Traditional Bowhunters Club of Australia

[Jim]

I was reading an old American bowhunting mag from 2003 and a fella writing there reckoned he was here in Townsville when the "Traditional Bowhunters Club of Australia" was kicked off. He listed a contact at the end of article, an Al Kidner of Aitkenvale, QLD. I've never heard of this club (in 2003 I was running around SE QLD with a compound).

Does anyone know anything about it? I did a quick google and came up empty handed.

Jim

[Bill]

Hi Jim, can you please tell us the date and the name of the Magazine you have read the story about the Traditional Bow Hunter's Club of Australia. thanks,..........Bill.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Al is a top bloke, and while he might not be running a club, he is certainly a dedicated traditional bowhunter. In fact, he's just returned from a great first safari to Namibia. You can read about it in the Africa section of Tradgang.com.

[Jim]

Bill it was the Feb/Mar 03 issue of Traditional Bowhunters Magazine. The story was Axis Deer and Basalt Warriors by E. Donnel Thomas.

Ben, cheers for that info mate, I'll hit him up over there.

Jim

[little arrows]

Hi Jim,
You would have been reading an article by Don Thomas in reference to the Kev Whiting 2002 25th Anniversay shoot held in Townsville, which and Lori attended.
It was a "group" of people who paid membership and received a newsletter every two months, which Al Kidner was involved in.
It wasn't a club as it had no grounds, the idea conceived was good, however it did not have the momentum to continue. As it wasn't a club, more a group of people it was hard organising shoots and get togethers etc. It got support for a while, then it just folded.

There is/was also another organisation called Traditional Archers Aust which also paid membership to, got newsletters, could buy t-shirts and patches etc. It too dwindled out. This was at one stage Newcastle based. Then I think there was another person in Victoria who had the idea on a Trad calender website, however he ended up working in WA mines.

So the next step was for me to just keep promoting Trad Archery shoots via ozbow and our own website.

I have more information re the two organisations above, however I don't wish to hog the thread with hours of reading..

cheers
sue

[Jim]

I have more information re the two organisations above, however I don't wish to hog the thread with hours of reading..

Sue,

Without sounding demanding, I demand to know more I will read any and all you wish to write about it

Jim

[A.K]

Interesting... I will come back to reply to this thread at length.

[A.K]

Well now...where do I begin. At the start I guess...

Firstly, thanks Ben for your kind words mate. I trust when reading this your life is now on track and your path is that little bit more clearer and the woods don't seem all that dark now-a- days. I wish you well my brother, one day we will walk the bush together.

The Traditional Bowhunters Club of Australia was started by Steve Whiting around 2002 if my memory serves me well... It's been some time now and a lot of water has passed under the bridge. Steve came to me with the idea as well as Brad Kane and also the late Billy Baker and we tossed around the idea for some time in order to get a hold of the number of ideas that was rolling around our heads at the time.

For starters... We were in fact an incorporated and registered club - not a "group" of people- that Steve took care off legally. We had a P.O box address and at the time we were using the bowhunting grounds on hire from the Townsville District Bowhunters, of which, we small few ran the 25th Kev Whiting memorial shoot over a long weekend. Both Don and Lori where there as guest speakers as we paid for them to be there. We were looking for our own grounds through the local council but they were not of the understanding why we wanted our own grounds when there already was a bowhunting club set up with all the amenities etc to run weekend shoots. Fair call.

The 25th Kev Whiting shoot was a success and we had many shooters from all over the country and was the lunching pad for the club as we figured with such a high roll out of traditional archers and Bowhunters it would be the perfect setting...and it was.

We had heaps of support in regards to where the club should go as the direction/ goals were rather simple i thought; have an Australian wide body that brought trad archers and bow hunters together under one banner. But sadly, as is with most clubs I find here in Aussie anyhow, everyone is willing to say "you should do this, and you should do that" ...or better still, "you CAN'T do that or you will get so and so off side"... But fail themselves to stand and deliver. Be it with membership $$, standing firm on their offers/promises.

After the Kev Whiting shoot I was well dissatisfied with the actions of people who hid away when it was time to stand tall and true to their word and they know who they are.

The typical all-talk-no-action-ill-leave-it-for-someone-else-to-do attitude shone through and from there the cracks began to show up.

For the next 12 months not only myself and my family, but Steve and Ruth Whiting, Brad Kane, Bill & Linda Baker kept the ship afloat. We went to as many shoots as we could, making phone calls, constant emailing and letter writing in order to spread the wings of the club but we all could feel something was not right.

Was it the fact that people could not decide what a longbow is?
Was it the list of rules we just had to follow? Like should we score at shoots or not?
Was it the fact some people wanted compounds to shoot at Traditional shoots?
Was it the fact I was still serving in an infantry unit that was on a 24 hour notice to deploy any where in the world at the time?
Or was it that my marriage was showing signs of wear and tear?
Or was it the age old argument on the merits of A.B.A...?

Hell guys I don't know. But I do know we tried our best to make it happen...all of us, even Billy spent good time and money away from his operations at Toomba to do odds and ends for the club as he too, like the core and the followers...held the idea true and worthy of doing to the best of our abilities.

But I honestly think it was the lack of support needed to run something like this. People sitting on their hands and only moving their mouths will always fail to get anything done.

Was and or, is the idea sound... I think so. But as I has seen first hand, it tends to be the Australian way of doing things... This sit back and let someone else do all the work but clearly complain when those very hard working people make a decision you don't agree with and getting you knickers in a twist.

Hence why I now have nothing to do with archery/bowhunting clubs and simply do things for my own reasons and satisfactions. I know I worked my butt off to get things going and just a year or so ago I still heard someone moan and whinge (brave soul that he was - not to my face) that there was a question mark regarding the profits/monies in the account held in the club name. I was only the president, not the holder of $$ and the last I had anything to do with the club was my resignation before moving south to Mackay in order to start a new life and career outside the Infantry and bleed some new life into my now failed marriage. That thanks you get huh...

So there you have it guys, some info for you. Feel free to flame me, it won't bother none as I have thick skin and stand behind my name and my word. PM me or post away. I won't be hanging around much as mentioned above, I do my own thing now for my own reasons in life...

Alan M. Kidner.

0435 907 100.

[wishsong]

I remember it quite well .

"Trad" was again in a bit of a boom stage , and even from way down here in Vic it seemed such a great idea . A place where the brotherhood of single string archers could play together ...

I remember wanting to get to a "TRASH" shoot pretty badly though ... sounded like fun eh ! But its funny how "politics" can bite us all on the bum , even in such a small part of archery which we call "trad" ...

And I know only too well , how often the best intentions of offers of help and time can evolve into crumbled events , and unmanageable amounts of thankless work and financial cost for the few .

I know Al well enough to know that he is a stand up individual ,a gentleman and a man i consider myself lucky enough to call friend . He is as upfront and honest as you get .

Some dang fine arrow flinging he got done in Namibia too .

[Jim]

Al, thanks for taking the time to reply here mate, it's much appreciated. For everyone's info, I hit up Al out of the blue over on tradgang with some questions and he's responded here.

Cheers,

Jim Harvey

[greybeard]

Hi Al,

Fond memories of the shoot are still with me today.

Don Thomas And Lori At Townsville.jpg (99.36 KiB) Viewed 2171 times

Perhaps back then ABA had an intimidating hold on the archery clubs as evidenced in the photograph.

Sour Grapes Townsville.jpg (110.67 KiB) Viewed 2171 times

Cheers,

Daryl.