34th Annual Arziona Bowhunters Association Banquet

The 34th annual Arizona Bowhunters Association Fund Raising & Awards Banquet is scheduled for February 16, 2013. This banquet will be held at Windmill Suites in Chandler, located at 3535 E. Chandler Blvd Chandler, AZ. The tickets are $65 per person and include and open beer and wine bar. Corporate tables are available for $650 and include 10 dinner tickets and $300 dollars in raffle tickets. The doors will open at 4:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:00 p.m. Upon conclusion of dinner the remainder of the evening will be filled with awards presentations, raffles, silent auction items and live auction items. Once again this year we will be auctioning off the special commissioner tags for Black Bear, Buffalo and Javelina. As always we will have several top of the line bows and guns that will be auctioned or given away in raffles or blitzes. Please do not forget to fill out your application for your ABA awards. We love to recognize the archery feats of our children, so please do not forget to fill out awards applications for the kids. Arizona Bowhunters Association Banquet February 16, 2013 Windmill Suites at Chandler Fashion Center 3535 W. Chandler Blvd. ~ Chandler, AZ 85226 Other Upcoming Events Internation Sportsmans Expo February 21-24, 2013 University of Phoenix Stadium Arizona Game and Fish Expo March 23-24, 2012

2012 Bowhunter Happening

A huge thank you to all that helped and attended the 2012 Bowhunter Happening. We had around 1000 shooters again this year. The shoot went very smoothly and everyone seemed to have a great time. It is really fun seeing all the new shooters, kids and families out shooting together, this is what the Bowhunter Happening is all about. We had a great turn out and the vendors looked like they were busy as well. We ended up having 8 courses including the Paul Line Big Bear Course which is always a huge hit with the 8 and under crowd. The long shot and the 5 target speed course were fun to watch as well. We are already planning for next year and we hope to keep making the Bowhunter Happening bigger and better. Here are some pictures from the shoot.

Big Bear!

100+ yard long shot

Long shot target.

Hoyt Carbon Element Raffle Winner

Vortex 15X Bino Winner

Sunday Service with the Desert Christian Archers

Picking out trophies

Thank you for coming and we look forward to seeing you next year.

McDowell Mountain Park Archery Hunting Meeting

There has been some talk that the city of Scottsdale/McDowell Mountain Park commission is considering putting a stop to archery hunting within the 22,000 acre McDowell Mountain Park.  Members from the Arizona Bowhunters Association showed up to speak for Bowhunters.  Several people spoke on behalf of Bowhunters and did a great job.  I think we made a good impression.  Here is video of the speeches made by Darr Colburn and Randy Philips with the ABA.  This is what the ABA does for Bowhunters behind the scenes.

2012 Bowhunter Happening at Mormom Lake

Free Elk Hunting Seminar

Hosted by The Desert Christian Archers

June 19th 2012 – Doors open @ 6:00pm, Seminar @ 7:00pm Admission is free (Donations accepted) Guest Speaker: Corky Richardson (Corky is one of the best known elk hunters in the nation) Raffles - Door Prizes - Auctions - Food/Refreshments (Bring a non-perishable/canned food item to be entered into a special raffle, one ticket per item) This seminar is geared toward all weapon types: Rifle - Bow - Muzzle Loader Where: Calvary Community Church - 12612 N. Black Canyon Hwy Fellowship Hall - (West side of campus) - Phoenix, AZ - 85029 (South of Thunderbird on the South bound I-17 Access Road) Sponsored/Hosted by: More info: 602-909-3600

AZGFD Commission Meeting April 2012

Lots of People have asked the question what does the Arizona Bowhunters Association do?  The ABA fights for the rights of Arizona Bowhunters.  We attended the Arizona Game and Fish Department Commission Meeting on April 14, 2012.  This meeting was the hunt numbers recommendation meeting for deer, sheep, fall javelina, bear, mountain lion and small game.  The Game and Fish was proposing to make units 3A/3C a draw for the August-September archery hunt.  The board of the Arizona Bowhunters Association voted to try and lobby the Game and Fish Commission to keep the archery deer hunt in 3A/3C an over the counter permit instead of a draw.  The commission ultimately decided to make 3A/3C a draw but after listening to the arguments of the ABA increased the proposed tags from 125 to 200.  Please watch the video from the meeting to see what the ABA does.  If you are a bowhunter in Arizona the Arizona Bowhunters Association needs you!  Please get involved in some way whether it is becoming a member, volunteering time, making a donation or by coming to the ABA events.  Please contact Darr Colburn if you would like to get involved darrcolburn@aol.com

Arizona Game & Fish Expo

The Arizona Game and Fish Department put on their annual Outdoor Expo this weekend.  This is a great event.  The Arizona Game and Fish Department does a great job of trying to get people involved in the outdoors.  It was great seeing all the families with their kids out at this expo.  The Arizona Bowhunters Association had a booth promoting archery and the upcoming ABA events like the Banquet and Bowhunter Happening.  We sold quite a few raffle tickets for the Hoyt Carbon Matrix bow.  We are selling 100 tickets for $20 each and will be doing the drawing for the bow at the banquet on April 14.  If you are headed to the Expo tomorrow come by the booth and say hello.  If you are interested in getting involved with the Arizona Bowhunters Association please get a hold of us, we would love to have your help. carlschottel@gmail.com or darrcolburn@aol.com         Here are a few more pictures from the expo.

Javelina Hunt & Outdoor Fair

Here are a few pictures from the Javelina hunt the Arizona Bowhunters Association, Outdoor Experience for All and the Arizona Game and Fish put on. There was a great turnout and a big thank you to all who participated and volunteered.

AZGFD Rule changes for the Minimum Draw Weight for Bows

The Arizona Bowhunters Association worked with the Arizona Game and Fish to get this change for the minimum draw weight.  The changes reads "Bows with a standard pull of 30 or more pounds".  This applies to all the big game species with the exception of Buffalo.  Here is a link to the revised regulations.  Look under R12-4-304 pages 118 & 119. 

Upcoming ABA Events

-First we will be co-hosting the Javelina Hunt and Outdoor Fair in the Prescott area on Feb 24-26 with AZGFD and Outdoor Experience for All. We already have quite a few participants signed up and the advertising is still to come. If you would like to lend a hand with this event please contact us for more information.

-Second we will be at the AZGFD Outdoor Expo March 31-April 1st. We are working on the details for this event. The last few years we have worked with Desert Christian Archers and ran a short walking archery course with 3-d animals. It is amazing how many people we put thru this course and how many say it was the best activity they participated in. We always need volunteers for this also so once again if you are interested please contact us for information.

-Next is the annual ABA Awards Banquet. It will be held at the Phoenix Mountain Preserve April 14th. If you haven't attended one of these banquets you should try and attend. Our banquet chairman has made some changes and promises to have some great stuff in the raffles and more fun than ever! For those of you who don't know about the awards, you fill out a form on animals you harvested with your bow from the previous year and you receive plaques for your trophy room. The only catch is you have to be a member.   Which is easy enough, you either attended the banquet or the Bowhunter Happening last year or signed up. Please check the website in the coming weeks for more information and the downloadable awards application.

- This year's Bowhunter Happening has a tentative date July 20-22 at Morman Lake. If you didn't make last year's put it on the calendar for this year you don't want to miss it. We are expecting a lot of vendors again this year. It looks like the Flagstaff archers will set the courses for us again this year so expect some great course layouts.