John Glenn Archery Club's Youth Bowfishing Day (Need Boats)

[carpshooter]

For the past 4 or 5 years, the John Glenn Archery Club has an annual Youth Bowfishing Day. This year the event will be held on May 3rd 2008 at Rice Lake in Lino Lakes MN. The more boats that can attend the more kids that can be taken out. Email me if you are interested in helping out and I can fill you in with more details. Last year we took over 100 youths out bowfishing. Seeing a kid shoot there first fish make the trip worth it every year.

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This article was taken from the Bowfishing Association of America's HSOforum

Last year I needed some help from a bowfishing organization, so I googled “Bowfishing” and found the name of Mark Ellenberg, president of the Bowfishing Association of America (BAA). He was a local resident of the Twin Cities so I figured I talk to him about my idea, the worst he could do is laugh at me. Little did I know Mark and the other members of BAA were a committed group of boaters and archers that would help make my idea a reality.

I am a seventh grade life science teacher at John Glenn Middle School. I run an archery club after school during the school year and I take kids bowhunting every fall. Over two hundred kids participate in the John Glenn Archery Club each year. I use archery to promote life skills such as responsibility, integrity and sense of belonging in the low-income, urban population of students I teach. I have high standards for the behavior and the way students represent the school and themselves in exchange for the use of archery equipment and opportunities to take part in archery activities. Each year I train those students who have the interest but not the opportunity to bowhunt. Students spend a weekend at my house where I take them through a rigorous hands-on Bowhunters Ed. and Safety Course. Then, students have to earn their right to hunt by working four-eight hour days at the facility we hunt. Most of these students cannot afford equipment or opportunities, so allow them to earn it with their effort and attitude.

Last spring, I wanted to offer the student from our club an opportunity to bowfish. We had attended the Take-A-Kid Bowfishing event the two years prior, but could not afford the entry fees anymore. I wanted to start our own bowfishing event because the students from John Glenn made up the majority of the participants at the last Take-A Kid event. As I polled the John Glenn Archery Club members in the spring of 2004, I found nearly one hundred students interested in participating. That’s when I called Mark Ellenberg and we began planning.

Mark was great. He gave me some contacts at Muzzy, to get fishing arrows, and AMS Bowfishing to get some reels. Both companies donated equipment and gave us special pricing to help get this annual event off the ground. Mark coordinated the boats and drivers. He was able to get over ten boats and drivers, all of which were great people intent on giving the kids a wonderful first experience bowfishing. The North Country Bowhunters Chapter of the Safari Club donated the funds to purchase arrows, reels and equipment. The North Country Bowhunters is the main sponsor of our club, having donated over twenty thousand dollars over the past four years. They provide the insurance for the event and their Cadet Program, a youth instructor training program which I run, provides the instruction and equipment needs. On the Thursday night prior to the bowfihing day, the North Country Cadets and I swapped rests, sights and quivers off 75 target and hunting bows in exchange for roller rests, and reels. All of this equipment would have to be swapped back for Monday’s after school club. Every one involved did a great job and I was amazed at the dedication of many people who I had never met before.

The day of the event, May 8th, was perfect. No rain, a little cool in the morning, but plenty of sunshine and fish. As the kids sprawled off the bus in the morning, I could hear the buzz of excitement when they saw the platformed boats, airboats and specialized equipment. We had two waves of 48 students, the first from 8 am to 12 pm and the second from 1 pm to 4 pm. As I look back, having 96 kids participate seemed easier than I had anticipated. But with the help from Mark and the other boaters, it was easy to keep the kids well behaved and on-task, they wanted to bowfish.

By the end of the day, reports of seeing more fish than you could draw a bow at were common. I had some students tell me that next Monday that their arms were sore from so many shots. In all, the kids took 16 fish, but they scared of hundreds of fish that day. As I told them later, even scaring a fish with a close shot is a success. Mark and I are now planning on the Second Annual North Country Cadets Bowfishing Event. I thank all the BAA members who made last year’s event happen so smoothly and hope to have more kids involved this year. See you there!

[DonBo]

Travis Stewart does a great job with these kids. Kids for the most part that would have no other way of experiencing archery, bowhunting and bowfishing. Few people are as commited to getting youth interested in the outdoors as he is. Any help you could give him would be a huge step towards the future of our heritage.