The following is an excerpt from an email to Suey Wong written by Steve Synhorst. It includes useful information about the history of the Yolo Bowmen.
Northern California is one of the more active archery areas in the US and the world. A former Olympian, World Champion and World Record holder, Rick McKinney, of Sacramento, continues to compete in the traditional form of international target archery. There are several clubs devoted to that form of archery and a very active JOAD program throughout the state and the area. The Sacramento Archery Club has hosted many events including the State Championships, the Pan Pacific Masters Games archery event, and Senior Olympics events. Despite paying a fee to enter the park, competitors either pee in the woods or drive to McDonald’s as the rest rooms are locked up. Several colleges and universities send teams.
We are losing the other ranges rapidly. The only other one in Yolo County was lost within the last 10 years, as was one at Lake Solano. The Lodi Club lost its range in a county park this year but hopes to build another. The Roseville and El Dorado Hills clubs have each lost about half their former acreage to development. Neither has kitchen or toilet facilities. The Laguna Club in Elk Grove has an indoor range but have been given notice that the owner intends to demolish the building and commercially develop the property within several years. Nevada City has three excellent field archery (a different kind of target discipline, using paper targets in a field or woodland setting) courses, but limited practice and formal target archery facilities. They have a clubhouse with kitchen and toilet facilities. They also have firearms ranges.Napa has two simple field archery courses but little in the way of kitchen, toilet, practice and target archery facilities.
The Oakland and San Francisco clubs each have three fine field archery courses, good practice ranges and no formal target archery ranges. These are on city or county parklands with club houses, and kitchens but limited toilet facilities. There are active clubs with varying facilities in the Modesto, Fresno, Williams, Red Bluff, Sonoma, San Jose and Santa Cruz areas. The Redding club has three extensive field archery ranges and annually hosts the national field archery championships.
Most clubs also host “3D” events over their field ranges or in adjacent natural settings, or on private ranches. Some of these are multi-state in scope. These involve animal figures in hunting settings, though at most there are targets painted on the sides of the figures for scoring. Most competitors treat it as a target game rather than a simulated hunt. Most active club members compete in various target disciplines. There are one or more competitive events in Northern California most weekends of the year. A minority of club members also hunt. And there are still families that use a lot of game meat, and even expect each family member to contribute some to the family larder. (Last year Yolo member took five elk, a mountain goat, and several deer. Feral pig and wild turkeys are hunted regularly.)
The Yolo Archery Club has two field archery courses, and the most extensive practice range. We would like to add a third field course, to complete the three course venue of the national organization. And we would like to build a clubhouse with indoor range and additional kitchen and toilet facilities. We need a long term lease to make the investment.
Speculative note: In the event that the Sacramento Club were to lose its range or wish to build permanent practice and clubhouse facilities, there is sufficient adjacent land. There is enough in fact to host national or Olympic events in archery or other events, such as, say equestrian, or a velodrome for cycling. The vacant Air Force buildings on the property could be reworked in that event.
Club history:
1958 founded, with simple ranges on private land west of Davis, along Putah Creek. 1976 lost the lease. 1977 moved to present site by informal agreement. There were three trees, the palm tree by the present caretakers residence and two eucalyptus. Designation as a county park came much later. 1978 set up south course, but with two 14 target field archery set ups. 1978 Several hundred trees were planted and irrigated by hauled in water. Range master John Watters, hauled water from the air base in Fairfield twice a week. Dec 1979 obtained 20 year lease to 46 acres. Jul 1980 pipe run to the south range and first plastic irrigation drip lines run. Aug 1980 the horseshoe club was granted use of some of their pleasant land with the understanding that they would contribute toilet facilities. They also provided storage and Feb 1984 they also completed kitchen facilities and septic facilities. 1984 the archery club spent $3000 for a deep well, hoping for potable water. Note that the large tank near the road is for a county shallow well, which is used for irrigation but does not produce potable water. 1987 the club developed a second well ( the previous one was inadequate) at a cost of $5000. At some point the horseshoe ranges were extended to accommodate national championships. This required the archery practice range to be reconfigured west to east versus the former and preferred south to north; agreed to voluntarly. 1999 renewed the lease for 5 years @ $1.00 a year. Around 2000 the soaring club made informal arrangements with the archery club to use land to the east.
Property improvements by archers-
Extensive parking areas.
Storage sheds near the road.
Small club house and storeroom.
Picnic area, further improved by horseshoers.
6-8000 trees were planted, all requiring irrigation until established, perhaps a quarter of them requiring irrigation even in maturity. The poplars will drop leaves within three weeks without it. Two deep wells and perhaps a mile of pipe with hose faucets. 3 to 4 miles of irrigation drip lines with various couplings and drip emitters. These require weekly operation and constant repair.
Groundskeeping equipment-
Two tractors with flail mowers and scrapers. One, diesel-powered has a front-end shovel bucket.
Two riding mowers.
Two walk behind mowers.
Two weed-wackers.
Hand and chain saws are provided by members to deal with the considerable quantity of downed timber and limbs that occur. The major portion of the mowing is for fire breaks around all of the ranges and trees and the buildings.
Maintenance labor-
The club has about a dozen half day work parties a year, drawing one or two dozen participants. Several members perform irrigation and mowing work almost every week the year around.
Updated History; By Ted Fenner
Organized archery in Yolo County dates from the early fifties when local barber, George Hebert and half a dozen other local bowhunters formed Yana Bowmen. Among those early members was Dr. Al Grigarick of UCD. Both of these continue living in Davis today. At that time archery was largely a “do it yourself” hobby. Many made their own bows, and nearly all manufactured their own arrows as archery outlets were few and far between. That, together with the inherent difficulty in achieving accuracy this equipment posed caused many to give up the sport after a short time. Such appears to have happened to several of the original Yana Bowmen and the club folded after a year or two at the most.
Then about 1957 a new group was formed with the old Yana Bowmen being the nucleus. This new archery club was named Yolo Bowmen and was formed under auspicious of the National Field Archery Association (NFAA) with George Hebert as President and Dave Barton as Secretary. The following year saw Dr. Grigarick as President and the author as Secretary-treasurer.
The club had no source of income other than member dues thus they were dependent on the generosity of local landowners for a range site. A site unsuitable for growing crops was found in the flood pain of Cache Creek and a range established under rules of the NFAA. These rules were specific regarding the number of targets, the distances shot at each target, and the placement of targets so as to provide maximum safety regarding discharged arrows. The actual order of targets was dictated by topography as well as available space. But scores obtained by shooting this range would be comparable to those shot on a NFAA range in New York State or any Field Archery range in between.
Unfortunately that first winter was a wet one and the range was flooded with most of the targets carried downstream. Next spring the club obtained permission to establish a range in Nelson’s Grove, a 12 acre grove of mature Valley Oaks on Road 18A some three miles north of Woodland. The club held regular weekly evening shoots and an organized club shoot on the second Sunday of each month during the remainder of the year. Then, it was learned that the Boy Scouts also had permission to use this grove of trees. Since the area was just barely large enough to accommodate an official field archery range the addition of Boy Scouts would not be compatible. The club decided that it would be much wiser for them to move than to contest the Scouts. And accordingly a site was found on the left side of Putah Creek immediately downstream or the “Low Water Bridge”. A unit of 14 targets was set up and the club enjoyed the use of this range for several years. Eventually the rancher told them that he needed that area for his operation and they were again looking for a range site.
It was while our range was located along Putah Creek that the club began what has come to be known as Trail Shoots. This was well before the “age of plastics” but we managed to create the first 3-D animals ever seen on an archery range. Dr. Al Grigarick devised a way to use laminated cardboard and excelsior to form the shape of an animal then with the use of carefully sewn burlap and a little paint we had a life sized animal that was easily recognizable as the animal it represented. The club sponsored these trail shoots for fourteen consecutive years until they secured the present range site and changed to a standard field shoot known as the “Oasis Shoot”.
Dr. Olmo, of UCD, owned considerable acreage along the right side of Putah Creek immediately upstream of what is now Interstate 80, a portion of which constituted the flood plain in that it was between the creek and levee. However Monticello Dam now virtually precluded this area flooding and Yolo Bowmen moved again. Yolo Bowmen again enjoyed regular weekly evening practice shoots during the summer as well as regular second Sunday club shoots. In addition they sponsored a free bowhunter clinic each year which was the forerunner of what is now the International Bowhunter Education Program. (this author was the original author of that program also.)
But good things never last forever and after several years Dr. Olmo found other need for this acreage. About this time the Federal Government, through an agency concerned solely with recreation, made the old WWII Air Force Communications site available to Yolo county for recreational purposes. At this time I believe Paul Ackerman was club president and both of us spent several evenings talking to Betsy Marchand, Supervisor representing the Davis area. It wasn’t hard to convince her that Yolo Bowmen would be logical caretakers of a portion of this property and at the same time provide an enhanced recreational activity for local residents. That was the easy part. There were more hoops to be jumped through than we ever imagined but eventually the club established a new range, planted trees, drilled a well, built restroom facilities, and storage buildings for replacement hay bales as well as club equipment. This facility now boasts a four star rating by the National Field Archery Association, is the site of a very successful annual tournament, and is available for public use by non associated archers.
It may be of interest to present membership to know how all those early trees were obtained and watered through their formative years. As I remember it Elmer Wilson worked some kind of deal with the Department of Forestry nursery, located along Chiles Road, to get surplus trees by the truck load. Fellow member, Jim Newton then mounted three 55 gallon drums on a trailer with which we spent most weekends hauling water and laying garden hoses from the drums to various trees. We only dreamed of installing a well and drip irrigation season because money was more than a little short. At that time the club consisted of a mere dozen members and everyone worked steadily to get the range completed. As you know, Elmer and Jim are no longer with us but memories of them will be with us forever. It was people like them that persisted and created the foundation for what Yolo Bowmen is today.