AmmoLand.com

Missouri Sends 286 Students To National Archery Tournament
Skyler Price of Maries R-2 and Katie Nordstrom of Willard High School earn top honors.

Missouri Department of Conservation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --(Ammoland.com)- The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) national tournament brought 6,731 archers from 34 states, including 286 students from Missouri, to Louisville, Ky.

Attendance at the national tournament May 13 and 14 was just shy of the 2010 world-record attendance of 6,784. Missouri students in grades 4 through 12 competed in elementary, middle and high school divisions. The Show-Me State archers earned qualifying scores in the state tournament to be eligible for the national tournament.

Katie Nordstrom from Willard High School was Missouri’s top female archer with 282 points out of 300. Skyler Price from Maries R-2 Schools took the honor of top male archer with 288 points.

Longview Farm Elementary of Lee’s Summit ranked 22nd of 78 teams in the elementary division. George Guffey Elementary School of Fenton was close behind at 23rd, and St. Joseph Cathedral School of Jefferson City finished 65th in the division.

In the middle school division, Ridgewood Middle School of Arnold finished 29th of 104 teams. Crane Middle School ranked 46th, Holy Rosary School of Clinton 49th, Willard Middle School 64th, Cole Camp Middle School 93rd and St. Joseph Cathedral School 96th.

Willard High School ranked highest of Missouri high school teams at 48th of 111 schools. Galena High School was right behind at 49th. Crane High School placed 61st, and Helias Catholic High School of Jefferson City ranked 108th.

Fifteen individual archers competed from Missouri schools including Perry Christian Academy, Salem Upper Elementary, North Wood R-IV of Salem, Meramec Heights Elementary of Arnold, St. Clair Junior High and Simpson Elementary of Arnold.

“The growth of the Missouri National Archery in the Schools Program (MoNASP) has been tremendous over the past four years,” said MDC Education Outreach Coordinator Amy Francka, who coordinates the state program. “This surge has led students outdoors with their families to participate in this lifetime sport. Many local conservation groups and civic organizations are also volunteering to help support MoNASP in their communities. Students are connecting with family members, coaches and teachers through archery. This connection and confidence gained through archery will spread into other parts of their lives.”

For more information about the Missouri National Archery in the Schools Program, visit www.missouriconservation.org and search “MoNASP.”

Filed under: Archery News by Ammoland No Comments »

Sportsmen and Conservation Protected As Missouri Bills Die

U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance

Columbus, OH --(Ammoland.com)- As Missouri’s legislative session comes to an end, two bills that would have harmed sportsmen and the state’s conservation efforts died.

House Bill 115, introduced by Rep. Rodney Schad (R- Versailles), and Senate Bill 299, introduced by Sen. Brian Munzlinger (D- Williamstown), would have held Missouri’s Department of Conservation financially responsible for damages incurred by wild elk to a person or a person’s property.

In reality, this would set a dangerous precedent holding sportsmen and sportswomen liable to pick up the tab for damage caused by any wild animal.

Further, the bills would allow landowners to kill an unlimited number of elk by simply claiming damage to their property. Under the proposal, landowners would not have been required to provide proof of the damage or that elk were actually the cause of the purported damage. Essentially, this would have stripped the Department’s authority to manage wildlife despite already having an aggressive elk-conflict plan in place.

“Sportsmen are already paying the freight when it comes to wildlife conservation and funding for state wildlife agencies,” said Jeremy Rine, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance associate director of state services. “Sportsmen can rest assured, for now, that the state’s wildlife management decisions will continue to be made by wildlife professionals. Despite this victory, sportsmen must remain on alert for this issue to come up again in the future.”

About:
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance is a national association of sportsmen and sportsmen’s organizations that protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs. Visit www.ussportsmen.org.

Filed under: Conservation News, Hunting News by Ammoland No Comments »