Well I'm responsible for part of the BOM duties, and if the contest has been kiboshed, that's news to me. I suspect that either someone has been really busy and is just a little behind, or else there simply haven't been any entries. I would think as long as there are volunteers willing to take care of the contest (which there are), it will carry on.
I am somewhat indifferent to the "subscribers only" policy. I'm not trying to sway anyone either way, but this is the way I look at it - I consider my subscription fee to indirectly be a donation to this forum. Being able to read a magazine that I enjoy and enter bows into a friendly competition is just a bonus. We need to keep in mind that without the magazine, not only would there be no BOM contest, there would be no forum. Subscriptions are what keep the magazine alive, which in turn keep the forum's servers running. As has been mentioned numerous times before, the magazine hardly makes anything from copies sold off the shelf.
I miss the good old days too, but there comes a time when we just have to bury our grudges and move on. I can't speak for the Primitive Archer magazine, but I suspect that if the survival of the BOM contest is ever threatened, it will not be due to lack of willingness from the magazine, or the forum's volunteers that take care of organizing it, but rather from a lack of support by the forum's members.