July 14th and 15th I was over in Missouri to see the Bowfishing Association of America's World Championship Shoot at Truman Lake.I traveled there with three of my fellow membersof the Illinois Bowfishers.

We went mostlyfor the meeting and to see the boats and chat with the participants. We didn't bring a boat so we didn't compete. I'm still kicking myself for not dragging the boat out there.

The 'World Championship' isa neat event that carries a lot ofbragging rights. Ronnie Cannon the BAAPresident (now retired) did a great job of lining up some nice prizes.Thanksalso go out to the sponsorsfor supporting the shoot.

Here areresults of the competition:

1st- Shawn Hoelzeman/ Nick Sanders 235
2nd- Harold Speed/ Alan Yedor Jr. 166
3rd- Josh Dunkle/ Carroll Deal 157
4th- Jeff Jester/ Brandon Carter 155
5th- Reid/Anson 129
6th- Gragg and Partner 127
7th- Glynn and Partner 112 Big Drum 5.5 lbs
8th- Woodward/Alton 109 tie broke by big fish
9th- Quertermous and partner 109
10th- Aaron Kelly/Neil (Nocem) 108
11th- Huster/Burnett 101 overall big fish and Big Buffalo 23.9 lbs
12th- Brawley/Vickers 88
13th- Henagar/ Rogers 83 tie broke by big fish
14th- Byington/Lewis 83
15th- Mark Land/ Chris Cass 82
16th- Dustin Mize/ Heath Beck 79
17th- Crum and partner 74
18th- Ragan/ Ward 70
19th- Jones/ Sullivan 62
20th- Porter/ Cornelison 51 Big Gar 18.7
21st- Brady Miller/ Hunter 50
22nd-Paul/ Brooks 49
23rd- Wood and Partner 48 Big Shad tie broke by big fish
24th- Richardson/Richardson 48
25th-Brinkmand and partner 47 tie broke by big fish
26th-Alexander/Alexander 47
27th- Bommer/Scherer 45
28th- Hill/Robb 20


Big 20

1st- Batson/Batson 150.7
2nd-Orf 114.6 Big Fish 16.7 lb Grass Carp
3rd-Rakes/Ostermann 110.6
4th-Martin/Voss 102.6
5th-Whitehead/Whitehead 98.5
6th- Malsy and partner 94.7
7th- Seevers/Gillion 82.7
8th- Connelly 79
9th- Maples/ Kubiak 51.9
10th-Nichols/Wilmarth/Gruhn 3
Morelock and team- DNF
Scott and team- DNF
Miller/Weaver- DNF


Here are some pictures from the Bowfishing Association of America's World Championship that was held at Truman Lake in Missouri.





Group Shot; Nick of Mizzery. Me, Kendall, Joanne andDave(Illinois crew)


Some of the sponsors.


Fishhunter drove all the way over just to cook for us.

Boats.......

(if you want to know how to set-up a bowfishing rig, there's no better way to get ideas than to go to a tourney and check out all the different boats)

Airboats










Check out the double props. They move in opposite directions. Pretty cool!


Mark Land's Fan boat. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he had some sort of connections to Muzzy.


Monster jon boat. It looks a part time bowfishing rig, part time Mekong Delta gun boat.


Slightly smaller boat


Compact deck

Truman Reservoir is a stumpy lake and it did manage to get Harold Speed's airboat. A stump tore up part of his polymer liner on the side of the boat. (sort of like skid plates for a boat)

In order to repair it, he needed to partially remove the boat from it's trailer. After repairing it, some help was needed to get it back on the trailer. An air boat with big block V8 is not exactly light. [:-]

Proof you can get some of these guys to work together.

(this picture is also known as 'name that butt'.)

Almost there.


Ronnie Cannon addresses the participants before the tourney starts.


Boats lined up


Getting ready to blast off.

Here's the journal article on tourneys if you haven't seen it.

http://www.hunting.net/fieldjournal/fieldjournal_detail.aspx?nID=419