I need to vent here to keep my interest in the IBO, but from what I am experiencing, I am not too happy. I have traveled over 2,000 miles by car and have spent alot of money to shoot an entire triple crown, only to find that the first 2 legs were not busted or flighted. We were told at the last leg that they were not going to flight because they don't do it localy, next year they said they would. I thought that groups took on the IBO shoots and triple crown shoots to abide by the IBO rules. There were also two targets that were set up horrible on this last weekends shoot. One was a turkey with the entire vitals blocked by a tree. The other was a floating alligator that you pulled back to shore to retreive your arrows. The target was left where ever in the pond that you find it from the last group. Or where ever it may drift. Sometimes close, sometimes far. So at the end they gave everyone an automatic 10 on both. Is this practice common? I would like to think that this is not going on in other parts of the country. If this practice continues at the IBO shoots around here. I beleive that I will spend my money shooting at the local shoots or take up golf. When a club says that a shoot starts at 8:00. Should the meeting be before the shoot, and the shoot start at 8:00. Or is it common for everyone to start showing up at around 8:00 or so for a 9:00 meeting, so we can start around 9:30 or so. Sorry about venting but I would like to know if I am being to anal to expect more. One of the clubs members told me that I could get away with anything as far as equipment because they have no way to check my bow or arrows. Seems like a cheap bow scale and arrow scale is all one would need. I have seen local clubs run a tighter ship, who operate on a much smaller budget than this group.

elk crazy, are these shoots you speak of national 3d shoots held in bedford indiana, erie penn, or nelsonville ohio? from the information in your post it sounds like a local triple crown and a local problem. the busted group problem did happen in bedford, but it sounds like it is a local problem. is there a triple crown near your home? being from idaho and traveling 2000 miles to shoot triple crown shoots is quite a bit of driving, but tells me that you are not shooting the national triple crown.

the ibo gives the host club a copy of the ibo rule book with the membership packet, and if they host a world qualifier. if the clubs are simply hosting a triple crown, with no ibo affiliation (world qualifier), they may mirror the ibo rules, but not follow them to the T. our local clubs use the ibo rules as a guideline, but still score the center as a 12.

not having scales at the ranges is a no-no if it is an ibo event. again, might be a local thing.

if this is a local problem, i would get the host clubs together, establish rules and guidelines as a group, and function as a group. this helps out when you have mulitple clubs in the same area, but not all use the same rules. we had clubs locally shooting differently each weekend. the complaint we kept hearing was no one knew what the rules were. after establishing the central ky archery assn, we all got on the same sheet of music, no matter where you went to shoot in the ckaa the rules were the same. it helps keep shooters coming back, and conditions them to your methods.

I woud like to know more about this shoot if you would send that info to the IBO office all qualifiers are under the same rules whether a national or local shoot. If any shooters experience such problems they need to notify the office so they can be looked into and we can try to work with them sometimes it is just a case of not knowing, but this is all part of keeping your shoot sanctioned.

I sent the info to Ken. The Triple crown was a world qualifier and an IBO sanctioned event. Each of the first two legs were about 500 miles from my house. Making it a 1,000 mile round trip for each of the first two legs. Everything here in the west is FAR away. Thank godness the last leg is only a 2 1/2 hour drive.

I would think that whether it be a national, or regional triple crown. If I shoot an IBO sanctioned event, all the rules should be followed. The reason I joined the IBO and started attending IBO tournaments is because of the fact that rules were outlined and it should not be a free for all when I attend them. These qualifiers are being run like local shoots and I am more and more turned off every time I go to one. There was a great showing by people in my area several years ago at the IBO sanctioned events. The attendance by people I know has dropped considerably. They all have the same issues, but nobody chooses to speak up. Any organization maintains its strength by maintaining or increasing numbers. I just don't see that happening in this region. Thank you for adressing my concerns, I do care about archery and hope that my grandchildren will have the same opportunities that I have had.

Ken, I tried to send you an e-mail and keep getting a failure notice, I will try again. If anyone has a valid e-mail adress at the IBO office, I would be glad to foward the message to you so I don't have to type it all again. Send me a message on the board with your adress please. Thanks for responding.

[email protected]

elkcrazy8, the info about the triple crown being ibo related is what ej and the ibo need. gene, ken and the rest of the staff in the ibo are top notch, and will get you the info and help you need. there may not be anything that can reasonably be done to correct what has happened, but they can definately help with the future.

trust me the feeling of the ibo is as you stated. they strive to increase members and retain members as well. communication is the key. they will help you out.....maybe not in a day, some things take a little time.

I know it is kinda hard to take care of these kind of issues from across the nation and don't expect immediate results. I am hoping that with a little prodding, that the clubs that host these might open their eyes a little bit. One of the gentlemen at the shoot was trying to get us all to go to Taho for an IBO shoot coming up. He made a point to let us know that someone from Ohio would be there to check it out. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the effort that these clubs put out to have the tournaments. But why stop just short of making it a top notch event. It would be the equivalent of me scouting for a 400 class bull elk and going through all the preperation, only to smother myself with perfume as he is coming in. At work we also have a saying that one oops can wipe out 100 atta boys. I think the IBO is a great organization and stands behind such a wonderful tradition. We all have different levels of talent, as we all know. Some guy might work his tail off just to get to go to the Worlds just for the experience. He may get bumped from qualifying by some funny business along the way. One of these events that I have gone to just may have been the one to keep that one guy from obtaining his goal in life. I would just like to make sure that all have an equal chance.

Elk
The E-Mail address for the office is [email protected]. I think Fastfletch had a senior moment.
Pete

I'm sorry for any inconvenience for you and others may have experienced at the 2nd leg and 1st leg of the NWTC. The event for the 2nd leg did start late there was a heavy rain fall on Saturday that lasted as you know through Sunday morning. This made tree branches drop lower blacking the shooters window of arrow flight. The range needed to be walked and cleaned up before allowing the shooters to reach their assigned targets. Someone slid into the turkey target moving it behind a tree;and the group did not place the target back into place. There will be flighting in the future at the 2nd leg and being the IBO rep on site I should have paid more attention to what was going on I'm sorry for failing you and other IBO members as well as the IBO itself at the 2nd leg. I do sincerely apologize to the IBO it's members the Cedar River club who hosted the event and the guest being present. Being as how I set up the shooting stakes for the club the fault falls on my shoulders for the bad target placement as well. Please don't put blame on the IBO.

The club however I thought did as well as could be expected during the rain and thunder storms we received during the event plus the hail storm that lasted longer than usual. It's a good club and they worked hard to provide you with a good event through some nasty weather. Thank you for supporting the NWTC even with your displeasure and for staying. I hope you will find it in your heart to continue to support the NWTC in the future as well.

your rep

Tim Blair