Jim and I became certified North Carolina Hunter Education Instructors and N.A.A Level 1 Archery Instructors to give us the tools we needed to teach others.
When we began teaching our programs we were teaching around 400 women and children a year, now we teach between 5000 to 9000 a year.
When Jim and I met he introduced me to archery. I was hooked! The only problem was that I could not judge yardage and we knew this would be a huge problem bowhunting. Jim decided we would shoot the local 3-D archery tournaments so I could learn. Here in the mountains of Western North Carolina there is no flat ground and he knew this would help me learn to shoot from a treestand or from the ground in any situation. It was a great idea. The first tournament we went to was a winter chiller. It was held in January, there was 12 inches of snow on the ground, a balmy 17 degrees with a stiff north wind. The 25 target 3-D course was set straight up one side of a mountain and straight down the other. I lost 7 arrows on the course and loved every minute. To my amazement I won my class that day! When we arrived back at the truck 4 hours later, Jim shot me a smile and said "So what do you think of 3-D tournaments" my reply "When is the next one"!
From there we shot local, state and ASA National Tournament Trail.
Our Accomplishments:
5 Time Consecutive Western North Carolina Regional 3-D Champion
North Carolina State Champion
Highest Ranking at ASA World Championship 12th
We decided to stop competing in 2002 after the last shoot of the year. We had been on the road 42 weekends shooting tournaments. We decided that we would concentrate on our archery programs and give up the tournament trail. We feel that our decision was the right one. Do we miss competing, of course we do, but bringing others to our sport so it will be here for the next generation is more important.
Archery Adventures
2011
2011's hunting season was a great success and we could not be happier. It makes all the work we do seem worth while when we can get back to nature and sit in a tree or in a ground blind with our bow near by. This season we have some great hunts lined up so check often in the hunting journal to see where we have been and what we have been chasing. We enjoying sharing our hunting adventures with you and hope you are having a very successful and fun season as well.
Photo Gallery
Kentucky Whitetail Deer "Grandpaw"
Tennessee 2011 American Bison
Tennessee 2011 Asian Water Buffalo
Texas 2010 Whitetail 11pt Non-Typical
Texas 2010 10 pt. Whitetail
