2023 Lancaster Archery Classic Breaks Records
The 2023 Lancaster Archery Classic was one for the record books.
Nearly 2,700 archers from all over the world attended the four-day tournament January 26-29 at the Spooky Nook Sports Complex in Manheim, Pennsylvania. That’s a record attendance for the Classic, and includes a record 700 youth archers who participated in the Easton Youth & Collegiate Trophy Tournament, which is its own event within the Classic.
Fifteen-year-old Bodie Turner from Washington took home the tournament’s top prize of $20,000 – plus contingency money – in the Men’s Open Pro division. Bodie, who shoots for Team Hoyt, narrowly defeated Kris Schaff of Montana, who took second place.
During qualifications on January 26 for the Men’s Open Pro division, Turner shot a perfect score of 660 – putting all 60 arrows in the center 11-ring. This was the second year in a row Turner accomplished that feat, which was only the fourth time in the 19 years of the tournament’s existence. On January 27, Zach Plonsky of Wisconsin matched Turner’s perfect score to post the Classic’s fifth-ever 660. It was the first time that the Classic had two perfect scores in the same tournament.
After finishing second the two previous years, Team Bowtech’s Paige Pearce of California finally got her first Classic win in the Women’s Open Pro division.
Rounding out the pro winners, Bill Drake of Oregon won the Masters Open Pro title. Drake went into the finals as the fourth seed and defeated each of the other three higher-ranked archers to take the title.
In Olympic Recurve, multi-Classic champion Brady Ellison took the men’s title, while Casey Kaufhold claimed her third title in the women’s division.
Full results from the tournament can be found by clicking here.
All of the live video content produced at the 2023 Classic can be viewed by clicking here. In the coming days, the Lancaster Archery video team will break up the finals matches for each of the 17 divisions into individual videos, and will add them to the playlist.
Updated Pope and Young Record Book
Pope and Young recently announced that its record book has been updated, and the Bowhunting Big Game Records of North American 9th Edition will be available in April 2023.
This updated Pope and Young record book has more than 14,000 new entries in it, which was last updated in 2017. This two-book set has more entries in it than any other record book in North America and features 75 new top five all time ranking trophies and 14 confirmed new world records. With the possibility of an additional 12 new world records that are still currently pending, there isn’t another record book that has ever showcased this many highly ranked animals.
"If you are a hunter, a bowhunter, or a collector of record books, this two-book set will be like no other,” said P&Y Director of Records Tim Rozewski. “With a limited printing, this book will be hard to get. If you are a hunter and have thought about putting your trophy in the record books, now is the time to do it!"
For the most up to date information about the Pope and Young 33rd Biennial Convention, or to register today, click here.
Team Easton Dominates at World Indoor Archery Tournament in Nimes, France
The first World Level 1000-Point event of the indoor season recently concluded in Nimes, France, and once again Team Easton competitors took most of the medals with a total sweep of the recurve podiums with the Easton X10, and a sweep of the Men’s Compound Finals.
American archer Kris Schaff defeated Easton teammate Mathias Fullerton of Denmark in the compound final before a crowd of thousands of excited spectators at the famous arena in the French Riviera, as the Sud de France - Nimes Archery Tournament 2023 saw a welcome return to pre-pandemic participation and spectator levels.
It was a total sweep of every recurve podium for the Easton X10 with French star Thomas Chirault and Italian competitor Tatiana Andreoli taking the men’s and women’s recurve titles, respectively.
By the Numbers: Private vs. Public Land Whitetails
According to the National Deer Association’s (NDA) latest Deer Report, an average of 88 percent of state-by-state whitetail harvests occur on private land. Texas reported the highest rate of private land deer harvest at 99 percent; Massachusetts reported the highest rate of public land harvest at 43 percent.
“Most of America’s 600 million acres of public land are in the West, yet proportionally few hunters are residents of those states,” said NDA Chief Conservation Officer Kip Adams (above right) and one of the report’s authors. “Most whitetails live in the eastern states along with most hunters, and this new data underscores the conservation importance of habitat management and deer hunting on private land.”
The most recent NDA Deer Report includes an estimated 2021-22 season deer harvest of more than 5.9 million. whitetails, so it follows that an estimated 5.2 million of those deer were taken on private land compared to just over 700,000 on public land – more than seven times as many. Regionally the rate of private land harvest included 93 percent in the Southeast, 91 percent in the Midwest, and 81 percent in the Northeast. Complete state-by-state data is available in the full report, which is available for free download at this link.
“This does not diminish the importance of public hunting land,” said Adams. “We need to acquire more public hunting land in the East, and we need to better manage the habitat on existing public land. But for hunter recruitment, herd management, and all the ways we want to protect and improve deer hunting, we need to understand most of those opportunities will be on privately owned acres.”
