bowtech54

Bennett's Archery, IBO and everyone involved at the first leg of the STCneeds a big"thanks" for putting together an outstanding event. The course layouts were excellent and everyone was very helpful. Again, thanks for a great event. Looking forward to the second leg in 3 weeks.

winger1

I had a blast myself. I beleive my whole family enjoyed there selves too. Just wish I would have shot the first 10 over again.Man it was cold saturday morning.....

GAbowhunter168

I always enjoy shooting with the IBO bunch, but I brought my son with me to this shoot, which was his very first ever and it became a bad experience for him. He shot courses A & B on Friday and had absolutely no problem, but when we slit up Saturday morning, he was going to shoot C & D. Well somehow he was put with a group that had not shot A& B so they decided to shoot These first. Of course my sonhad already shot these, so he just walked around with them while they shot A & B. When I came off the course after finishing my rounds, I find out that he has not even shot. He & I were very upset. This was his first event ever and he wasn't given any instruction from anybody. When he was put with this group, they should have been told that they had a shooter that had already shot A & B and that they should shoot C & D first. What are all these range officials good for. They sit in heated buggys and write down scores on the cards. They should be able to direct a new shooter in the right direction, don't you think. I would have been able to help him except that I shoot MSO and wasn't anywhere close to his ranges.My son is not sure he wants to continue shooting and be humiliated again. What can we do to make this not happen again? He didn't even get to finish shooting his courses. A waste of his time and my money...

winger1

You need to contact the office Monday morning and let them know this so this will not happen again. I'm sorry this happened, Friday I was on the A,B range making sure evereything was going good, Saturday I had to go and shoot my range E,F, and G. Please call them and talk to them about this. We would love to have your son come back out, don't let that keep him away.........

bowtech54

I hate to hear that your son had a bad experience at his first tournament. Did he say anything to the group or to the range offical? I have to agree with Winger1, call the IBO office and let them know what happened.

3drchr

It doesn`tmatter whether he said anything to anyone.He`s anew ashooter. What does matter is, that is what the officials at the check in stations are for. When groups arrive they check score cards to properly group shooters for their correct ranges. I feel the correct call would have been as stated in an earlier post which is to be sent to the ranges he had not shot. If there was a problem with lines backed up and the group had to be sent to the other ranges,then the shooter would be held back and placed with another group.

bluejacket

Ken will be back in the office tomorrow (Tuesday). Please, give him a call and let him sort out the details. (440)967-2137 He will be happy to talk with you to try to find out what and why things happened as they did and how things can be setup to prevent it in the future.

BobBean

I had a similar condition. I shoot with my 9 yr old son. I generally shoot Open but it was on a different course so I pulled off my scope and stab and mounted a pin sight on, set the 20 yd pin closeat the range and he and I went to the course. It was the only way I could stay with him and not take 2 full days to shoot. At Cub age it is tough to just let them go even after he has been shooting a couple of years and knows his way around a range. I just shoot for fun and to spend quality time with him so it wasn't stress for me. But there could be a way to set a white on both ranges to address the young kids needs. We need to spend good times with our kids. I am just greatful he enjoys it as much as I do.

Anyway we shot fair and smiled BIG. No sour grapes from me just an idea. We appreciate so much all the work and effort that goes into putting these shoots together. He and I both had a great time. We just had to get a bit creative.

Thanks to all!
Bob Bean

bbennett

One of therange officials Mr.Bennett is talking about is my son. There are always two sides to a story and I have heard both sides of this one - from my son and from others who were present.The impression that Mr. Bennett gives is that we have uncaring range officials who do not take their responsibilities seriously. Nothing could be further from the truth. All the range officials are volunteers and they work very hard to help us put on a good tournament.We sincerely appreciate what they do. We also sincerelyappreciate the people who take their time to come to the tournament and we try to make it a pleasant experiencefor everyone who attends.However, mixups will happen. When a problem is brought to our attention,every effort is made to immediately correct the problem. That's what was done in this situation.

Mr. Bennett's son is an adult and shot in the HC class.I won't go into all the details aboutthe 'rest of the story', but I have no doubt that our range officials handled themselves in a professional manner and treated Mr. Bennett's son with respect and were helpful to him. In no way did anyone affiliated with IBO or Bennett's Archery cause Mr. Bennett's son any humiliation. I trust that everyone reading Mr. Bennett's comments will try to find out all the facts before forming theiropinion.

Ken Watkins was made aware of the situation when it happened.

Barbara Bennett
Bennett's Archery

hoytshooter1977

My wife and I have shot the IBO shoot in Wetumpka for the past several years and the IBO folks and the Bennett's have always done as much as they could to see that we were treated well. As in all things, we are human and will make mistakes. If I had already shot A&B ranges, I would have made it clear to the officials at the table that I needed to shoot the other ranges. I have no doubt that the officials would have made the arrangements to put him in a group going to the correct ranges. The shoot this weekend was cold and windy and miserable to shoot in. All of the range officials that I dealt with on my ranges were great doing a job that they were not getting paid for as volunteers. I would hope that your son will give our sport another chance and continue to shoot. This sport is a family sport and is one that I am proud to participate in with my family. Don't let one experience stop you from enjoying it.