ABOUT NABC
A historic National Bowhunting Summit meeting of North America'sstate and provincial-level bowhunting organizations was held in
Springfield, Missouri April 17-18, 2005. A follow-up Summit convened
August 6-7, 2005 at the Pope and Young Club's headquarters in
Chatfield, Minnesota. It was at the August 2005 Summit that the 41
representatives from 33 state and provincial organizations formed the
North American Bowhunting Coalition (NABC).
The two Summit meetings were held for the purpose of sharing
information and strategies on a variety of important bowhunting
issues. As the result of the highly productive interactions among the
attending bowhunting leaders, it became apparent that there was a
very real need for a communications network and organizational
structure whereby state and provincial organizations could effectively
work together to provide strong support for the welfare of bowhunting
throughout the United States and Canada. The NABC will fulfill
this role.
All state and provincial-level bowhunting organizations are
entitled to be part of the NABC by virtue of their status as a state
or provincial-level bowhunting group. All coalition organizations have
bowhunting as their primary focus. Three national bowhunting groups
are also part of the NABC - the Pope and Young Club, Professional
Bowhunters Society, and Compton Traditional Bowhunters.
Approximately 80 organizations comprise the NABC.
North America's bowhunting traditions are being pulled in multiple
directions by diverse factors such as demographic change,
urbanization, loss of available hunting land, the anti-hunting
movement, competition with other leisure time activities, the
commercialization of hunting, and a societal structure that is
increasingly disconnected from the natural world. The social
environment today is constantly challenging the very fabric of
bowhunting's heritage and creates escalating perils. The North
American Bowhunting Coalition's challenge is to bring the state,
provincial and national bowhunting organizational parties together,
utilizing its collective strength to work on the various issues as a
strong and cohesive group, taking an active lead in managing
bowhunting's destiny. Maintaining an effective communications network for the
bowhunting organizations is a primary, and vitally important,
function of the NABC.An e-mail link-up of all the NABC groups has
been established that enables them to share information in an
effective and immediate way so they can directly benefit from
the knowledge of their peers. A major thrust of the NABC is to
provide support for the organizations so they can be as effective
as possible in addressing various bowhunting issues, the majority
of which are formulated and decided at the state/provincial level.
The NABC communications network serves to provide the mechanism
whereby the groups do not have to "reinvent the wheel" in
addressing issues that other states already have experienced.
The NABC organizational structure consists of a steering committee
with an NABC chairman, a facilitator, and regional chairmen
representing four geographical areas. The NABC's mission statement: The North American Bowhunting Coalition, comprised of state,
provincial and national bowhunting organizations, works on behalf of
current and future generations of bowhunters to promote, preserve
and defend the ideals of bowhunting. The NABC will proactively
maintain a strong voice through an effective communications link,
organized structure and definitive strategies on important
bowhunting issues. ########