NEWS & NOTES

· We would like to share your hunt photos with our other members, so if you have pictures of game taken with your traditional gear send it to me. You could also send articles and photo's of a shoot you and other TBOF members attended, anything archery related for that matter. The contributions of articles and photos from members are what make The Stickbow News an enjoyable publication. The editor's address is within the first couple of pages of each issue. You can E-mail text files to me at jmccorm@scci.net

· The 2003 Spring Florida State Championship will be held at our new site, the Hunter Education Facility in Ocala. If the Fall shoot was any indication, this shoot will be lots of fun. There is registration paperwork in this issue and important information about the location including a map of the site. Please review the material and contact David Tetzlaff if you have any questions. Make sure you pre-register for this event to avoid any problems. This should be one really nice shoot! There is information in this issue regarding cabin rentals for the Spring Shoot as well.

· Hog County Archers will be hosting our annual Charity Shoot on Saturday, December 7, 2002 at their range in Leesburg. There is a flier for our Charity Shoot in this issue. We are very excited about this, because the last charity shoot held at Hog County was our most successful. This one will be a good opportunity for a full weekend event. Hog County is holding a charity shoot of their own on Sunday, the very next day. They are inviting everyone to stay over Saturday night (you can camp right at the range) and enjoy a full day of shooting on Sunday. Admission for Sunday's shoot is $10.00 worth of non-perishable food or cash.

· We could really use donations from members for the upcoming Charity Shoot. We try not to ask our regular donation suppliers too often and we already hit them up for the Spring Championship and Fall Rendezvous every year. If you know a supplier that is not already donating to our shoots, or if you have something you would like to put on the raffle table, we sure would appreciate it. A good raffle table makes our Charity Shoots very successful.

· A decision has been made to do away with our Membership cards as it was felt they were unnecessary. We keep membership rosters at the fun range and all around the registration area so a membership card is no longer needed. So don't be concerned if you do not get a new membership card.

· If you want to stay in an air-conditioned bunkhouse during our shoots, you can do so for a small fee of $10.00 a night. These bunks include a nice bunk style bed, air conditioning and the use of the shower area in the bunkhouse. Bring your own linen, pillow and towels. It may be just the right thing for folks coming without their spouse or children and wanting to avoid the hassle of setting up a camp. These bunkhouses will be gender separated. All you have to do to get a bunkhouse bed is to go to the registration area during the shoot and pay. There are also a limited number of cabins available for the entire event at a cost of $100.00. These have anywhere from 2 to 7 bunks and are air-conditioned. They do not have restroom facilities or a kitchen, but there are restrooms and showers conveniently located nearby. The available cabins are given out via a lottery drawing handled by Secretary/Treasurer Bruce Hamlin. Contact Bruce for more information or see the article "Shoot Site Cabins Available" in this issue.

· For those of you living in the East Central part of our State, there is a new gun and archery range opened recently in the Sebastian area. It is a joint venture with the FWC and Indian River County. They have safe state of the art ranges for firearms, pellet guns and bows. The current archery range has targets from 10 to 65 yards. The bails are high quality and the range is well constructed. They have a roving course under construction now that will be similar to a 3-D course but using regular target butts. The roving course will be open in the near future. They are located right off of I-95. You can give them a call for directions or additional information. (561)-581-4944