MORE TO ARCHERY
In 2012, it was estimated that there were approximately
19 million Archers in the United States and of that, only 7.4
million hunted with their bows. As a Hunters Education
Instructor in Idaho for the last 10 years, I have noticed a
concerning decrease in participants. It is estimated that
between 1975 and now the number of archery hunters
have dropped from close to 20 million down to nearly 10
million nationwide. With many estimates having archery
being one of the top ten fastest growing sports in our
country, my question is this: How is archery growing
so rapidly as a sport while the population of archery
hunters has been reduced to half in the last 40 years?
I conducted a survey of my own at my local clubs indoor
shoot which was comprised of 64 shooters every Monday
night. Out of the 64 shooters, only 28 of them hunted or
have hunted with their bow.
The answer is simple, there is much more to archery
than just hunting!
INDOOR LEAGUE
Indoor offers a variety of target configurations,
five or three spot targets being the standard.
Just like bowling, you get handicapped and
compete either as a team or individually.
In the local Clarkston School district, the
archery program is ranked as one of the top
in the country, starting children as young as 7
continuing through High School. These children
get to compete against each other and earn a
spot on a team they take to state. These kids
shoot a "one spot" target with fingers using a
Genesis bow. The competition to make the team
can get pretty fierce, with one child telling me
they missed making it by one point.