This week, archery is at the center of outdoors circles.
The proverbial bull’s-eye.
First, on Monday, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced that “local governments can apply for funds to develop, improve or rehabilitate public archery ranges through a program that makes grants of $5,000 to $25,000 available from the DNR.”
And, later Monday, Northland Outdoors staffers and archery types headed for Louisville, Ky., and the national Archery Trade Association Show, which begins Tuesday and runs through Thursday at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
Although both are of the archery realm, they’re from opposite ends of that spectrum — like, say, a public course and a country club in the golf world (former major championship host Valhalla Golf Club is, of course, just east of Louisville, and archers and golfers aren’t necessarily strangers).
The annual ATA trade show is the archery and bow hunting industry’s largest show, and also its most inclusive. A member-driven event meant to promote commerce with the archery and bow hunting industry, the show is owned and operated by the ATA and closed to the public.
Still, 9,500 attendees are expected for the 20th annual affair, with 615 exhibitors covering 229,000 square feet of booth space at the expo center. And while inclusive, Northland Outdoors will be on hand, providing information and insight at www.northlandoutdoors.com (and even Northland Outdoors Radio) throughout the event — and beyond: A number of new products of note at the show will be touted in Northland Outdoors Magazine, which debuts this spring. (To subscribe to the magazine for free, go to www.northlandoutdoors.com/subscribe/)
But, like the DNR archery grant program, the show also is about growing archery. According to the ATA website, the show generates net proceeds of more than $2 million to help bolster archery, bow hunting and the industry. Also according to the website, between 2012 and 2014, the number of archers and bow hunters in the country grew almost 15 percent, from 18.9 million participants to 21.6 million.
And that — to continue growing a growing sport — is the impetus of the DNR grant program, although at a grass-roots level. The program is only in its second year, a response to growing interest in archery and bow hunting, the DNR said. The agency went on to say that archery hunting license sales have seen an uptick in recent years, the DNR’s Archery in the Parks effort has been a success and hundreds of thousands of students have participated in the state’s National Archery in the Schools program over the last decade.
According to the DNR, “Work to build or improve archery ranges can include grading and site preparation, building backstops and safety berms, purchasing or replacing target frames and targets, installing bow racks and ground quivers, and installing safety signage and other features deemed essential to a safe and functional range.”
Like many DNR grants, it requires a dollar-for-dollar match. The DNR said a total of $100,000 is available until June 30, 2017, with all applications being scored and ranked and the successful applicants being announced this March. More information is available at www.mndnr.gov/grants/recreation/archery-range. Grant application packets also may be obtained by contacting Jay Johnson, DNR hunting recruitment and retention supervisor, at jay.johnson@state.mn.us.
“New archery ranges can be built with this grant, or existing ranges can be upgraded,” Johnson said. “Through this program, we hope to grow interest in archery, an activity that’s family friendly and increasingly popular.”
This week, the ATA Show — and, in turn, Northland Outdoors — can and will speak to that.