Traditional Bowhunter of Florida
established 1990
Written by Ronnie Weatherman
The TBOF club formation meeting was held at Tom and Rennett Brunofsky's house in the summer of 1990 with about a dozen people attending. (I was not there) At that time Dave Keueber was elected as President and Tom Brunofsky as Vice President, with Rennett Brunofsky taking on the Secretary/Treasurer position.
The first TBOF formal shoot was held at the Gibson's lazy B. Ranch in Reddick, Florida just north of Ocala on August 18th, 1990. Entry fees of $260.00 were collected from 26 shooters. Expenses for that shoot were $290.66, for a loss of $30.66.
Tom put out the first Stickbow News in November 1990. There was $216.03 in the club bank account, with 28 memberships listed on the TBOF mailing list. An announcement in the November Stickbow was that Scott Ware was the new panhandle representative, and Scott had already located at least 3 other traditional shooters in the Tallahassee area.
The first spring shoot was held at the Gibson Ranch in Reddick Florida on March 2, 1991. The shoot featured Ariels by STX target launchers, 3-D target round with targets borrowed from Hog county Archers, knife and spear throwing, spot shoot and rolling targets. Byron Barfield of Georgia won the top bow award with just over 100 shooters attending.
In 1991 Dave Kueber moved to Montana and left Tom and Rennett to handle the club. In August 1991, after the August shoot, Tom held a meeting and elected new officers. David Hoye was elected as President , Jack Keener as Vice President and Wayne Carter as the Secretary/Treasurer. David moved out of state shortly after the elections and Jack Keener assumed the position and responsibilities of President holding office for the next three year term.
TBOF has organized hog hunts and held shoots in Bushnell, Tallahassee and Marianna Florida. On march 6, 1993, we held our first shoot at the Rocking Horse Ranch in Altoona, Florida. Carmon Thompson was the editor of the Stickbow news for two issues. In August 1993 Ron Weatherman took over as Editor of the Stickbow News and remained Editor until Jay Campbell took over with the June 1994 issue.
After the Spring shoot of 1995, Ron Weatherman took over as President, Mike Kuhn as Vice President and Jack Keener took over the titles of Secretary/Treasurer, even though he had been doing the job all along.
On August 11th, 1995, TBOF held their first shoot at Crooked Lake in the Ocala National Forest.
With the March 1996 shoot, TBOF declared that their spring shoot would be now be known as the Florida State Traditional Championship. In 1996, TBOF was contacted by Jim Schultz of Archers who Care in Arizona. Jim asked us if we would be interested in helping some kids with cancer enjoy some archery at summer camp.
That began our involvement with the American Cancer Society. In December of 1996, TBOF held their first Children's benefit shoot at the Gator Bowman Range in Gainesville, Florida. This would be followed by another benefit shoot at Bear Archery in 1997. These benefit shoots would enable TBOF to purchase thousands of dollars worth of archery equipment for the Boggy Creek Gang archery program. In 1997, Cass Vickers took over as editor of the Stickbow news, and the Rock Camp was moved to the Boggy Creek Gang Camp in Cassia, Florida.
In the spring of 1998, immediately following our State Traditional Championship at Crooked Lake in Ocala, John McCormick assumed the position of President, Rich Nichol became Vice President and Jim Knowles acquired the position of Secretary/Treasurer. Cass Vickers stepped down as Editor and Shannon Holtz jumped right in to take his place.
The club will continue to carry on in the fine tradition set by it's previous officers and dedicated members.
If you're interested in becoming a member, visit the membership page.
Note: Our dear friend, Ronnie Wetherman, who was instrumental in making TBOF what it is today, passed on May 16, 2018. He is missed by so many people who were happy to call him a good friend. Visit Ronnie's tribute page.
