Well, some of you won't find the pictures "primitive" but I know most of you so I wanted to let you know. At last year's IBO Traditional Worlds I shot Primitive class with my selfbow. I felt like we didn't get much respect as shooters so I told GregB, Pappy and a few others that I wanted to show them that we could shoot with them but our weapons were a bit tougher. So I got a recurve and went for it. It took a lot of shooting and some coaching but this past weekend I traveled to Ellicottville, NY and shot in the IBO Traditional World Championships and won. This is the worlds that is combined with the compound shooters. Below is a recap of my trip and an explanation of the two worlds. Hope you enjoy.
There has been a lot of discussion across the internet of late about the International Bowhunting Organization (IBO) Traditional World Championships and the IBO World Championships. I’d like to do two things in this note: give some background that will hopefully answer many questions about the IBO and share my experience at the 2011 IBO World Championships.
Three years ago IBO Director and recurve shooter, Levy Bryant, headed an effort to create a standalone IBO Traditional World Championship. The IBO felt that the traditional community was on the rise, but needed a separate venue to fully meet that potential. In 2009, the first separate IBO Traditional Worlds was held and each successive year has seen tremendous growth. IBO did not want to lose the recurve and longbow shooters at other IBO venues, therefore, those classes remained prominent in combined IBO shoots including the IBO Worlds.
The classes at a combined IBO event included: traditional, longbow, and recurve unaided. The larger traditional venue – Traditional World Championship – enabled the IBO to further break classes down. These classes include: Primitive, Recurve, Longbow, Modern Longbow, Hunter Heavyweight, and Recurve Unaided. The IBO Traditional Worlds is designed to grow the sport of traditional archery. The courses are set to provide realistic 3D hunting shots that challenge the archer.
The 2011 IBO World Championship was held in Ellicottville, NY at the Holiday Valley Ski Resort. The weather could not have been written any better – low 50s overnight and highs in the mid-70s. To shoot in the World Championship one must shoot a qualifier. I qualified at the Keystone Country Store IBO Indoor Nationals last February in the recurve unaided class. Archers must preregister for worlds. Once entries are received peer groups and shoot times are established. This is extremely helpful with a 1,500+ field of shooters. I was peered with Scott Antczak, Mark Lynde, and former Australian National Champion Bill Watson. These men were an absolute pleasure to shoot with. While each of us traveled to New York to win, everyone was encouraging, friendly and appreciative of a great shot.
The courses were unquestionably the most challenging 3D courses I have ever shot. Everyone said that they would have it no other way. The shots were difficult yet fair. You had to earn every point on the range and what better way to establish a world champion? The ski slopes provided excellent up and downhill shots, cross slope, and even open field shots. The targets were small – no elk in this shoot. I shot my 20 yard crawl once, 23 yards twice and everything else was 25 – 30 yards. We even had an alligator at 30 yards and a pig at 30 as well.
Archers shoot 20 targets on Thursday, 20 targets on Friday and then the top 5 scores advance to the Championship round on Saturday. The championship round is 10 targets with those scores added to the previous two days. Scott and Bill struggled a bit on the first day. Mark and I went back and forth all day target to target and after 20 targets I ended the round with a 180 and 2X (X = 11s). Mark scored 180 with 1X.
My friend Paul Vogel and Scott wanted to go to the practice ranges that evening so we went and shot for a few hours. It was a blast. We began shooting each target at about 50 yards and walked up while continuing to shoot. Scott got his game on there and was ready for day two.
On the second day we shot a different course. After 20 more I ended the day with a 169, Scott also shot 169 and Mark shot a 164. After two days of shooting I led by 5 points over Mark. I found sleep difficult with a 5 point lead. I woke up from a dream multiple times aiming at a 3D deer. Finally, it was time for the final 10 targets. The top 5 in RU were myself, Mark Lynde, Scott Antczak, Howard Rockhold, and Paul Muise. Again, what a great group of guys to shoot with.
On the final 10 I managed an 88. Scott also shot an 88 and Mark shot an 83 (I think). I can’t express what I felt when my final arrow struck a mule deer. Scott immediately shook my hand and congratulated me as the World Champion. Both Mark and Scott are former champions.
I can’t overstate how rewarding it is to find success when shooting on a very difficult course that takes everything you have to score well and to shoot against guys that work so hard. It was my privilege to shoot with these guys. There were so many former champions there shooting such as Dave Wallace, Jim Powell, Randy Irvine, Vivian Bryant, and Jose Luis Iriarte Larumbe the Spanish National Champion and European Field Champion. There are many more wonderful people and great shooters. I can’t name them all.
Finally, I’d like to share this. 13 months ago I decided to put Masters of the Barebow Vol. 3 to the test. I watched the Rod Jenkins segment over and over then applied it. I shot tens of thousands of arrows in that 13 month period. I saw improvement and I struggled at times, but in the end it made a tremendous difference in my shooting. Rod has been the key to my success in archery so I’d like to thank him and Denny Sturgis for putting the video together and for their friendship.
The 2012 IBO World Championships will be held at 7 Springs Ski Resort in PA. (
www.7springs.com) I hope to see you there.
For those interested, I was shooting a Spigarelli 650 Club riser, Win & Win Inno Power limbs, a 14 strand D-97 string and Carbon Tech Cheetah 650 arrows cut to 27 ¼”. I used 75 grain points and 3 x 4” helical feathers. The arrows weighed 255 grains and shot 201 feet per second at the event.
*Longbow and Female Traditional shot from the white stakes. Male Traditional and Recurve Unaided shot from orange stakes.
Longbow
1. Dave Wallace 446
2. Jose Luis Iriarte Larumbe 427
3. Randy Irvine 392
Traditional
1. Jim Powell 427
2. John Demmer 415
3. Dewayne Martin 393
Recurve Unaided
1. Jimmy Blackmon 437
2. Mark Lynde 427
3. Scott Antczak 409
Female Traditional
1. Encarna Garrido Lazaro 401
2. Vivian Bryant 366
3. Diana Smith 318
