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NORTH
AMERICAN BOWHUNTING COALITION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 12,
2005
Contact: Stan Rauch
(406) 961-3635
NORTH AMERICAN BOWHUNTING COALITION
FORMED
Chatfield, MN - A meeting
of the state and provincial-level bowhunting organizations was held at
the Pope & Young Club’s headquarters in Chatfield, Minnesota on August
6th & 7th to further address important bowhunting issues that were
identified at the National Bowhunting Summit held in Springfield, Missouri
last April.
Attended by 41 representatives of
33 organizations in 29 states and Canadian provinces, the Minnesota conferees
completed a crossbow position statement, were taught by experienced bowhunting
activists how to strengthen their political skills and how to build a more
effective bowhunting organization. They addressed the increased anti-bowhunting
threat, began work on a program to assist physically challenged archers
to shoot modified conventional bows and developed plans to prepare a position
paper on high fenced hunting. Dr. Dave Samuel served as moderator
for the conference.
The attending organizational reps
of the National Bowhunting Summit group established the North American
Bowhunting Coalition (NABC). Denny Ballard, of Missouri, was elected
chairman of the coalition’s steering committee. A significant action taken
was to assign boundaries to four NABC regions that encompass the entire
North American continent. All state and provincial-level bowhunting organizations
are automatically part of the NABC by virtue of their status as a state
or provincial-level bowhunting group.
The overall purpose of the NABC is
to provide a communications link and organizational structure whereby the
state and provincial organizations can effectively work together to provide
strong support for the welfare of bowhunting throughout the United States
and Canada.
Denny Ballard, NABC’s new chairman
says, “It’s hard to believe that, up to now, three million bowhunters in
the U.S. and Canada have had no national level representation in matters
that have directly affected their sport. That day has passed as the
North American Bowhunting Coalition will provide a forum for bowhunters,
through their state and provincial-level bowhunting organizations, to protect
and support bowhunting as national issues are deliberated. It’s only
fair and right that the men and women that have been pulling the load for
bowhunting over the years have a say in where their sport is heading.”
As the result of the National Bowhunting
Summit meetings it was abundantly clear that the organized bowhunting community
is strongly opposed to the growing trend by game agencies of permitting
crossbows to be used in bow seasons. A position statement on the
crossbow issue was developed and was signed on to by 72 bowhunting organizations
and bowhunting related businesses. The position taken is that, “crossbows
are not bows and therefore should not be permitted in bow seasons or in
archery-only hunting areas.”
“Our coalition organizations are
the bulwark of bowhunting,” Ballard said. “They have opened the entry
gate for thousands of new archers to enter our sport throughout decades
of service to their local communities and have been reliable partners of
our state game agencies as well. We know bowhunting and have earned our
place at the table. Crossbow hunting has not.”
“We see dangers, too, in promoting
the commercial profiteering of crossbows at the expense of our natural
resources,” Ballard said. “It’s a slippery slope. No user group
exists for crossbow hunting and yet the public trustees of our natural
resources are being pandered to by crossbow manufacturers and the commerce
of hunting to allow crossbow hunting in bow seasons when no public interest
exists.
For the protection and welfare of
bowhunting’s future, the North American Bowhunting Coalition looks forward
to working with the many entities that comprise the continent’s bowhunting
community.
NABC chairman Denny Ballard can be
contacted at twangdrb@earthlink.net. |
