[Aaron Senn]

I'm somewhat taken aback by all of the things stated above. I think you have somehow perceived the COBF in a negative light, and that is simply not the case. You have to remember first and foremost bowfishing is about getting out and doing something you love, just like you said earlier. The COBF was founded as a venue for bowfishermen in Colorado to come together and above all have a good time. There is no underlying cut throat attitude with anyone in the orginization, everyone is there to have fun and bowfish, plain and simple. Just like Mike and Rodney have said already the points race was developed to have another fun aspect at the tournaments, thats it. You seem to have alot of ideas about things we are missing in the association, but this is the first time we have heard any of these thoughts from you. The COBF board is here for the members, to hear their thoughts, ideas, and problems then find a solution and make things right. But we first need feedback.
I'm sorry you felt disrespected at the BassPro fishing expo in anyway, I assure you were not bothering us and there must have been something lost in traslation. We were there to promote our growing sport here in Colorado, theres no other reasons we do this, we don't get paid, there are no perks, believe me! It seems you have already made up your mind on what the COBF is all about which is truly to bad, just like the top bullet of our mission statement states, we are first and foremost here for the sport. I invite you to attend a tournament this year and actually experience what we are all about.
Again if you have thoughts and ideas that you think would better the COBF I encourage you to please let us know.

 

[Aaron Senn]

The part I guess I'm missing is that you seem to have no true experience with the association, you have read the website and made up your mind. Also out of respect alot of these comments could have been taken to a PM.

 

[Aaron Senn]

Istickem,

I'm still having a problem understanding how you think there is a flaw in leadership of an association you have never been a part of. Your archery club might have had problems with the competitions they held but until you have experienced our tournaments I don't understand how you can even have an opinion. Like you said you don't know me, I literally take out dozens of "newbies" every year, with many many kids included. I go at night for a variety of reason, but don't you think if you are to take a new bowfisherman they should have as many shot opportunities as possible? The success percentage of night shooting over day time shooting is hard to even compare. Anyone that is interested in shooting at night is always welcome on my boat, generally it only takes a trip or two before they are calling and asking for advice on how to hang their new lights!
You may think tournaments don't attract potential members but I'm sorry to tell you that's just not the case, I know several people that have not been part of the association because of the absence of night tournaments in the past. Either way you look at it, the more members we have the better off the future of bowfishing in Colorado will be.
I truly do have a passion and dedication to bowfishing that would be hard to match. You can ask all the other board members, I'm constantly bugging them to have more tournaments and events, I just want to be out enjoying the sport as much as possible with as many people as possible.
Like Mike has already said, we want to be as transparent as possible with our members. If there are any concerns at all in the future please speak up and we will do anything that's possible to resolve the issue and make the COBF better as a whole, that's our number one goal.

 

[Aaron Senn]

Well Mitch I am sorry if you think my answers haven't been pro active, that was definitely not my intent. The reason I said anything about going to PM's is I don't think anyone needs to be calling anyone arrogant or disrespectful in a public forum, theres no need for that. I most certainly agree that the COBF should have an open dialog with all members, and that is what we try to do. We take every member opinion to hart when scheduling the events of the year, we base all of our decisions strictly on the feedback we get from the year end feedback and suggestion form we send out.
I apologize for not posting everything that is going on in the COBF here on this forum but we try our best and happen to post more frequently to the facebook page than here. I understand that does people without a facebook account no good, and I promise you we will do a better job posting though every venue we have. We wait to release the tournament locations until they are set in stone, otherwise there would be update after update.
We honestly didn't know you were having this much of an issue with us, again I keep stressing to give us your feedback and we will do all we can.

 

[Aaron Senn]

Tryin to keep this short, I have no ill feeling toward anyone, I dont really know many of you...yet...
I have volunteered as a board member of a non profit archery club, so I know very well how much work and sacrifice is needed, it was a great experience overall but, the worst was dealing with tournaments as a board member I heard bickering, complaining, accusations of pencil whippin several times, always one "click" accusing another blah blah, and it ruined 3D shoots for me.
So I guess when I felt the cool receptions and then started looking into the COBF, all I saw was the tournament stuff and that didn't sit well.
I have become good friends with Mitch, I guess bein's were both crotchety its worked out OK, but we totally agree on wanting more people shooting. Id hang my bow up for at least a few days if it meant takin out boat loads of kids.

You have to remember we are a relatively new association and have alot to learn and alot to accomplish. We are always looking for new ways to promote the sport and secure the future of bowfishing in Colorado. We would obviously love to work with 4H and other kids groups, we just have to find the right avenue to get to those goals. It sounds like you have some experience dealing with these groups and we would love some advice and knowledge on how to go about these things.
Lots of us really love the competition and competing in the tournaments, there has been very very few problems in the years we have held tournaments, we have a really good member base and we hope to continue not having any issues.

 

[Aaron Senn]

We have 20 members at the moment yes, but the renewal date is March 1st. We were up to 42 last year