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NETAA Newsletter February 2003
Greetings fellow archers.
This newsletter goes to press a week before our first shoot of the season, so there is not a lot to report as far as shoot results thus far. That will change as time marches on! After sharing some important "news", I will fit in as much of the results from last year's World Championship as space allows. These results have been up on the web site for months, but we have heard from some members that still do not have access to the World Wide Web. Sorry, I thought I was the last guy to figure out how to log on!
TEXAS DEER HUNT- At last year's Championship we awarded three great bowhunting trips. One of them, a trophy whitetail hunt in Texas with Four Arrows Outfitters, went to Jason Barlow. The hunt is for this season (December '03), and tentatively scheduled to coincide with the rut. Unfortunately, Jason cannot get the time off from work to do the hunt and has asked us to find a replacement. He has donated the hunt back to NETAA for us to use to raise funds for a worthy cause. The best cause I can think of is the Aim For College Tuition Fund. The best way I could figure to accomplish the goal of finding a replacement hunter and raising funds for AFCF, while being fair with everyone, was a silent auction.
If you are interested in the hunt, send your bid in the form of a short note/letter to NETAA, Hunt Auction, 4 Evergreen Lane, Building A, Unit C, Hopedale, MA 01747. Just put your full name, address, and phone number on the note along with the amount you are willing to pay for the hunt. The envelopes will be opened on March 15th, and the high bidder will be notified. We will allow ten days for the payment to arrive after notification. If payment is not received in that time, we will call the second highest bidder, and give them ten days. If there is a tie in the bidding, the winner will be determined by the earliest postmark on the envelope.
Hunt details: This is a full five-day hunt with one of the most famous bowhunting operations in Texas. Other bowhunters will be able to join the winner upon payment to Four Arrows of $875.00 each, if booked in advance. You will be hunting a ranch of over 2000 acres that is not under high fence, so trophies will be eligible for entry in the P&Y records. Each hunter will be allowed two whitetail bucks (eight point or better), two javelina, two hogs, and unlimited varmints. Hunting will be from a bunkhouse on the property with a fully equipped kitchen. Food and cooking is the hunter's responsibility, so this is a great hunt for a group of friends. Your hunting license is approximately $250.00. A guide will show you the lay of the land as well as some ground blinds you can use.
For more information contact NETAA or Wayne Peeples at Four Arrows (361-242-1117). This is a great hunt with the real possibility of shooting a P&Y class buck for short dollars. It is also an opportunity to help raise money for the tuition fund to help us keep granting young archers assistance with their future college expenses. Lets see some serious bidding!
NEWSLETTERS- I have heard from a few people that they were disappointed that there were no newsletters during the fall. Sorry, I will do better this year. Actually, I did not plan on newsletters in the fall, because I thought everyone would be too busy hunting to read them anyway! Besides, there was nothing going on. I have promised to do better, and I will. There will be monthly newsletter during the tour season, and we will get one or two out during the fall and early winter so you all know we did not forget you. That will mean nine newsletters in place of the six you got when we used North American Bowhunter, or the eight you got last year.
QUALIFIERS- We have heard from several members lately that are disappointed that shoots scheduled at their clubs have not been listed in the newsletter or on the web site. In every instance we found that the reason was we had never been sent a shoot sanction request form and application fee. Talking about holding a qualifier is not enough! It is fine to call to make sure that a particular shoot, or date, will be accepted as a qualifier, and we will "pencil it in" when the call is made, however it does not go into the schedule until the paperwork is completed. The sanction request from can be down loaded from the web site or we will mail a copy upon request.
The form has all the information we need to understand what we are sanctioning as well as answer questions that will be addressed to the office once the event is posted. The $25.00 processing fee helps defray expenses to post the shoot on the web site and in the newsletter, as well as mailing the shooter forms to the host site. We have to take a "hard line" on this process because we need to make sure that shoots we advertise will run, and we need to be able to answer questions. It is very important to get these forms and payments in ASAP. The sooner we get the paperwork the sooner we can announce your shoot. We just mailed over 3000 newsletters and flyers in our annual mailing to archers that are not members and listed every sanctioned qualifier those paperwork was in on time. Those clubs that delayed getting in their forms missed a lot of "FREE" promotion!
SHOOT SCHEDULE- We are expecting that a number of sanctioned qualifiers will be added to the list in the near future. These will all be listed ASAP in future newsletters, but it will be important to check the NETAA website as well. We can get new shoots listed much quicker on the web site, so the shoot schedule posted there will always be more "up-to-date" than your last newsletter. Keep checking!
YOUTH PROGRAMS- As you all know, we have classes for all age groups. We also award Aim For College Tuition Voucher Certificates to the top young archers at the Championship each August. We award at least one certificate in each class at the Championship, and more in the case of classes with greater participation. We award a second certificate in all classes with four or more contestants and three if there are at least seven contestants. There are those that feel we should do more, and we have agreed to do so.
Starting this year, we will divide the cub class (at the Championship) into both a boys and girls class, and give awards (trophies and certificates) in both classes. We will also award either medals or certificates of achievement to all cubs and Peewees that attend, but do not win trophies. This was at the specific request of Deb Frey who donated some of her last year's winnings to help fund the program. Thanks Deb!
Good shooting,
Roy Goodwin