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Purely, Proudly, Simply Traditional….. Keeping Traditions Alive- the Rendezvous Experience, Mentoring…and Giving Back One of our personal favorites, the Chamberlin Ranch Rendezvous annual charity event has come to a close, but not without great pride and a sense of accomplishment. This year was with out a doubt the best yet for the Traditional Bowhunters of California, with just under 300 shooters that came to enjoy shooting their traditional equipment and dry camping under the stars on one of the most beautiful ranches in Central California in the Santa Ynez Valley. Each year owner Fred Chamberlin and his lovely wife Johanna graciously provide their emerald green rolling hills, blanketed with blue lupines and majestic oaks to our event. Having our fourth year under our belts, and with the result of a lot of heart and soul (and sweat!), the Traditional Bowhunters of California is proud to announce the donation of $10,000 to the children's charity organization the Hunt of a Lifetime. This of course would not have been possible without the continuing support through attendance, special donations, and the great friends who come to help set up the courses and work the event, a week in advance from a days drive away. It is this kind of support that is the glue of our sport and our success. Traditional archers by far in our opinion are the most down to earth, generous, hard working group of archers and friends we are privileged to know. As many of you may have noticed, traditional bow shooters are most often the work horses of their own home archery clubs and we hope they are considered as important an asset to those clubs as we feel these guys have been to us. These archers belong to many different clubs and they continue to travel many miles to support the Traditional Bowhunters of California, my husband and myself and the Hunt of a Lifetime Organization. We are proud to have them as members and as friends. The Hunt of a Lifetime Organization is a nationwide non-profit organization that grants hunting and fishing adventures to youngsters 21 and under who have been diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. Started by an energetic, generous and undaunted mother Tina Pattison of Pennsylvania because her step-son's dream hunt couldn't be granted when the Make a Wish Foundation decided to side with PETA and they would not grant any wish to hunt for any youngsters. Some more profound logic from PETA: “Please wear tofu shoes”. Are they kidding? Can someone tell me why our creator made animals out of meat and leather if he didn’t want us to use them? And more recently we have heard the Make a Wish Foundation may drop fishing for these kids from their program because of PETA’S new “Fish are friends, not food” and “Look, not hook” movement …get real. Don’t these guys know how many critters meet their demise when wheat is harvested so they can be vegan? And the movement to ban all stadium hotdogs? No more cats and dogs as pets? Now that’s downright un-american. Hey, and picture those “tofu” seats in your new Ford Truck, now you’re really “stylin”. So due to these moronic decisions on their part, it wasn't hard for us to know that the Hunt of a Lifetime Organization was the choice for us to donate the profits from the Chamberlin Ranch Rendezvous. Tina, the president and founder flew out to our event this April to speak with the shooters to give a little insight as to what they are about. We were honored to have her there. She was also a great asset to our event this year, jumping right in to lend a hand to help ease the load on us behind the scenes due to the amount of shooters we had. We are proud more recently to have been accepted as the California Ambassadors to Hunt of a Lifetime and hope we can continue to help them with their worthy efforts for these kids along with the other members of H.O.A.L. who are all volunteers for this great cause. You can visit them at www.huntofalifetime.org This bowshooting event held every April rain or shine, has developed into an ever popular fun filled traditional rendezvous and enjoyably competitive 3-D tournament that brings families and shooters from as far away as Hawaii, Wyoming, Oregon, Montana, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and even Florida. This is a 2 day archery event but only if you are simply interested in the 3-D competition which starts on Saturday morning and finishes on Sunday afternoon. There are re-entry’s like the ever popular Last Man Standing, the Broadhead Challenge, the Battle Clout, with others being planned for Saturday afternoon. Many raffles are running including a special children’s raffle for free, hunt raffles, custom bow raffles, and a great general raffle. Plenty of good food is available all weekend long. Many of us are there a week in advance, working, visiting and stump shooting a little of course! Anyone is welcome that early as well to enjoy the scenery, the company and the relaxing atmosphere before all the festivities begin. There will be few simple novelty courses set up for the early arrivals such as the boogie board course and a night shoot is planned as well as a new 3-D practice course for 2006. We are thinking of a “Smoker Round”. We noticed how anxious many were to shoot the 3 courses before Saturday’s competition, so we will provide them with a new 3-D practice course to enjoy and hone their skills until they exhaust themselves (These guys don't really need any honing, they just have to shoot, I think it's some sort of addiction…It’s alright, we totally understand guys, (as long as it's on the new practice course.) In the last few years this shoot has evolved into just as much of a Rendezvous as it has a 3-D event. These “Rendezvous” are an important way to promote the sport and we hope to see more of these throughout the country if we are truly interested in preserving these traditions. Selfbow makers, flint knappers, knife makers, carvers, falconers, leather craftsman, arrow makers, jewelry designers, atlatlists and others, set up and show those who attend how their craft is done. You can scrape a bow right there with the expert guidance of people like Master Bowyer Tim Baker of the Traditional Bowyers Bible books, and other talented notables such as Dick Baugh an expert instructor of Primitive Skills and renowned Jim Winn who was most recently featured in the 2005 Flintknapping Calendar, Tom Mills, a very well practiced and knowledgeable expert on the Prehistoric and Primitive crafts formerly the president of the World Atlatl Association and Master Crafter Joe Girtner, retired college professor, knife maker, decoy and wood carver, jewelry designer and budding banjo picker. Many of them donate their artwork to our raffle which is very much appreciated especially the merit of the donators. This rendezvous atmosphere is something we are most excited about because it is these craftsman and artists who take the time to come out and try to ignite their passion in others. This is a valuable and important step in keeping these old traditions alive. If we aren't vigilant about passing on these traditions, they will slowly die away into the memories of the old timers and the ones lucky enough to have been a part if it. We thank those who are "the Mentors" and welcome them to our family and our event each year. Our Venders list grows each year as well, with many coming from several states away such as Valley Traditional Archery Supplies from Colorado, we all certainly appreciate it. Many custom bowyers attend each year and many of them continue to donate a custom bow to our bow raffle to help us raise money. Tim Meigs, a California Archery Hall Fame inductee, attends, shoots and donates a bow each and every year to many different events, as does Bill Price …Other donations of recurves, longbows and selfbows from our bowyer friends include Joel Haslett, Jeff Mitchell, Tom Mills, Willie Abat, and David Weaver, and of course Vince Grgas. We thank them…. the list keeps growing! A special thanks this year to Alain Tardif and the Leaf River Lodge in Canada for their very generous donation of a V.I.P. Caribou Hunt to our raffle for the Hunt of a Lifetime, to Cedar Canyon Ranch for continuing to donate a Russian boar hunt and Tejon Ranch for their prior pig hunts donated. As we have said before, this is what Traditional Archery is all about. The selfless, generous acts of kindness are what we have come to know in traditional archers , wherever we go. We are proud to be traditional, to be about the friends, the unique camaraderie, the lure of the bow, the history, the handcrafted equipment, shooting and for most of us hunting with our handcrafted traditional equipment. We are not about the money, the sponsors, nor the politics we see in other clubs. We are all here for what we feel are the right reasons, to mentor, promote and support bowhunting, traditional archery, and to give back to further the sport we are most passionate about. We are purely, proudly, simply traditional……and loving it! You guys are missing something if you don’t get out there and attend these types of events in your area and beyond. We are happy to see more of them these days. They will give you the best impression as to what traditional archery, bowhunting, and the people and the related crafts are all about. The families who gather there are friendly, share the same passions for bowhunting and enjoy sharing their knowledge in hopes that all who are touched by it get involved more in the sport and kindle the interest in others and their children. If you are interested in attending the Chamberlin Ranch Rendezvous next April 1-2, 2006 contact Traditional Bowhunters of California (Cathy or Vince Grgas) 310-548-0968 email tbc@tbcarchery.com. Website: www.TBCarchery.com. (new website -so be patient as we develop!) Get us your info for our mailing list database (preferred method) and we will send you a flyer in late January of 2006 so you can pre-register before the deadline. You can also print out a pre-registration form or flyer (not available until later this year for the 2006 event)
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