Brad Whiteman

Gatersmoon, did' nt mean to upset anyone, i enjoy the HC the way it is, i see several guys using surprise releases in the class, my wife and i and our friends that shoot together use our hunting release when we shoot, that' s all i meant, take care, Brad.

BLUEGRASS28

O.K. Let me see..HC= HunterClass...People shooting thier BOWHUNTING setups...To Match skills with other top BOWHUNTERS...The BOWHUNTING class has the most participants in any shoot anywhere...And yet BOWHUNTERCLASS can' t get any respect from the International BOWHUNTERS Organiztion.....Makes you wonder what all that scribble at the top of the IBO home page is all about... Just a thought?[&o]

alpinearcher

i think the bowhunter class is like all other classes, if you to be successful at winning then you have to work at it, just because the distances are set up for bowhunting you still have to make a good shot, judge yardage and focus. no class of archery is a cake walk if you want to be at the you have to put forth the time and effort. no two people have the same draw length, bow setup, bow speed or abilities, so you have to work hard on your weak points to even the scores. bottom line is if you want it bad enough then you will make the effort to get it.

Bob H in NH

Recognition of the HC is probably the only thing, in my mind, that MIGHT need some adjustment. It started on " even footing" (for lack of a better term) with all other classes. What happened? winning the HC was worth more than winning any other class, more even I believe the PMR. People screamed bloody murder because semi-pro, open and mbr shooters were switching to HC just to win the money, thus defeating the " purpose" of the class. So, they switched it to take the financial motivation away, or reduced, again this was cause people were screaming it wasn' t fair. Now, HC shooters want more. Well you can' t have it both ways.

I agree the HC should not be considered a " lesser" class. But, remember what it was started for, not beginner, but for less competitive folks who didnt want or have the time to master the longer distance estimates and didn' t want to face off against the " target" bows.

the problem is defining " hunting" , my bow, setup for hunting is NOT HC legal, I shoot a 11.5 inch stablizer with AEP disconnect which makes it over 12 inches. Other than that its legal. So, I hunt with it, so its clearly a hunting bow, but I can' t use it in the HC. I have no problem with this, but others might, they can' t use their hunting bow/arrows/whatever in the HC. Now factor in westerners who hunt antelope, mulies etc. It would be an extremely CLOSE shot for them at 30 yards.

Clearly the only answer is there is no good answer [&:]

--Bob

BigO

To BOB H. You made the whole point of this debate. The Hunter Class could care less about the money, they just want the same respect. Hunting is different in different areas. Do what you want and respect others who shoot differently. I have respect for better shooters who make me work harder. I have respect for Barebow shooters because I couldn' t hit nothing that way. Most of all I have respect for the guy who knows how to have fun even if he miss' s the whole target. I have no respect for anyone who thinks they are better because of the equipment they shoot, or the yardage limits. I am tired of being looked down on. This is a game, lets have fun and respect each other.

coptor doctor

Well everybody seems upset with every class theirs or not.. Lets bring up the MBF class I think we should get rid of all the scopes and long stabs in this class and turn it into what it was suppose to be. Male Bowhunter fingers. Not Pro fingers with out the $275 entry fee!!

smoozer

My belief is we all need to come together as a group. There should be no bashing of any classes. We have the right to choose which class we want to participate in for what ever the reason might be. It doesn' t make us better or worse than any other class. Has everyone forgot what the IBO does to help us keep our hunting privilages. Lets stop bitching over such little things. The hunter class has become the biggest class in the IBO. These new members have not all came from people dropping down in from a so called tougher classes. Most of these new shooters are just that new shooters. Not just new shooters but more than likely new IBO members also. I can' t see any losers in this situation. The rules say that any one that wins two major events in a shooting year has to move out of the hunter class. This should also go for any of the other classes. That is my belief. As for people shooting " target bows" the only difference is the colors. What does it matter if they are shooting a purple bow? You can in most cases get the same bow in camo. Color doesn' t make it shoot any better. The main thing that controls that is the man or woman shooting the bow. These are just my opinions. The hunter class I do believe is here to stay and is a very big part of the IBO.

fasstfletch

I have just spent a few minutes reading just about all the threads on this subject. Over the last year to year and a half I have read and suggested just about every thing that I read here today. None of this means a thing if you can not get the people who make the rules to understand that the shooters should be heard. The response that the BOD and the State reps are giving the input that is making the rules is very doubtful in my humble opinion. Do a little looking and see what kind of organization this really is. I have been looking further than the threads that are pro and con and there seems to be some very intelligent people out there. Let me give you one example of where we are butting our heads. Look in your program and look at the distribution of the State Reps. 26 States have no State Rep. The IBO has members in many more States than 24 but who brings their views to the BOD. Look at the number of states who have one rep and the number that have 8 or more and try to figure where the most influence is coming from. One example is Penna., the state is one of the biggest bowhunting states in the USA and has just one state rep. There are many other things that need to be fixed besides trying to establish who shoots where and how. The Hunter Class is the biggest class this year at the World with over 400 shooters, the Pro class had less than 50 and is less than last year. If you think that you things need to be changed than look around and try to find the real problems. The hunter class is not represented by the threads here on the forum as the people that are making their comments are a small protions of a huge class. The hunters class had over 600 shooters in the money and trophy class out of a total of about 2600 total shooters. It seems to me that the archers have made their choice clear and the only people that can change that are the ones that need to be listening.

I have shot for more than 45years and have seen a few organization come and go in archery. If there are problems, people make them. If a class has grown to over 400 and the membership shooting at the world for example is not 400 people bigger than I would say that, that say something. Pointing fingers means nothing.
Shooting arrows should mean everything.