Jus read somewhere else that there were not many young kids at Cloverdale. We need to try to get them involved.

Unfortunately today, where scoped crossbows are legal for all hunters the majority of youths start out with a scoped crossbow for their initial archery season weapon. It becomes very difficult (impossible actually) to circle back to something you have never experienced. Real bowhunting with hand drawn bows is declining, will be left for only a minority to enjoy.

Was just talking with a vendor today that was at Cloverdale and he mentioned it was a older crowd.

What I see where I live is that Archery is growing, and attracting youth, but almost exclusively in Compound and FITA/Oly recurve. In what you and I might call "Traditional" (no quibbling over details, just call it "not compound and no sights" for sake of the argument) yes the crowd is getting older and fewer youth coming in.

Then that must have been a lot of really little 3 foot tall old people that were walking by my camp every day.

Plus all the older teens.

So then what are you guys doing to get kids involved? We see literally hundreds of them at ETAR with their families, and it's kinda hard to think they are in decline because you didn't see them at one shoot in Indiana.

I wouldn't pooh-pooh getting them into archery via compounds either, that's where most of you guys came from to get here. Start getting personally involved with the youth in your area...that's how you start.

I have to say that this is a major area of concern for us since my wife and I raised our children going to shoots and hunting all over the nation. I have to say that we thought that there appeared to be more youth at this year's shoot than recent years. Cloverdale is trying to accommodate those who have some immature need to wear the intangible label of a competitor like a participation trophy with the crowd who just enjoys shooting traditional bows with family and friends at a great course like Cloverdale. Honestly, I think they are on the right track with the family pricing and having the shoot off which allows everyone to shoot the course with whomever and whenever they wish.

Lili and I discussed if next year we will bring the kids to cloverdale. One is 5 and one is 7. I think next year will be their first time. I know they would have a ton of fun but I know my daughter will be worn out on the big course

Darron,

You absolutely should take them! They will indeed have a blast and so will you. We have a photo of our youngest in a carrier on my back at a shoot in Kentucky when he was just an infant. Today, he is 16 years old, stands 6'4," and weighs 224. He also has taken a couple of nice deer bucks with his longbow. All of our children still shoot and join us when they can to this day.

My son's is all about it and loves it just like i. It's great because my Dad started me at about 7, he's 13 and been hunting with me since he was 3, he diffently has the passion and that makes me super happy.

I have been teaching “ Archery for fun” through our schools community education program for years. I call them my rent-a-kids. In class I keep it at 5 years old but Private 3. This year 44 students. It’s a lot of work, especially in the first couple weeks but you watch them “ get it” and they shine! Best student in the world is a 10-12 yr old girl! They listen, and start kicking butt. If we want the younger kids WE have to spend our time (and usually money) teaching, mentoring, take them with, I own WAY more kids bows than I do for me. I figure about a bow every 2 months I give away with 1/2 dz arrows. Wife says I’m spending my retirement! So? When they outgrow the bow they show up to upgrade. I have a 26# 64” York Crest that has been to a least 10 kids. It’s home for now, but it’s sure to be gone again. We are the future!!!! Choice of Flu-Flus bs video games.... Flu-Flus win every time. Arrowchucker

Kids grow up, their interests change. For boys, football and baseball become a priority. High school sports take over a kids life. You see it way to you often, and in truth, nothing wrong with that at all. My daughters were great shots, won a few 3D shoots, but soccer, cheerleading and softball suddenly consumed their lives. And even though I missed shooting with them, I was proud to see them achieve in sports.

Read the studies and you'll see how many kids grow up in a one parent environment. That's why high school sports become so important in a young kids life. It's not compounds and crossbows that are consuming the kid's time.

Well guess those guys were mistaken then. I wasn't there but sounds like there were plenty of young ones there. Nothing to worry about then. And George is right. One shoot is not a good barometer.

Great pic Gatorn1.

Starts at home. If the parents don't get the young ones involved then it ain't going to happen. All of my grand kids shoot bows. Even the 5 year old.

That’s my 14 year old daughters first bow hunt

I just returned home from the Compton shoot. Didn’t see any shortage of kids there. Lots of kids on the ranges with their parents and quite a few at the youth shooting range !!

Penna has a lot of shoots..!!! There arena TON of compound shooters here..BUT..I seen lot of trad archers as well. ETAR...Baltimore bowmen...Sawmill...etc. Some shoot trad with their parents..some come to it later when they fully appreciate trad archery better. I'd say its quitr healthy here.

How young is young bc I'm pretty sure compared to the average demographic I'm young asf

Theres got to be a couple hundred kids at Compton.

We had a bunch of kids at Marshall Primitive Archery Meet. I think adult numbers where down a bit. It wasn't a very good weather forecast. Kids where way up though.

Many first time shooters who received help and borrowed bows and arrows. They had at least six groups shoot the balloon shoot. Was a great sight to see.

Steve is one of the vendors who sells flint knapped stuff (way underpriced) and he did several classes with the kids. They swarmed him. He's a great guy. Gave many of them tools and stone.

One young man was 14. He talked his dad into bringing him all the way from Nebraska to come build selfbows with a bunch of weirdos he Meet on the net. I think his dad was pretty impressed with us weirdos and we all let him know we were very impressed with him. Told his son what a good dad he had. The young man got his first selfbow shooting before they left.

I'm pretty new to this stuff. I never shot bows till I started making my own. I honestly think trad and Primitive or whatever name you'd like to give them are gaining popularity. I could be wrong as I said I've only been at this for about 4 or 5 years. It seems to me though in this period I have met a lot of really fantastic parents, grandparents and kids.

I'm all for coming up with new ideas to get and keep them interested though.

Bjrogg

Brilliant post by Bugalmin, above.

Every shoot I go to is loaded with kids.

My grandson starting a fire with a striker.

https://youtu.be/BAP8NAbA-5I

What I seen 1st hand and what I've been hearing, is that 3D numbers have declined in recent years. At the Iowa Trad shoot this year the crowd was an older crowd, not as many as past years. Doing our part in getting kids involved will definitely help. I have worked in the public school system for the last 26yrs and kids in general just don't spend as much time outside. Its really too bad. Just a sign of the times.

My grandkids love shooting traditional bows with me and their great grampa almost as much as we love shooting with them

I believe we all need to do our individual parts to encourage the youth.

We also have to define and promote real bowhunting as hunting with a hand drawn weapon. We have lost much of that crowd. In a sense, promotion of real bow and arrow hunting has to return to an earlier time. I do not see it happening in any meaningful way. Comptons is a good club but is not the end all. Real bowhunting has much to do with attitude and willingness to give the game a better chance, largely lost in today's archery seasons. It will be difficult for many to return to prior real bow and arrow hunting values, horn porn is a disease.

You may disagree with me .....but I am correct.

Thanks RC for fixing my picture

Bowhunting may be nearly irrelevant to archery outside whitetail country. What I see in NM, especially among Navajo, is enthusiasm for archery itself. Lots of teen 3D and indoor competitors (teens like competition).

Many adults who hunt elk (who manage to draw elk every couple of years) do it with wheels but shoot 3d with trad (sometimes wheels too).

Kids like to shoot arrows. They don't really like to walk around shopping and standing around while adults talk. At least my kids and grandkids are like that. I've taken my kids to Cloverdale and Comptons. Now the grandson to Compton so far. Each time all they want to do is spend time on the range shooting. And I mean all day. So that is what we did and do.

I expect someone here will post some pics of the kids event at Compton's in Barrien Springs, MI. There is usually a lot of kids of all ages.

Welcome, David..

One of the best places to get youngsters exposed to self bow, and recurve archery Is local Boy Scouts, and Girl scouts of America.They will listen ,and learn, and have fun in the process.Been involved in that for a while now.I always have light weight bows at hand for youngsters to shoot even in my neighbor hood.

That is great. I can't imagine kids not wanting to shoot arrows once they do it., I can't wait for grandkids

I have a range just out of the front yard here at the house. Big backstop that catches errant shots really well. I also keep some bows around as well as some arrows for the visiting kids. Everyone that comes over has the opportunity to shoot (adult or kiddo) if they choose. My wife also does a program with the Girl Scouts inwhich she teaches archery to allow the girls to earn their archery badge. We've offerend beginner classes at church and so forth. There are losts of ways to start the fire smoldering. Like George, I don't have an issue with soemone starting with a compound, or even a crossbow. Moving to a recurve or longbow is nothng more than an evolution of interest in a subject. Some folks evolave, some don't. No different than in the "traditional" archery world where some folks evolve from being satiisfied with "hunting range" accuarcy to seeing exactly how accurate a recurve or longbow can be shot at more challenging distances.

I was at the Compton Rendezvous on Saturday, was impressed at the number of kids, definitely more than previous years. It's great to see the young moms and dads together, teaching their kids to shoot.

So someone said there were only about 250-300 people there. Is that correct?

Last count I heard on Saturday when I talked to a guy was over 850 at Compton shoot

I have read about nearly all the states that have hunting as a major recreation are experiencing huge drop offs of interest and license sales. Young people and adults are just not hunting nearly as much as they used to. You can't really blame them. Many Dad's simply cannot afford to hunt with their kids, if they have the time to do it. Sure, there are public lands to hunt, but your chances drop off exponentially from private land. Try getting a young kid to go hunting or fishing when you go time after time and never even SEE a game animal let alone get a shot at one. Young kids of today, and even young adults, are not going to put up with that at all. Pair that with story after story about hunters that have been hunting a tract of private land for 10, 15 or even 20 years suddenly being tossed off of it by the owner and you can see exactly why hunting isn't nearly as popular as it was even 10 years ago.

I don't know what the answer is, but if something doesn't turn around quickly....hunting will be a lost activity in a generation.

I was talking about Cloverdale

Well I am going to hunt. Hutting is not instant gratification.

Well I am going to hunt. Hutting is not instant gratification.

it is true that when the kids get to jr high the organized sports take over, but if you teach them archery when they are younger, and keep the option available to them, they may return to it, I did.

Seems like our archery interest is doing about as well as any other outdoor activity at this time.

Young folks have more choices as said above, but they also are not exposed to promotion of shooting recurve, longbows or self bows like long ago. Remember Fred Bear shooting a Kodiak bear on tv, or his book of the late fifties/early sixties with a mountian goat on it, or remember when it was alright to bring home a rabbit or squirrel to clean them in your momma's kitchen (less vegetarian mommas then), or reading those stories in sportmans magazines which came to the house like those by Russell Annabel, or trapping and fishing how to's in Fur Fish & Game magazines which also had advertments for such things as hand made pack mocs and the latest non-canvas light weight expidition type tents by Eddie Bauer and new companies.

See enough young folks out there at the events I can attend now to know our sport is doing fine. Hey, in my house, if none of the young folks want my old rosewood recurves, then they can be put in that 6ft hole on the fourty four someday.

archery and sitting in trees and shopping with fathers at events are three different things.

Shooting with grandfathehrs is prettyh cool. See some of that.

For me, really get a kick and enjoy seeing and shooting with young folks at events, but I just don't give a hoot if my family shoots traditional equipment or not. If they do fine, but if they don't, fine too. But I do have some low draw weight "family" bows on the rack and some others too, just in case they want to come along. We have mandatory to attend winter campouts each year, and camping at events and of course hunting trips are fun too. Never know.

Only had one taker so far....one of my grown daughters. Bought that 30lb 2013 Kodiak with her in mind. She still remembers boiling fresh caught crawdads in a Donald Duck orannge juice can with some other youngsters in deer camp in the seventies for an afternoon snack. More concerned about the young folks in my family with their morals, courage, ehtics, and their repsect for others, including thier Maker, than with their interest in archery or bowhunting.

I'm very confident in youth. Less confident in people who watch a lot of TV.

How when they have crossbows to make it easier thinking us older folks are fools with prehistoric equipment. LOL

If you don't bring your children up with the trad way or you deviate in any ways guns or crossbows the likeliness of training them up trad is lessened.

Some crossbows can shoot 100 yards and kill an animal or bird. We cant with sticks or I know I sure couldn't ever kill an animal that far.

Well, I can't offer much to this conversation, but as a young guy (23) I can only say that I was drawn to shooting traditional because of the challenge. The switch from compound to recurve has pushed me to focus even more on my form, my equipment and my shooting techniques. As a result I have become a better archer with both my recurve and my compound. I just enjoy shooting, I genuinely enjoy letting arrows fly, and pushing myself to perform better.

A big turn off in my humble opinion is when people talk and act like traditional archery is a religion. When others say that the only way is to use (fill the blank) And if you use any other method or weapon to kill a deer then you don't fit. I respect that in order to be "traditional" there are going to be traditions involved. But this idea that hunting with any other method is beneath primitive archers is egotistical and does the group no favors.

My life doesn't revolve around archery, or bowhunting. I don't worship one form of hunting over another. I have no qualms about using a bow one day, and heading out with a rifle the next.

I will be extremely grateful if I am fortunate enough to take a deer with my recurve. For I realize it is a difficult feat that most hunters will never accomplish. If that ever happens, it will signify many hours of practice and training coming together and finally paying off.

But even still, it is not my end all be all. I think it's unhealthy for hunting as a whole, and for individuals when they treat hunting as such. Let people get excited about archery, and hunting! Don't be a killjoy by putting someone else's methods down.

Except crossbow guys, they don't count :)

Squirrel killer. That is simply the best pic ever. Love the boots. Looks like you will have a hunting partner.

I do everything I can to discourage kids from bowhunting. That way, I'm sure to be the "Last Great Bowhunter!"

Joe

Josh/PA you make some good points. Thanks for chiming in.

But even still, it is not my end all be all. I think it's unhealthy for hunting as a whole, and for individuals when they treat hunting as such. Let people get excited about archery, and hunting! Don't be a killjoy by putting someone else's methods down.

Except crossbow guys, they don't count :)

Oh, ok Josh:)

Most of our new trad shooters come from the compound genre because that is what they were born into. And Ryman Cat, you are so full of nonsense you could sell it by the pound. Doesn't matter what they start with, the interest in traditional is spawned by those who are willing to take time to show the young'uns what it's like.

I've got folks trying it because the drove by my house and saw me shooting so much. After awhile the machinery gets expensive and boring and that's when they look to traditional. My wife and I turned literally thousands of kids onto archery and many of those became traditional archers. I couldn't care less if they take up bowhunting, archery is bigger than just killing animals.

Well i think i did my part well i tried anyway . A coworker of mine son bought a good used compound cheap it was from the early 80s wheel bow i have the weight as low as possible for him mid 40s i give him some arrows banded bales for him give him a decent glove he is having a great time he is fourteen and as tall as most adults . His dad says he shoots all the time .

Too funny Frisky.

Loy's of us shot compounds . If they at least shoot maybe they will morph into trad guys. If not . Well that is ok too

Jack Great post. The core message at my shows is for the next generation to turn off tv, computers and video games and get outdoors with their families.

A few experienced archers have came to my shows and said “I didn’t care for it but my kids enjoyed it”. That’s the point. My show isn’t geared to preach to the choir. Bowhunters already shoot archery. I want the ones that don’t to get interested and try it.

What can you do in your area? Here’s a few ideas.

Develop a simple shooting exhibition. Maybe just popping balloons or something similar but a simple exhibition. Then try and do it at 4-H, scout and church camps. Talk about how fun archery is and it’s a sport entire families can do year round.

Also volunteer as an archery instructor at a camp. Maybe at an archery in the schools event if possible.

You can also get involved in your state and local archery or bowhunting club. Maybe your local walmart or big box sporting goods dealer will let you set up a membership table at their place during the busy season so you can hand out brochures and recruit members.

Your club can also host fun shoots and set them up for families and make them easier for beginners.

We have to all work together. This generation is a “now” generation. They have electronic devices that can allow them to shop instantly, order food instantly, even groceries from their phone. They can watch a movie on command on their device and watch videos ... so it’s an uphill climb to convince them to get outdoors.

Never underestimate the difference you can make.

Frank

Kids today are less interested in the out of doors than past generations. Lots of stuff competing for their time and attention (like the internet, iphones, gaming, etc.). Don't know how to change this.

My son and nephew are all about bare bow. They say compounds suck and only weirdos shoot them. I don't know where they get these ideas. Really I don't. Ha

Here is my 2 cents. I teach beginner archery at my church and it is with recurves. I have 6 other coaches that are all certified that help out. We have no trouble filling up classes with kids from 8 yrs old to 12 yrs old.We do 2 7 week courses every year in Spring and Fall.Can't shoot in winter because we don't have a place to shoot inside, wish we did. Would be able to fill more classes and teach if we did have a place to shoot. When we finish class after 7 weeks my kids have no place to go to continue their archery fun. I cant speak for other parts of the country but here in Alabama they don't have but a few shoots to compete in. All of our archery clubs only have competitions and they are 5 or 6 a year for traditional shooters.There are no NFAA ranges to my knowledge left in Al,and even BHA our state orginization is the same way(No place to practice shooting)the WL&F have placed ranges all over the state, but most are on state owned lands or state parks that cost alot for a family to go and shoot.$5 for adults $3 for kids and $2 for seniors. That can get into a 20.00 bill pretty quick for a afternoon of shooting for a family of 5. And they dont keep the targets up. Also you will neeed a hunting lic or fishing lic to shoot or sign your autograph when Mr.Greenjeans shows up .But it is what it is.We just dont have any clubs that have property to even keep targets on.Times have changed here in Alabama. I belong to ASTB and we have several kids that shoot in our competitions, but we don't have a special range set for them or any kind of instruction to teach them the right things about archery and what and what not to do during our competitions.Most people are like me,they bring their grand kids or kids and let them tag along and shoot. The future of archery is our kids and this cell phone generation is in competition with it.Plus all the other things like baseball,fishing, basketball, football ,and many other sports and things that keep kids busy. I wish it was different I know our kids that take our beginning course love to shoot. Its a way that some kids that aren't as athletic as their friends and siblings can compete and do really well. Love to see a kid progress from just barley being able to pull the bow back to hitting in the 9 and 10 ring after 7 weeks. We are doing our best at our church to teach Godly principals along with archery to a generation that is busy busy!

Brought my boy to Cloverdale this year. He had a blast!

our club has a winter league that is filled with kids and we turn no one away, we are busy....... 4h shoots for competition are packed,,,,,,

as far as the recurve its the Olympic style that they like, which is just fine,,,,,,,

as far as trad, ask them if they would like to try,,,,, I have seen a lot of young men, who have evolved into shooting trad, from just plain expanding their archery involvement, or curious and want to try

biggest turn off, is the "religion" crowd, you know the type, putting down other methods, etc etc,,,, that gets so old, and does not encourage newer archers into shooting trad

I am fortunate that my kids enjoy 3d shooting with me.

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