We were impressed! We had a good conversation about the logistics of Western States Traditional Rendezvous being held next Memorial Day 2024 at that location. More details about this developing plan will be shared at our upcoming ITB Zoom meeting on Thursday, August 10, at 6:30pmMST. Please check the website for a link to the meeting.
From Moyie Springs we crossed the Canadian/USA Border and drove up through Fairmont Hot Springs, Revelstoke, Kamloops, and Whistler; tent camping with our cat, Lili, in the beautiful parks along the way. The mountains of Canada were breathtaking. We took the ferry from Horseshoe Bay ($120/car each way) over to the town of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, arriving on Thursday afternoon. We were warmly welcomed and set up our tent camp on the front lawn of the Nanaimo Fish and Game Office. The target courses were already set, but we pitched in to help with registration as needed. As folks arrived, tent spaces were somewhat at a premium, but the numerous trailers and motorhomes had plenty of available parking. The brand new, log construction Archery building with an air conditioned indoor archery range was incredible.
The shoot was underway with a “Shoot for the Clouds” event. Archers lined the edge of the field, aimed high and let the flu flu arrows fly almost straight up into the air, arcing down onto a large flat target placed in the center of a grassy field about 30 yards away. Five arrows for a “toonie” ($1.50 US). We shot three rounds and I won all my money back on the third round! It was a really fun shoot, especially winning my money back, but it seemed like it could be potentially dangerous, especially if there were kids participating or drinking alcohol was involved!
Shooters gathered with their assigned guides on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning to shoot one course of 30 targets. The following day a second course of 30 targets with the same group of 4-5 shooters were shot. Scoring was 5 points for vitals, 1 point for non-vital foam, 0 for miss. Keeping score was optional and kept among the group members. I shot well and didn’t bring shame on the Idahoans. I was especially pleased that the Canadians put in “ladies stakes” to shorten the longer distances, which I didn’t hesitate to use. Arrows with broadheads were permitted on older targets, but the newer targets only allowed field points. They had some great “homemade” targets and I thought it might be good to do a seminar on making foam targets and repairing old ones. Novelty shoots were done on Saturday afternoon, with a zip line pig, a long distance moose, and a bowbirds flying disc shoot off with flu flu arrows. Dinner of roast beef and steelhead was served Saturday evening, with a dessert of the famous Nanaimo bars, a delicious chocolate creamy confection. My favorite!
The shoot ended with a Sunday afternoon meeting for a raffle, door prizes and a passing “the Hat”. I had carried the old pith helmet safari hat from the pandemic days of our NALS shoot at New Meadows, Idaho and passed it to Rod and Laura Taylor, the organizers behind the Nanaimo event. They passed it to fellow Canadians, Dave and Kathryn Iredale who promised to deliver it to Washington Traditional Bowhunters who are on board to host NALS next year.
We packed up on Monday morning in the rain and headed for the ferry and our journey home. The adventure continued as we traveled through western Washington, across North Cascades National Park, the cowboy town of Winthrop, Curlew State Park and into Idaho via Pullman. It was a beautiful and memorable trip.
This was only my second NALS Shoot and there was discussion among the participants about making some changes in the requirements of the shoot to make it more family friendly. That change would allow more people to get exposed to shooting the longbow and how much fun it is to shoot, without the restrictions of bow weight, broadheads, and no kids. It would also help preserve the expensive targets from broadhead damage. I like the idea, but mean no disrespect to the founders of NALS. Perhaps this is something our club can develop an opinion to share with NALS.
There were a total of 87 shooters at NALS 2023, 21 from the USA. I was the only Idahoan. Attending an event like this requires both time and money to make the journey, something that many folks can’t afford these days. I was pleased to be able to attend and to represent Idaho Bowhunters and get to know some of our Canadian Bowhunter Brothers and Sisters. Making it a family vacation made it enjoyable for my non-shooting husband and of course, our 10 month old traveling cat, Lili.
Best regards, see you soon on zoom!
Janet Houlihan
Hello ITB members! Although the number of participants was down from years past, the rendezvous was great for those of us who were there. Having our shoot earlier in the summer proved to be wonderful for camping and shooting, as temperatures were much cooler and the bugs were almost non-existent. A strong and willing crew showed up to set targets on Thursday and Friday; thanks to Dave and Lisa Hall, Jack Wassard, Darel Robinson, Ralph Grieninger, John Warford, Richard and Sandy White, Clint Belyea, and Janet Houlihan (hope I didn’t forget anyone!). Don, James and Kevin Schroeder set up the Bowhunter Challenge course using the same targets as our regular course but with different stakes placed in more challenging positions, with a scoring of 10 for vitals, -5 for non-vital foam, and 0 for a miss.
The shoot was underway starting with a flashlight shoot on Friday night. The weather dawned on Saturday with beautiful blue skies and puffy white clouds scudding across the meadow. The 40 target Bowhunter Challenge and 40 target Blanket shoot were open starting on Saturday morning, so shooters had plenty of time to shoot both courses before turning in shoot cards on Sunday at noon. The novelty shoots were fun, as usual. A kids competition, a speed shoot, a zipline great potato shoot, and a long distance shoot with a caribou target went well. Awards were given out on Sunday at 1 pm, followed by a raffle, with some great prizes-thanks to those who donated! Then we broke down camps and took down and loaded the targets. Thanks to those of you who stayed for that process, we appreciate your effort!
Awards were as follows:
Kids Competition:
Wyatt Garner, Wyatt (Hall), Wyatt Floyd, Berkeley (Hall), Leo Meachum & Barrett Garner.
Flashlight Shoot:
Richard White
Speed Shoot:
Dave Hall
Great Potato Shoot:
Clint Belyea
Long Distance Shoot:
Adam Floyd
Bowhunter Challenge:
Adam Floyd
Blanket Shoot:
Richard White
Great shooting everyone! A special thanks to our secretary treasurer Lisa Hall for manning the registration desk and keeping us well organized during the event. She’ll be giving a report on the financial aspects of the shoot at our next meeting.
Thanks so much to all who came out and joined the fun of shooting traditional bows. The general consensus among the participants was that moving our shoot to an earlier date in the summer was something we should seriously consider. Hopefully, with advance notice next year, more members would be able to come join the fun!
Once again, thanks so much to all the named and unnamed workers who contributed to making this shoot a very special and memorable one.
In gratitude, Janet Houlihan
Many thanks to the volunteers who showed up Saturday morning to prepare the site of our upcoming traditional shoot in New Meadows! We had a great crew to mow, weed whack, and trim brush. The area looks great! The shooting courses were flagged and brush was trimmed to get ready for the 3D targets to be set up on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Lunch of sandwiches, chips and homemade strawberry rhubarb pie was served to the workers. Special thanks to Ed and Bonnie Heasley for bringing the grader to smooth the road and a big mower to clear the pasture and road ways. A shout out goes to the following participants: Ed and Bonnie Heasley, Pat Lopez, Adam Floyd, Ralph Grieninger, Dave Parks, Larry King, Mark Wood, Dave and Lisa Hall, and Bill and Janet Houlihan for taking the time to show up, pitch in and make the area ready for our shoot. You are awesome and we appreciate you!
In spite of the heavy downpour of rain on Friday, the skies cleared and we had a beautiful weekend. Maybe the weather scared off a few folks, but there was still a good turnout for the wonderful courses and novelty shoots. Saturday morning was for registration and shooting the courses and the afternoon was for the novelty shoots: the kids “water torture”, the adults “water torture”, the William Tell Apple shoot, and the long distance shoot. Winners of the Kids was Wyatt Garner, and Scott Nevill won the of the William Tell shoot (for the 3rd time) and the long distance shoot. Saturday evening was for fun and games, with corn hole tournaments and a flashlight shoot. Sunday was a well organized blanket shoot, with groups of 3 – 7 competing for a choice of prizes. The awards ceremony honored the winners and then ended with a raffle of donated prizes and many door prizes. It was a fun weekend!
Calling Volunteers! This Saturday, June 17 at 9 am MST volunteers will be gathering at the site of the New Meadows Traditional Rendezvous to mow the pasture/parking area and weed whack the campsites and trails. Flagging for the shoot will be placed on the trails, and overgrown brush will be trimmed. Ed Heasley and Pat Lopez will bring mowers, so other workers need to bring loppers, weed whackers, hedge trimmers, gloves and hats. Bug spray may be needed and bring drinking water. Lunch will be provided. Thanks for your help with this!
In gratitude, Janet Houlihan
Jack Wassard made an absolutely gorgeous presentation arrow for the award for top score in the Bowhunter Challenge shoot at the New Meadows Traditional Rendezvous in New Meadows, Idaho June 24th – 25th!
This fine piece of craftsmanship will go home with someone, do you have what it takes? Come and see it on display at the shoot in person, before it finds it’s new forever home.
Hello All! We are having our fourth Zoom meeting on Thursday, August 10, at 6:30pm (MST). If you don’t have the Zoom App on your computer or phone, you need to download it before the meeting. We’ll be discussing the plans for Western States Traditional Rendezvous scheduled for Memorial Day weekend in 2024. We need to decide on a location, so your input is important. We’ll also be discussing the proposed date, plans and location for the combined banquet with Idaho, Oregon, Washington, coming next spring. Hope you can join us.
The Zoom link to the meeting can also be found under the events tab on the website. Hope you can join us!
Meeting Agenda
Two hundred fifty people gathered in Richland Washington to sling arrows and share stories and plans for past and future adventures. The weekend was wonderful on many counts. The weather was warm (it felt hot to mountain folk and balmy to locals) at highs of 85 degrees, so shooting was best done in the morning hours. A dramatic afternoon storm blew through with rain and wind just as we were sitting down for the Saturday barbeque, but very little damage was reported. The courses were great and varied, and people enjoyed the novelty shoots. Our local boys, Wyatt Garner won third place in the adult long distance shoot, and Barrett Garner was first place in closest to the ribbon. The Sunday evening raffle was a high point for lucky winners, with many great prizes donated. The “Western States Rendezvous” banner was passed to our Idaho club at the close of the raffle, so we are next to host the event in 2024.
Shooters got in a few rounds on Monday morning before the course was dismantled and we broke camp and headed for home, tired but ready for the next adventure, the shoot in LaGrande, Oregon on June 9-11. Check out the “Gallery” on our website for more pictures of the Western States event. Before the LaGrande shoot our club will be having a Zoom meeting on Thursday, June 8, at 6:30pm (MST). We’ll be discussing plans for our New Meadows shoot, the weekend of June 23-25, so please join us if you can! The link is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81430716732 and can be accessed here or on our website.
Gratitude to all,
Janet Houlihan
