CLUB OFFICERS President:Steve Williamson(597-6917) Vice President:Dick Sousa(592-8045) Secretary:Tom Bockman(344-8019) Treasurer:Brent Simmerman(597-9497) Trustee:Ed Rebarich(345-7608) News Editor:Lee Pereksta(592-3856) Tournament Director: Mike Vandeman(332-4625) NBBC Event CoordinatorSteve Doty(850-7681) Indoor Range Coordinator: Mike Nickels(326-5779)
Indoor range phone (734-7272)
Key Dates to Remember
Saturdays - Joad, 8 am
October 20 - Startup of Indoor Leagues 7:00 pm
October 21,22 - Bowhunter Education Class - Indoor Range. 6:00 - 9:00 pm
November 2 - Club Meeting, Indoor Range 7:00 pm
October Club Meeting The October meeting was held on October 5. There were 12 members in attendance. We discussed Indoor Leagues, the new target backstops, and the shoot schedule for 2010.
New Members We voted in two new memberships at the September meeting, Bruce and Susan Gregory, and John Coffelt are our newest members; welcome to the Ahamo Archery Club.
Indoor Range News:
The Steve, Mike, and others have been upgrading the cardboard backstops at the range. Three more sections have been completed and there are just a few more to complete.
Steve said that someone had loosened the bolts on the backstops to the point that they were finger tight only. He said that we should not do that. If the tension is too loose, pulling out arrows could cause the cardboard to pull out of the backstop or even cause the cardboard to topple. If you think the backstops are too tight or too loose, please contact Mike Nickels or Steve Williamson and ask them to adjust the tension—do not adjust it yourself.
We also discussed the Humidifier. Please leave it running, and if you have a meeting going on and need to turn it off due to the noise, please turn it back on. Also, please do not move it. That could cause the drain to become dislodged and could cause it to drain improperly.
2009 Officers:
We still need people to run for office next year. We have candidates for Secretary, Treasurer, and Newsletter Editor, but still need someone to run for President and Vice President.
Steve and Dick are definitely not running for their positions again. Both Steve and Dick have been President and Vice President for the past 4 years. Even though both have done outstanding in their respective offices for the past 4 years, it isn’t fair to expect them to hold those positions for life.
The Ahamo Archery Club is not run by only those holding the positions of President and Vice President. There is a board behind them, and appointed board positions that run our tournaments and take care of the indoor range.
If you think you would like to hold one of the open positions, please let me know, or you can call Steve to discuss the responsibilities of those positions and the amount of assistance you would receive if you run for office. Also, if you think you know someone that might be a good fit for one of those positions, pass that on to me or to Steve as well, so we can contact that person or persons to see if they would like to run for office.
Another point to bring up, is that if you hold one of those positions, you will not have ultimate power.
Before making any decisions effecting the future of our club, you will need to obtain an ok from the rest of the board and approval of the club at one of our Monthly meetings per our club Constitution.
Finally, our main officer positions that include the office of President and Vice President, do not need to pay dues for the year they hold that office
2010 Shoot Schedule:
We discussed our 2010 shoot schedule at the October Club Meeting. Mike Palm has agreed to be our 3D coordinator for 2010 and will be attending the annual planning meeting with other clubs held on October 21 to present our schedule. As we discussed at the club meeting, here is the tentative Tournament schedule for 2010:
January 3 Indoor 3D January 17 Indoor 3D February 7 Indoor 3D February 20/21 2010 Winter Games March 20/21 Annual Wahoo 3D May 16 (alt 23) Outdoor 3D June 13 (alt 27) Outdoor 3D July 11 (alt 18) Outdoor 3D Nov 13 NFAA 300 round turkey shoot Dec 12 NFAA 300 round turkey shoot
Indoor Leagues:
Indoor leagues will start on Tuesday, October 20 at the indoor range. If you would like to participate, please be there at about 6:30 the first night, which is normally the organization night for leagues. The official starting time each week is normally 7:00, but that will be confirmed at the initial meeting.
Newsletter Items:
If you have a hunting picture or story, please send it to me, I’d like to put it in the newsletter. If you have an item for sale, send me the information to put in the newsletter as well.
Please email me anything you would like to add to the newsletter, or contact me for my mailing address. You can even give me your article at a club meeting.
Bowhunter Education Class:
We will be holding a Bowhunter Education class at the indoor range on October 21 and 22 (Wednesday and Thursday) from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, and on October 24 (Saturday) at Schram Park from 8:30 am to 3:00 PM. If you would like to attend, contact Game and Parks to ask if you can be put on the list of attendees. You need to attend all 3 sessions to get your Bowhunter Education certificate.
The session at Schram Park includes outside field work that includes shooting, tracking, distance judging, and tree stand safety.
Note that the indoor range will be closed for open shooting during the classes at the indoor range.
Hunting Stories:
Please send me a hunting story if you have one. I need things to add to the newsletter each month. I browsed the internet a little and didn’t find anything interesting after a brief look and thought I could write something better than what I was finding.
I’ll just ramble a little about the use of scents and calls when hunting. I always carry a rattle bag with me, a couple of deer calls, and when it gets closer to the rut some deer scent when I hunt. My wife thinks I’m mean when I practice at home and terrorize the dog with deer calls.
I can say for a fact that under the right situation calling and scents will work. But the difficult thing is finding the right situation. Most of the time I have no luck with those things, but on occasion they work so well I feel real proud of myself for getting a deer to come close enough for a shot.
I recall one time I was hunting on a cold and snowy day when I saw a buck with a doe about 60 yards out. I took my grunt call and gave about 5 short grunts and saw the buck stop and stare in my direction. When he turned to walk after the doe I did the same thing and he just headed straight towards me. I shot as he walked past and got a nice buck that night.
I have also used a grunt call set to a pitch that’s higher than a buck’s deep grunt, and have called in a doe. I had about 6 doe about 40 yards away and had a very nice doe come to me when I blew my grunt call and I was able to harvest it that morning.
On another occasion, when walking to my stand in the early morning, I dragged a scent rag soaked in deer scent up to and around my stand. On that morning, I watched a buck follow the scent in and walk right around my stand where I dragged the line and I shot a buck that morning. One other time I did the same, but had a buck come right past me on my scent line while I was half way up the tree. It was too dark to see for sure how big it was, but it was for certain it was following the scent trail I made.
I have also rattled a deer in, but only once. I rubbed my rattle bag together for a few seconds, and about 5 minutes later a buck walked past and I was able to make a good shot as he walked past.
I often rattle a little when I am getting bored to see if something comes in, but most of the time it doesn't work. I have also heard others rattling very aggressively on occasion when I have a deer fairly close to me. I have never seen a deer walk towards the rattle, and mostly they walk off in the opposite direction. That’s why when I do rattle, it is not very aggressive, and I don’t ever over do it. Then again, it has only worked once for me.
I recall hunting with Dick Sousa once when he hit his rattle bag and an extremely nice pope and young buck came in. Every time it started to head in another direction, Dick rattled and it kept coming back until it got close enough for him to harvest it.
The moral of this is to use scents and calls in moderation, and don’t expect them to work all of the time.
If anyone has a story of how calls and scents have worked for them, please send it to me. I’d like to get something in the newsletter on how that works for our members.
Club Deer Awards:
I have only gotten information on two deer being shot this year. John Terfone shot a nice doe, and Jimmy Terfone shot a 4x4 buck. Congratulations guys.
I haven’t heard of any other deer being shot. This is the least amount of deer I have seen shot by club members after a month of the season going by that I have every seen. There’s got to be other deer shot, so please get that information to me and a picture if you have it. Check out our web site for pictures of harvested game. There are actually 3 pictures out there. John’s doe, a nice antelope shot by Steve Doty, and a hog that Dick Sousa shot earlier this year.
