During the St. Jude auction last year one of the offerings really caught my attention.  Don and Skyler Wilson put together a package that included a 2011 spring bowfishing trip on the waters of Alabama near their home.  The trip was offered for two people.  My good friend Jeff Springer (Tippit), partnered up in the auction, and with a little judicious bidding we found ourselves as winners on the package.

We hoped to time the trip to coincide with the spring spawning activity.  Don suggested that late April/early May might be ideal.  It just so happens that the Tennessee Classic shoot was the last weekend in April, so it was an easy decision to combine the bowfishing trip with a visit to a shoot I had always thought about attending.  

It had been a long cold spring here in Wisconsin, and I was really looking forward to rushing the season a bit by heading south for a week with good friends.  

The real purpose of the trip was the bowfishing, but a few days at the Tennessee Classic were worth the drive all by themselves.  I've been to a lot of different shoots, both large and small, but this one is really something special.  It's more like a big family reunion than a 3D shoot, and we spent a great weekend with some of the finest people you could ever want to meet.  



Making bows and knapping rocks were just about an around the clock activity for many of the participants.

That one is on my "must do" list!

Killdeer

Tippit brought an impressive arsenal of weapons for display.







Robtattoo was looking for a stave for a manly bow.  This one might just work.



One of the highlights of any shoot is the time spent in camp.  

A front row seat to dueling banjos.



The line for the Saturday night pot luck dinner stretched up the road.  It was well worth the wait!  

It looks like a great time Joe.    

Maybe someday      

Looks like every had a good time,gotta try and make it sometime.

I need to make it to this event some year!!

The weekend went far too quickly, but the good news was that meant it was time to head to Alabama!  

The Wilson home is in northeast corner of the state, and right in the middle of the area that had been devastated by tornadoes the last week in April.  By the grace of God, their home had been spared from serious damage, with deadly tornadoes passing just a few miles on each side of their home.  They were still without power when we arrived, and had no idea of when it might be back on.  

Life in that part of the country had been turned upside down, and Jeff and I both felt like we were really imposing by showing up in the middle of it.  But Don and Tammy insisted that they needed a diversion from what they had been dealing with and adamant that the plans go forward.  

Bowfishing can be a messy sport, and spawning fish can leave your clothing unfit to ever be worn again.  Jeff and I needed a throw away wardrobe.  A trip to the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro, AL was in order.  What better place to find a fishing outfit that you will never want to wear a second time?  



Ready for some hot bowfishing action!

Hilarious!

Joe,

It was great meeting you and Jeff (Tippit) and being able to spend some time with you both.

I am glad that Don's plan worked for me to come up to his house and pick up Skyler and take him to the shoot.

Here are a few more pics from the Tennessee Classic.  I posted a few of these on their site here on TG.  But I thought I'd share some of them again here since I captured a couple of you.

Joe Lasch (Whip) and Skyler Wilson

 

Joe Lasch (Whip) was one of the many vendors at the Tennessee Classic

 

Jeff Springer (Tippit) showing off a few of his beauties

 

It seemed like Whip's tent was the gathering place in the evenings for many of the TGers that attended the Tennessee Classic.  

Joe,

The outfits you and Jeff picked up at the Unclaimed Baggage store were great, but you need to show one of the back side of your pants -- that's a work of art!!!!

it sounds that you had a great adventure even before the bowfishing!!

Finally sharing a camp with you Larry was long overdue and just as much of a pleasure as I knew it would be.  Sure glad you were able to be a part of it!

Larry's boat is a magnificent bowfishing machine.  Solid shooting platforms with plenty of room, enough lights to turn night into day, and a beast of a motor.  It is quite a rig.


The storm damage from the tornadoes a few days prior was like something out of a movie.  It is no wonder that the Wilson's weren't feeling sorry for themselves just because they didn't have power.  There were many many people just down the road who lost everything they owned, and many lost their lives as well.  

The rains had of course left the waters muddy, and the cloudy conditions made bowfishing difficult.  It was hard to see more than a foot into the water, and our first night out was more than a little tough.  We did manage to get lucky on a few though.  

Robtattoo was the designated fish processor and had agreed to take what we shot back to be cleaned, frozen, and smoked.  All Jeff and I had to do was shoot them.  Jeff got on the board with a nice catfish.



Skyler and Larry know how to put arrows into fish and joined in on the action.





The waters we fished were teeming with shad. The are like speeding bullets flashing through the water, and the toughest of all fish to hit.  Rob connected on one and demonstrated why bowfishing is one archery activity where a pass through shot is not a good thing.  He had to cut his line to get the fish off.

Joe,
Glad you got this post started.  After the bow fishing trip, Joe dropped me off at the Chattanooga Airport to fly to Aiken, SC.  When Molly & I get back to Boston with our horses, I'll get some of my pictures up.

This was a great trip spent with super friends new & old.  Don, Tammy, Skyler, and Chloe were amazing hosts especially considering the devastation of all those tornadoes around them...tippit

Great Pics and We are up-loading pics now.

We all had a great time and can't wait to do it again......we have some "memorable" pics that will coming soon  

Wanted to make it down w/ my buddy Scott this weekend, but had a death in the family.  These pics will be a good warm up for our trip to Erie in 2 weeks!