Memories of the Consolidated Sportsmen Susquehanna Bowmen of Lycoming County
By Terry Early
Susquehanna Bowmen was formed by members of Consolidated Sportsmen of Lycoming County (CSLC) to practice archery for deer season and also to be ablee to shoot Field Archery. They established a practice range and also a Field and Hunter range in the woods across the road on the mountain. The practice range was set with yardage from 10 to 80 yards. The Field and Hunter range was set up to shoot from 10 to 80 yards through the woods. The target butts were built by the members out of wood and they used straw bales which were wrapped with wire. With the introduction of the compound bows the straw bales would no longer keep the arrows from passing through. The next step was to use excelsior bales which were made for packaging and could be bound with steel bands to make them tight enough to hold the arrows. The only problem with that was that during the summer water had to be applied to the bales to make them tight again. The next material used as celotex that needed to be cut down from 4' x 8' sheets to fit the butts. This required a lot of work to keep the course up.
Equipment had changed drastically from the time the Club was formed until today. The original bow styles that were used were the Long Bow, Straight Bow and Recurve Bow. The archers did not use sights on their bows and they used cedar arrows that they made themselves with feather fletching. Over time Bear archery introduced the compound bow, which was a major change in archery. This led to the introduction of sights and stabilizers. Originally fingers were utilitzed as the releases using either a glove or finger tabs. The next advancement was the use of mechanical releases in many different styles. With the introduction of the Compound Bow the draw weight increases and the power also increased. Now shooting between 50 and 60 pounds of draw weight and arrow speed of up to over 300 feet per second meant that wooden shafts could no longer be safely used. Easton was the first company to produce aluminum arrows in a variety of sizes and weights. Next was the introduction of the Crossbow both for target archery and also for hunting. This was a totally new system that reduced the length of the arrow to the new Bolt. The increased usage of the Crossbow for hunting also reduced the number of shooters that were shooting target archery, however they still needed a place to sight in their Crossbows and to practice. Crossbows now allowed younger shooters to be able to Archery Hunt. This also allowed older hunters and those with disabilities who were not able to draw the heavy bow weights to be able to hunt archery deer season using the Crossbow.
Soon competition archery became popular. Other clubs in the area participated and they started to shoot Field and Hunter courses for Competition. Susquehanna Bowmen joined the State Archery Organization and the PSSA. The state was divided into regions for the State Shoots. Susquehanna Bowmen was part of the North Central Region. There were ten clubs that held weekly competitions at the selected club for each shoot. The State Shoots would be held at selected clubs and all PSAA members would shoot competition at that club. The State Target Shoot was held at Shippensburg College for many years. When it could no longer be held there it was moved to Indian Park in Montoursville for several years. This shoot was shot on the Olympic style large round targets. The State Field & Hunter shoot was held at Mechanicsburg and Hollidaysburg. The State Indoor shoot was held at the Farm Show Building in Harrisburg.
In the late 70's and the 80's Susquehanna Bowmen had a team of between 10 and 18 shooters that shot competition on Sunday and at the Regional and State shoots. The club was well represented when the Awards were given out. The same group would also shoot the Bow Hunter Festival each year at Forksville and then they would also have a competition among themselves. Rewards were given out to the shooters with the top scores. As time went on and JD archery became popular the number of shooters reduced. As members interest in archery became less the amount of work to keep the course in shape became a problem. Eventually over time the Club was disbanded and the Range was used for practice prior to Archery Deer Season.
A presentation was given to the Board of Directors to re-establish the club. The decision was to move the location from where it was to the field that was at one time used for 22 silhouettes. This gives CSLC control over those who are using the archery range and to ensure that only members were shooting on CSLC range. The investment was made to purchase new butts and also new bales. Although Field and Hunter has not be reestablished CSLC members now have a place to shoot Archery again.