Tournament Director’s Summary: Needless to say, those that did not attend this event missed out. The attendance was record setting and the weather was as good as it gets this time of year. By all those that made comments, they said it was a very good layout and challenging. We had about 26 newbies this year and by all indications, they said they would return.
I personally would like to thank everyone that pitched in to make this event such a success. Some spent Saturdays helping out, others one day and countless others several hours of their time – all is very much appreciated BECAUSE it is YOUR tournament. An old Amish saying: “Many hands make light work!” Every year I am amazed that it takes about 100 people hours to set up this field and ONLY two hours to take it down. You have to see this to believe it. All new records were broken as FITA changed the target scoring. The “X” ring in the center of the yellow is now scored as a 6 instead of a 5-X. An ATTABOY goes to Mike DeBord for not only spending a Friday helping out but sacrificing both Saturday and Sunday to assist scoring, carrying bows and pulling archers up and downs hills for a special group of people.
The True family spent two entire Saturdays in preparation for this event. Kudos also goes to Mike, Tom, Bruce, Greg, Rod and I hope I didn’t forget anyone. Thanks to T.J., Brandi, Denise and Lu for doing registration and miscellaneous paperwork.
And we couldn’t do anything without Nolan Blaschke for allowing us to play at his property for the last seven years. And I couldn’t do any of this without the help of co-director John Blaschke.
The highlight of the event was early Friday morning while setting up. I was taking care of details when I spotted movement in the underbrush. Upon closer examination, I saw a baby goat, less than 12 hours old. It was born the evening before and was curled in a tight little ball. He raised its head to look at me and I stroked its nose. That made my whole weekend. That photo will be in the gallery soon to be on the webpage with the rest of the photos.
Gaylon Blankenship traveled 6 ½ hours from Oklahoma for the sixth time in seven years. Seven archers trekked in from Shreveport, La. Tim Mundo from England (currently working in Houston) competed with world class scores in preparation for the NAA nationals and a repeat berth on the British National Team to compete at the upcoming World Field Championship. Adam Guggisberg, Clayton DeBord, and Kayla DeBord made it seven for seven. Meagan and Mark Lesak shot one day so that makes 6 ½ years out of seven.
The opening ceremony was unique as music to the Star Spangled Banner was superbly provided by Rachael and Heather Trafford. To those not familiar with field shooting, archers are formed into groups of 3-4 and sent to an assigned target on the course. At a predesignated time, a signal is provided to start competition. This is called a “Shotgun” start. Variations include an air horn, or car horn, or fireworks etc.
This year, a 200-pound cannon started the event. Anyone within 100 yards could feel the earth shake and sound concussion AND set off car alarms in the parking lot.
And as always, please send any edits, deletions or corrections to me and I will get it fixed as soon as possible. Thank you and see you again next year. Rick Stonebraker
2008 TSAA STATE FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP
Round
SAT
Round
SUN
1st
2nd
total
3rd
4th
total
TOTAL
Master 70+ Compound Gentlemen
Morgan, Don
128
124
252
154*
142
295*
548*
Master 60+ Compound Gentlemen
Meyers, Tom
185*
169
354*
171
170
341
695*
Master 60+ Barebow Gentlemen
Frizzell, Mike
120
126
246
136
137*
273*
519*
Master 50+ Barebow Gentlemen
Knowlton, Virgil
59*
39
98*
48
40
88
186*
Master 50+ Compound Gentlemen
Blankenship, Gaylon
184
168
352
185*
183
368*
720*
Locke, Richard
176
156
332
177
168
345
677
Anika, Larry D.
117
101
218
131
121
252
470
Master 50+ Recurve Gentlemen
Petrosky, Greg
102
103*
205*
103
70
173
378*
Norm McCord
80
90
170
95
67
162
332
Senior Recurve Ladies
Meyers, Teresa
143
142
285
149*
138
287*
572*
Senior Compound Ladies
True, Lannette
143
139
282
155*
143
298*
580*
Senior Compound Gentlemen
Guggisberg, Adam
194
183
377
193
196*
389*
766*
Loesch, James
174
170
344
180
193
373
717
Scroggins, John
174
175
349
185
175
360
709
Human, Joseph
169
157
326
179
182
361
687
Kennedy, Kelly
163
172
335
172
180
352
687
True, Andy
153
165
318
179
177
356
674
Human, Joe
133
148
281
150
159
309
590
Hemphill, Kenneth (Guest)
170
171
341
184
177
361
702
Crutcher, Byron (Guest)
135
121
256
143
131
274
530
Senior Recurve Gentlemen
Bateman, Bubba
150
152
302*
147
155*
302
604*
Hojnacki, Mike
135
133
268
136
138
274
542
Jones, Bobby
137
114
251
129
143
272
523
Ringel, Ed
100
102
202
120
117
237
439
Senior Barebow Ladies
Trafford, LiPing
109
118*
227*
80
93
173
400*
Senior Barebow Gentlemen
Trafford, Skip
150*
149
299*
148
137
285
584*
Mundon, Tim (Guest)
171
169
340
148
155
303
643
Note: The scores shot by LiPing Trafford, Skip Trafford and Tim Mundon on Saturday denote an official unmarked round according to FITA rules.
Despite being bit on Friday by a red wasp that dropped into my shirt, getting poison oak/ivy on my arms/legs, accidentally standing too long on an ant mound, minor sun burn, some wind burn and a few mosquito bites, the 25th annual TSAA State Field Championship went off with only a minor glitch or two. And all the above happened to me! The temperature was held in check by a wind that played havoc on the archers but this hardy bunch of TSAA folks managed to shoot and have fun. You never know what is going to happen at the State Field when it is staged at the Blaschke Deer Farm. After many, many hours of preparation setting up the field, three days before the event, a torrential downpour dropped 6-8 inches of water in the area and the course had to be changed at the last minute. Fortunately this only involved 6 or 7 targets. There was a good-side bad-side to this rain. The bad side was it blocked the only two roads/trails from target 24 that leads back to the staging area. The good side was the shuttle ride took the archers through the high fence area where John and Victor supplied the kids with corn to through alongside the road. This brought some of the exotic deer as close as 20 feet for some spectacular photos of Axis, Fallow, Sika, Elk, Elan and others. Tom Barker provided a trailer with custom 2×6 benches that made the shuttle runs a classy operation. Photos to follow on the Barker Bodacious Bench Bus.
Many thanks go to proprietor Nolan Blaschke for hosting us the last six years and to my co-director John. Thanks goes to the volunteers and helpers who come out on the work days to help set stuff up. These work days are not all work so make it a point to come out next year and have some fun mixed in. Adam Guggisberg, Kelly Kennedy, Mike Hojnacki, Ron Harder, Tom Barker, made up the work crew and of course John spends as many countless days out there as I do. Greg gets the gold star this year as he spent three whole days working. I even coerced a co-worker, Jerry Steward, to help me a full day as he will ride his motorcycle anywhere on a nice day. He was amazed as what is involved in a field shoot.
The family prize and the longest distance traveled goes to the Trafford family. Don Morgan survived quite well at 69 yrs 8 months. The youngsters were Heather Barthels at 9 years and little Hardy Trafford at 7 years and Miriam Trafford at 8. So, this event is for the young and young at heart. Join us next year.
Rick Stonebraker, TSAA President
and from co-organizer and squire of the land upon which this event is staged:
For All,
Many thanks to all the smiling faces that made it out again this year. I am very thankful for all of the new people that I had an opportunity to make friends with and the reuniting of all my old friends. I have a hypothesis that I’m promoting to a theory, there is no such thing as a bad archer; every year this is proven true because you all are such wonderful individuals. I am anxiously looking forward to next year. I would like to extend a personal invitation to everyone to please come back again, and I would hope to see some more new people and hopefully a few more returning for those unfortunate enough who could not return this year.
Unfortunately for the reality in life, for everything good, there is also the bad. In Field Archery we have the winners and we have losers. I think it is safe to say that everybody that attended can call themselves a winner. For the deer that didn’t have a trailer driving by every 15 minutes and those throwing out bushels of corn, those poor fellas (deer) are definitely losers today. In spite of that, don’t you know they were feeling happy last night with a belly full of corn?
Thanks everybody!
John Blaschke
PS from Rick:
Congrats to Adam for blistering the course with a magnificent 701 out of 720, despite the inconsistent winds!
May 13-14, 2006 As always, a special thanks to Nolan Blaschke for allowing all of us to have fun on his exotic deer ranch. Many thanks to my co-TD John Blaschke for all his tireless efforts in making this a success. A special thanks to all those who came out and lent a hand in setting up the field – some came out more than once. Thanks goes to: Tom Barker, Greg Petrosky, Ron Harder, Steve Jurek, Mike Holman, Victor Legler, Ken and Lou Eilers, Norm McCord, Dale Garner, Deidra Dufault, and to Janet Lesak and Kathy Adams for doing the administrative work on the day of the event. If I forgot anyone, send me a note and jog my memory as any omissions were unintentional.
Thanks to the Colorado County JOAD club for creating T-shirts for the event. This was a first ever and there are several shirts still available. They are really cool as they display the archery course on the back of the shirt to insure that no one could possible get lost on the course. Contact Janet Lesak.
Shirt Graphics:
Front:
Back:
The weather cooperated and it was dry. It was also hot and it was windy, very windy. One of the very few field shoots that has wind affecting the scores. We will make an extra special effort to move this event away from Mothers Day next year. We normally have the state field two weeks following the Texas Shootout to allow for field set-up but if we have to go back-to-back weekends, then we will do so to allow the moms to have that day for themselves and give “permission” to the dads to come play archery.
When some of the kids send in their special stories from this years state field, we will add them to the report. In the meantime, I will add my funny moment.
Target #5 is an uphill 20 meter shot. I aimed at the upper left face. I set the site CORRECTLY but still managed to shoot the arrow OVER the target. Dale Garner said he could see it climb for as long as his eyes could see it. We briefly looked for it after scoring but another group was behind us. Later Saturday afternoon, due to the kindness of Richard Locke, Lynnette and Andy True, we went back to #5. Richard stood adjacent to the target, Andy was adjacent and part way down the hill and Annette hid behind target #6 down in the mud flats. I used an older ACE arrow with a hidden crack in it that I considered expendable. When I shot over the target, Richard dropped his raised hand to signal to Andy who did the same for Lynette and all three got a good bead on the flight of the arrow. Not only did it clear the near tree tops but went clean over a couple more tall trees on the far hill almost 150 yards away. There are many hollows out there and we combed them for over half an hour. Finally Andy gave a shout and we climbed up-and-down many hills and found the expensive X-10 shaft sticking in the side of the hill almost 375 yards away. We never bothered to look for the ACE arrow – maybe another day. Thanks to the three hardy archers who helped me find my “briefly” lost X-10.
As always, if anyone finds an error in the results, please let me know and I will fix it as soon as possible but I “tried” to interpret the hieroglyphic score cards as best I could.
Rick Stonebraker
From the peanut gallery:
Clayton shot at a gopher at (about target 17, neither of us can remember exactly where, I’m sure Tom can tell you exactly where.) He missed. However, Colby Hensel, shot and killed the gopher on Sunday, there is a (cross) tombstone at the site. Clayton shot and killed a gopher on Target 2 or there about on Sunday. We really enjoyed the course this year. Very enjoyable. A good way to enjoy Mother’s Day weekend with my kids!!!!
DeBord
zoomed:
I enjoyed the 2006 State Field Championship, especially getting to meet some really nice people. Getting to shoot with great archers like Debbie Krienke and Staten Holmes was a special treat. On Sunday towards the end of the day our foursome noticed something unusual. It looked like a prankster had placed a 3D target next to our target. But, since we were at Blaschke’s Exotic Deer Ranch we knew that there was another possibility. Sure enough, when Jordan Brown’s first arrow hit the 5 ring, the 3D target …er, the deer took off!
Note: The photo in the photo gallery shows an exotic deer standing right beside the target when the shot was taken. Norman McCord
2005 TSAA State Field Championship Eagle Lake, Texas
The state field was held on the Blaschke exotic deer ranch for the fourth consecutive year with 45 participants and was enjoyed by all, especially the youth. The weather was absolutely beautiful and windy as usual. John Blaschke and I were privileged once again to host this event to the enjoyment of everyone and we had a blast putting it together and tired bones to prove it. A record number of snakes (about a dozen) were observed. Two water moccasins were claimed by very accurate archers. Yours truly chased a chicken snake up a bush and you can see that photo in the gallery. Alligators were spotted before and during the tournament and one was active in a water hole that archers actually shot over, thank goodness no one lost an arrow in there.
A personal thanks to those who came out before, during and after the tournament to help make the event a success. All of your help was much appreciated as it is a big undertaking and could possibly be the only field event in the country or world where the whole course has to be set up and taken back down again. This is due to the hundreds of exotic deer that inhabit the range. Deer enjoy rubbing their antlers on the archery stands and knocking them over. Over the course of two weeks prior to the event, seven stands had to be re-set and four completely rebuilt. One stand was knocked completely off the hill landing on the top of a thorn tree. But the effort is worth it as long as everyone has fun.
A special thanks to Tom Barker for recruiting and bringing about 20 archers from the Victoria area. As a JOAD coach, the most common feedback he received from his archers when asked how they were shooting was, “I don’t know, but I sure am having fun.” For the South Texas Archery contingent, this was a two-day party that was occasionally interrupted by shooting arrows. Tom adds his personal thanks for all the adults that took some time to help a kid with their form or who patiently helped them pull arrows or work their score sheet.
See ya’ll again next year. Rick Stonebraker John and Rick
John Blashke adds: A special thanks to everybody for attending and supporting this event. I look forward to state field all year long. Yes it is true, there is an amazing amount of work and effort that goes into setting up this tournament, My hats off to all my friends who were stomping around in the bull nettles and burning grass and poison ivy who toughed it out with me to make the tournament a success. A very-very special thanks to all of those who were in attendance, the smiles and enjoyment I saw from all the tired and wore out souls from slipping and sliding up and down all those hills, the braving of snake and alligator infested waters, brings tears to my eyes that the alligators didn’t snatch up an archer. Several arrows were lost but we never lost an archer. Thanks everybody for coming out, it made every minute worth while. John Blaschke
NOTE: Due to the challenging nature of the Blaschke Deer Farm course, Rick has included a # to show course records for the Seniors and Masters only. All the Junior/Cadet/Cub/Bowman state records have been broken on the Deer Farm course as of 2002. Several Senior and Master records were set on flat field courses that probably will not get broken at the deer ranch but we would like to recognize those archers who shot exceptionally well. See also the state field records. Rick Stonebraker
2005 TSAA State Field Championship April 9-10 Eagle Lake, Texas
* Indicates a new record, # indicates course record
2004 TSAA State Field Summary by Tournament director, Rick Stonebraker
Wet, wild, and wonderful! Sounds like a day at Splashtown or some other water park. But it was just another exciting day on the field course. The weatherman predicted rain the weekend of May 1-2 and they were right on. The weekend before was actually worse as the field crew waited patiently all day long, looking for a break in the weather to set up the field course. It took a full two days to do what it normally takes in one day but fun was had by all. Preliminary work was done the previous weekends to help alleviate predicted weather.
On Friday, the field crew had a good day to set up the matts and do final preparation for the opening round on Saturday. The unmarked round on Saturday morning was cancelled due to the storm. Those who came for the unmarked and those who came early for the marked round, huddled together in the ranch house and watched the weather reports and satellite predictions. Others sat around playing cards and enjoying the camaraderie that only archers can do. A tornado touched down 20 miles north but you would have thought it set down closer as two of the tent canopies were destroyed.
The BBQ was moved from the ranch house to the new barn where there was plenty of room. The cooks did a great job with the elk roast this year. Those who mingled and ate in the barn had a great time just waiting out the weather. Starting time of 1:30 was delayed until 2:30 and the rain stopped. Only a few sprinkles for awhile but the weather held for the first day while everyone braved the winds and the pools of water at the lower level targets. TD Stonebraker sent multiple warnings during the week to bring rubber boots so those who heeded, bravely sloshed through the water to score and remove arrows. Those in shoes and sneakers waited for others to score or waded through the water but no one complained. The amazing part was the resiliency of archers who brave the elements and still have a good time shooting field. Several groups did not finish until 8 pm Saturday evening.
Sunday was met with a beautiful blue sky and mild temperatures but the winds never subsided. Stonebraker exclaimed in all the years he has shot archery (there have been a few), this was the windiest field shoot he could recall. This is the third consecutive year that the event was held at the Blaschke Exotic Deer Ranch and it was also the most exciting. A record 73 registered this year and only 10 no-shows so the attendance of 63 was still a record, topping the 59 from the year before. Which means – next year should be even better!
Additional comments:
David Gillis Adds: We just wanted to let all of you know that your hard work was appreciated. As we were driving from Seguin to Columbus on Saturday morning I told my van full of archers that it was a real shame all the work that was done to bring this thing off was sure to be wasted. This was while I was driving in a blinding thunder storm. I could not see ahead more than 30′. I pulled into the ranch and the pouring rain didn’t give me much hope. Being an officer in the TFAA I knew what it took to put this tournament together. But in my humble opinion the way it turned out was great. The range was in terrific shape, far better than anyone would have ever thought. This was due to the effort you guys put into it.
If archers want to have fun, I guess you just can’t stop ’em. We look forward to this tournament more and more every time we attend. We can’t wait until next year.
The Gillis family thanks you for your hard work. David, Chris, Kathy and Roxi
TSAA Prez Mike Hojnacki adds: After many years of shooting state and National Field courses, this one by far was the most fun and the most challenged that I have been to. It never amazes me how you can get different angles and different shooting pictures from just changing a stake by a foot or two. Some of those sky shots had me thinking I was launching to the Moon! And boy that wind was a great equalizer for most people, except Staten Holmes, this year’s recurve winner. I had the pleasure of shooting with him and let me tell you, the wind did not seem to bother him, or maybe he just said more prayers and got better wind conditions. Anyway, another great field shooting event, maybe we can bid for a National event one year? Just kidding….or maybe not…
Luis Martinez adds: We had a blast it was a very nice tournament an extremely challenging course and a very well organized competition…CONGRATULATIONS!
The DeBord Family Adds:
Even though I had 5 layers of clothes on Saturday, once again we all agree this is the most fun shoot of the year. The water and mud just made it a little more fun for all of the little boys this year!! Once again, a job well done! THANKS
