NASCAR and Archery at the Glen

The Victory Junction Gang Camp enriches the lives of children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses by providing life-changing camping experiences that are exciting, fun and empowering, in a safe and medically sound environment. This camp was founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty, in honor of their son Adam. Victory Junction Gang Camp sits on 72 beautiful, hard wood acres in North Carolina, the acreage having been donated by Richard and Lynda Petty. Victory Junction Gang Camp operates year round solely on donations, working with children, ages 7 to 15. To find out more about the camp and how you can help, please visit victoryjunction.org.

The event started for us on Wednesday August 6th, as we proudly hauled in our Shooting Team trailer through check in and security and on into the infield at Watkins Glen. One really cool note: I got to bump draft Junior's trailer into the infield. The rig driver wasn't too pleased, but hey, how many times in life are you going to get that kind of opportunity? After passing Junior's trailer on the outside we moved into position and started to unload. Within a few hours we were set up and ready to sight in our crossbows and make sure the targets would handle the youth archery arrows. As we made our final preparations other manufacturers, sponsors, etc. from the infield area were drawn to the sounds of arrows pounding targets and anxious to give our new archery equipment a try. We spent the rest of Wednesday shooting and talking with our new neighbors. The early positive responses from our friends set the stage for what would become a great weekend of shooting and getting to know thousands of hunters from this region.

The next 3 days were a blur of activity. Shooting, pulling arrows and teaching. What an awesome experience to introduce so many North Eastern hunters to our products, while raising money for a well deserving charity. Folks shooting our products ranged from 7 years old to 70 years old, and they all could shoot! I gotta tell you guys, there are some outright shooters in this region. Matched with great product and of course the expert direction of this here Native Texan, we had a recipe for some dead critters working at the Glen. I will say that I was somewhat concerned heading into this event as I have been reminded repeatedly from folks in the industry that New York State hunters do not want the crossbow in their woods. It seems most of this rhetoric is coming from one group in particular that claims to have the pulse of the hunters that reside in this region.

I am not really sure where those boys are taking this so called "pulse" from, but after talking with so many hunters from this region, I am left to assume they are spending some time in graveyards. Over 3,000 race fans and hunters spent time with us in the shooting trailer, talking archery, shooting arrows and telling hunting stories. Only 1 guy was against the crossbow. Let me say that again, 1 guy, not 1 percent, not 1 big group, ONE GUY. Instead of the projected mass of hunters this group claims to have on their side of the fence, we met first hand a large number of hunters that talked about the desire to introduce their kids to archery via the crossbow. They also wanted to get their Dads back in the sport as well as other aging archers in their family. Time and time again the responses were along those lines: missed opportunities for hunters in this region, simply because one anti-hunting group keeps caterwauling from their side of the fence. I say anti-hunting, because in my mind, if you want to take away our freedom of choice, then you are anti-hunting. Not to mention the simple fact that State revenue dollars leave here each season to head to Ohio, Pennsylvania and many other states accepting of the crossbow. Hunter retention is way down in New York State, as is the revenue stream so desperately needed to run the DEC. Keep in mind folks that this is the same group that somehow managed to LOSE time in the woods this upcoming season for NY archery hunters. Now that right there is political clout for you sports fans. Nicely done boys, maybe a better approach would be to see hunter introduction, retention, and revenue dollars for the NY DEC as more pressing matters than protecting only your way of shooting arrows. When asked to pick a side of the fence, I am with NASCAR Nation on this one: let hunters choose the archery equipment they want to shoot arrows with - period.

To that point, a big THANKS and a big tip of this Texan's hat goes to all race fans for their support of a worthy charity, and a spectacular event. See you all down the road, and until then, look sharp and shoot straight.