This year the NFAA Nationals were held in Yankton, South Dakota! The tournament was held in July at the beautiful Lewis & Clark State Park. The park had steep hills and craggy cliffs surrounding a large lake. There were six target courses cut into the hillsides, with 28 targets set on each course.

The first weekend of the tournament we shot the unmarked 3-D shoot. It took about three hours to shoot 20 targets each day. That weekend it was a 115-degree heat index. Whew! It reminded me of the days I shot 3-D in Flatwoods, West Virginia in August in the sweltering heat! The 3-D targets were set at distances that were fun for everybody. Even a target shooter could figure out what the yardage was. The average distance was in the mid 30’s. Because they were closer than what most archers are used to seeing at the 3-D nationals, they were able to shoot at the 12 rings on the targets. Everyone was shooting at the 12 rings! It was like a “12ring shoot”!

The Field and Hunter started on Monday and finished on Thursday. The animal round was shot on Friday. On Monday, the first day of the Field and Hunter competition, the weather was starting to get back to normal. After the opening ceremony everyone was all fired up and ready to go shoot their best. All of the courses had names like “The Badlands” and we were provided with maps of the area so we would know where we were shooting the next day. Walking through the courses was nice too. Steps had been dug into the hillsides to make it easier to climb up or down to the next target. And the view of the area was great too! While waiting to take your shot you could watch people fishing and water skiing on the lake. And after a long day of shooting you could go swimming since the beach was right next to the registration area.

The townspeople were very friendly. They made you feel welcome everywhere you went. It’s nice to know that there are still towns like this in our great nation. Take a ride down south of town and you will come to Dakota Archery. There you will find Bruce Cull and his beautiful wife helping everyone out with their archery equipment. It’s a very nice archery shop full of bows and guns and just about everything you would need to go hunting.

The Field and Hunter courses are all known yardages. When you shoot at 28 degrees down hill at 30 yards you might need to take off up to four yards because of the down hill angle. So if you’re planning to shoot the Field and Hunter Nationals next year you may want to think about bringing your Archers Advantage Program or a range finder such as Opti-Logic or something similar that can tell you how much yardage to cut off on the hills. If not, then you will just have to make your best guess on it!

I hope they keep the NFAA Nationals in Yankton for a long time to come. The area was beautiful, the townspeople welcomed us with opened arms and everyone had a great time there! There was a large crowd of competitors for this event, and I believe that participation in this tournament will increase by leaps and bounds every year! I heard everybody talking about what a great time they had and what a nice town Yankton was. Every shoot has a few bugs to work out and I think next year’s tournament will be even greater than this one was!