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Pre-Season Preparation

11 Steps to Archery Success

NASP® teaches 11 Steps to Archery Success to any adult who attends the Basic Archery Instructor course (i.e. your teacher and/or coach). Tim Strickland, past coach for USA Archery, came up with these steps to archery success.   If you already know them see if you have them memorized in the correct order.  If you do not know these 11 steps ask your teacher or coach for assistance and watch the two videos below to better understand how they can improve your archery performance.

1.     Stance

2.     Nock

3.     Draw Hand Set

4.     Bow Hand Set

5.     Pre-Draw

6.     Draw

7.     Anchor

8.     Aim

9.     Shot set-up

10.   Release

11.   Follow Through & Reflect

Additional Resources: 

Video:  11 Steps to Archery Success Video (Genesis Archery)

Video:  11 Steps to Archery Success Video (PE Teacher)  

Did You Know You Can Plan Games With Your Bow?

Playing games keeps archery shooting fun, especially if you can play with your friends, family or at practice with teammates.

A fun game we like to play is Tick-Tac-Toe.  Follow the four steps below to get started!

1. Pair up with someone to play against.  
2. Create your tick-tack-toe board on your target by using electrical tape or something similar.
3. Place six arrows into each person’s quiver.  Arrows need to have something different like the color of the shaft or fletchings to distinguish each player.  
4. Take turns shooting until one player place three arrows in a row either down, across or diagonal. 

Additional Resources:

Target for Purchase:  Tic Tac Toe Target (Lancaster Archery)

Video:  Tic Tac Toe Archery (NuSensei)

Beyond NASP® - Types of Archery

Have you discovered a love for the bow and arrow? There are at least five different ways you can enjoy the sport of archery:

• Target Archery
• Field Archery
• 3D Archery
• Traditional Archery
• Bowhunting

Within these different types there are overlaps. For example, a traditional archer can compete in target and field archery or could pursue bowhunting. There are also variations within the disciplines, such as bowfishing within the category of bowhunting. Even with the common ground between these types of archery, the five major styles are unique enough to merit some discussion. Each one represents a different opportunity available to you as you discover archery.

Source:  Easton Foundations

Additional Resource

https://www.archery360.com/archery-101/ (Archery 360)

Take it Outside - Fall Fishing Hot Spots

Fall offers fantastic fishing – get out and enjoy it. The air is cool, lakes are less crowded and fish are easy to catch.

Try these expert tips to catch more fish at our top fall fishing spots:

• Big Hollow Lake, Des Moines County – find largemouth bass in shallow water around logs, brush, stumps, sand and rocks next to weed beds. Bass will move to transition zones with mid- to deep water as water temperatures cool more. Try jigs and tubes around humps. Keep your bait presentation slow and precise since bass are less likely to move very far to chase a meal in cold water.
• Black Hawk Lake, Sac County – good fall bluegill and crappie fishing along the shoreline; slowly jig around the legs of docks still out in the lake.
• Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo County – many Master Angler qualifying yellow bass (10 inches) are available to catch this fall. Use small jigs tipped with a nightcrawler, minnows or cut bait. Stay on the move to find schools of fish. 
• Don Williams Lake, Boone County - a strong black crappie population welcomes anglers.  Drift the middle of the lake with small jigs in early fall. Fish will move to structure in late fall – quickly find structure in the lake with the printable fishing structures maps.
• Lake Darling, Washington County – find black crappie and bluegills in tight to shore as lake temperatures cool. They’ll be eager to bite as they actively feed to pack on fat reserves for the winter. Use a 1/32 oz. jig tipped with a half-inch paddletail body; slow and steady retrieve is best.
• Lake Miami, Monroe County – excellent fall crappie and bluegill fishing; look for brush piles and standing timber. Some days these fish can be caught suspended in the lower half of the lake. Excellent largemouth bass fishing with 12- to 15-inch bass and many up to 21-inches.
• Little River Lake, Decatur County – catch lots of 9-inch bluegills with a chance to hook a 10+ inch crappie. Use jigs fished in shallow bays or near the cedar tree brush piles. Walleye fishing can be good in the fall. Troll crankbaits along main lake points or use jigs fished along the roadbed or rock fields.  Little River Lake also has good numbers of largemouth bass. Try finesse plastics fished around the cedar tree brush piles or rock piles.
• Lost Grove Lake, Scott County – look for muskies in 4- to 5-feet of water around shallow weed beds, sunken timber, stumps, rocks and humps. Use crankbaits, jerkbaits, bucktails, and jigs or try a 4- to 5-inch plastic lizard. Catch and release muskies under 40 inches.
• Mississippi River – catch walleye and sauger in the tailwaters of most of the Lock and Dams on the Mississippi River up and down Iowa’s east coast in 15-to 30-feet of water. A jig and minnow seems to hook the largest fish. Try a three way swivel with one short 10-inch line going to a heavy pencil weight and the other 2-foot line attached to a small hook with minnows or nightcrawlers.  Stay on the move to keep contact with the bottom. 
• Storm Lake, Buena Vista County – late September and into October offers a good fall walleye bite. Troll crankbaits along the edges and through the dredge cuts. Try also drifting crawler harnesses.