got to agree with redtick we met we voted. it is what it is. but i think IT is vary important to start advertising. no reason not to. if BAM is here to promote the sport its best we get to it.

 

Ok, so the way I see it, most of us want basically the same things; A gathering to chat with other guys about shooting fish and ducks and whatever else, some competition and a chance for some bragging rights. The specifics about the rules, classes, payouts, are pretty minor. This club, as I understand it, exists to promote the sport of bowfishing, give it a good name, hopefully bring new people into it, and to have some fun and camaraderie. So, as we know, we voted on the schedule, and everyone who attended the meeting had the chance to bring up anything they wanted. Discussion about these issues throughout the year is fine, but there's no point in getting mean-spirited about it.. We voted in what we voted. So, just enjoy the shoots, try to kill a bunch of fish, think about the direction you want the club going, then vote the way that takes the club in that direction at the next meeting.

 

Dont worry guys....as soon as they get more then one complaint at one of these shoots they wont have it there again. People are push overs. Ur always gunna have complaint no matter where ya go. But hey why stand up for our club when its easier to just move the shoot from a good lake to a ****ty one right.....U probly will not see me at any shoots this year due to this reason alone. In my opinion BAM is goin the wrong direction. I cant belive our board members would even question about the U.P. shoot. Like zach said who ****in cares if there is 2 boats or 200 boats. It got voted on in the meeting so thats how it is. If u guys wanna say stuff like i would like atleast 10 boats to confirm on going before we decide to have it. Thats crazy ya know it.....and steve im not tryin to start stuff but i would think you would wanna talk this stuff threw on here and not just post "zach for pres or shane for pres". Not in my eye the way it shoud be handled.

 

i got to admit i dont care much for most of the south west shoots. the grand is a good one thats about it. i dont care for coming up on docks and peoples million dollar houses or any house. not to mention the fewer fish shot in those areas. it dose seem that most of bams members are from the southern part of the state so it makes sense to have more then just the grand shoot in that area but y'alls fishing sucks in comparison to a lot of other places the state has to offer. in my minds eye when i think competition i think balls out in it to win it. and i like the idea of constant hard work all night derby style shoots. imo and thats all it is is my opinion if u want to get together and have fun then just do it. have a fun shoot from time to time. but if we are going to compete well damn it lets compete we can still have fun doing it. i like shooting the **** with just about any of yall especially if your a duck killer in the fall. and i wouldn't mind having a cook out or some thing at each shoot. but the obvious places for true competition are the great lakes. reasons why are fewer homes and docks almost none in most places, more marsh,more room from one anouther, more fish, more diversity in fish species, more options as far as launch sites. the only cons i can see is some of yall will have a longer drive. but i think the experience is more then worth it. get 3 or 4 of u together and it aint bad at all. drive in shifts if u have to. as far as pay out i dont even care about that i wouldn't mind just a trophy for 1st -3rd place i dont know what a trophy coast but i bet its relativity cheep. entry fees should cover this no problem and maybe first place could get a little cash along with there trophy. and the last thing i will suggest is to advertise. if we have a surplus run a add with the tournament schedule and bam website in the woods n water news. so many people have no idea what BAM is. i think that alone could add 10 boats to each shoot. Steve i aint saying any thing about you as president i think you do a fine job and i wouldn't want it. we all made the decisions together im simply trying to project my views and persway people to more fertile fishing and more competitive tournaments.

 

yes some advertisement would be good and also on michigan sportsmen forum a guy asked about bam and he said he went to the website and didnt get much info...we need to boost are site up..maybe some pictures would be nice im going to bring my camera to GH and take some random photos... maybe i can help a little on the site to get that moving in the right direction

 

I wont be going to the UP shoot, too far for $$. But everyone else have fun and take pictures

 

I guess everyone can look at me as being the ass now. Thats fine with me. But I know I'm not the only one who seems to feel the way I do on some of these things, just the only one who spoke up. Never once did I say anything about not coming to a tournament to shoot the chit with everyone and have a good time, but if thats all its about we could all get together at each others houses and do that. I like to shoot a fair amount of fish if I'm gonna spend a bunch of money and go somewhere. It may be just me though and I might be the arrogant kid in the group but I'll take it. People talk about getting the kids involved and trying to make things better and I'm here from a younger persons point of view. A few changes can be good and could help the whole association out a ton I would imagine. Not trying to step on your toes on this mike but the only thing about looking at what happened the last ten years is exactly that. Tens years is a long time and lots of things have changed, I've heard great things about a lot of the places we've shot, but have yet to see what everyone talks about at most of them. I'm done.

 

I do agree ..zack just think some of us young guys need to run this thing when everyone else gets old. Change will happen. Lol. Hey man sorry for rant yesterday. I see your point and I see mine they are both in the same direction. Bottom ine is we need more people and kids also

 

I wouldn't say that our tournys our crappy. Very weather dependent though. I think haveing the grand shoot on the first weekend is nutts. to many variables have to come together to make a big numbers shoot. Should be later in april. Just my 2 cents. Anyways, who in for the u.p.? i am in. Lets make it a success. Will be a good time i bet>>...

 

wow, this is quite a thread. As for the UP shoot, we won't be making that one, I'm sure it will be a good shoot no matter where it ends up, June is prime time. As far as holding shoots at crappy places I think we should look back at the numbers it has taken at each site to win over the last ten years or so.

These numbers are probably close:

Grand Haven 100-200
Hacklanders 50-80
Muskegon 50-80
Hardy dam not sure but currey's sure found them 26-200+
Saginaw Bay 200+
Pte Mouliee 200+
Lake St. Clair not sure never been there but we'll say 150-200

these numbers are based on good weather nights and good water conditions some years will be better than others. in my mind none of these places are crappy if you look back at the history of them

Saginaw Bay is in my opinion the best place in the state for numbers, and overall shooting enjoyment. It probably does warrant having two shoots there every year. If I lived over there I would shoot it as much as possible.

 

Wow! Once again BAM members show there a$$es again. Not one person on here is forced to do anything. We all participate in BAM functions because we all love to bowfish. We all like going to tournaments for the comraderie and for the competitive aspect that makes it a lil more exciting sometimes. Tournaments arent about shooting a thousand fish or ten fish. They are based on getting together on a given day on a given body of water in whatever conditions are present. They who come out on top on at any tournament were the best competitors that given nite. Great! Whatever! Good for them! Ive won, Ive lost. IT DOESNT MATTER!!!!! I will still be at the next tourney regardless.

 

LOL, I lived in Gwinn and K.I. Sawyer AFB!!

The old joke back then was the last person out of the UP turn out the lights, LOL!

Lots of good fishing on the upper end of lake MI.

 

I will tell you I try to win the Muzzy every year.
And you can ask the guys I fished with last year, we where on the water with a tornado about 2 miles away.

LOL!!!

 

I like the dedication! lol

Regarding the UP shoot, I've gotta say I probably couldn't make that one. I would like to, as I think it would be an interesting change of pace. It's just, like others have said, the gas issue..

 

I'm not trying to say its all about winning money, its nice when you actually do win to get something out of it. And your point is exactly what I'm trying to get across, your going to the Muzzy to have a good time with everybody. So your going to go all the way there to shoot with everybody else in the same class. Whats the difference in 10 dollars when you've already spent 10 times that much just to drive there. If your just there to have a good time and dont care about placing then class should not matter. Dont get me wrong I have a great time catching up with everybody and having fun at shoots. But when its time to kill fish I like to do my best and put my time in.

 

zeak it not all about money, I go to the Muzzy to see people I could not any where else except going to their house!!!

I would love to come up and shoot DeNoc, but that is money.
Now some one want to let me ride free I bring my bow and the Corolla.

 

We said we where out but we been doing some talking and might just be in now mudfish if we do shoot it you can ride with us we are at the bottom of michigan and i have room in the boat..

 

...i never shot out of state so you may be correct on the one class thing...

 

Being the president has nothing to do with making changes. Its a majority vote, if you would read posts from earlier you will see I said for a future meeting. I know it might be hard for you to comprehend but everything ends up being about money. The way things are run, what shoots people go to, etc. This has nothing to do with what I want blah blah blah... If you have ever shot anywhere you will see how much smoother things can be when you come up to sign up you drop your name and some money and thats it, not signing up for this class or signing up for this or this side pot or this side pot.. Getting new people involved seems to just be a problem in MI if we have to have two classes just to get people to join. Does a piece of paper really make you feel that much better if you place in sportsman? Bc if thats the case then the whole I'm just in it for the fun gets thrown out the window. If you dont care about any of that then just one class would not be an issue because you would just be shooting for fun and not care which place you took or how many fish you shot.

 

fyi im waiting for ice out for a final decision on big bay and or little bay. i never ben there before i usually shoot munuscong if i shoot in da u.p. i want to get us on the best fishing possible and ill have to lern that hole area so give me some time. what launch was used in years past up here? dont expect to shoot any rivers vary few that are non trout waters. if u do make the u.p shoot get up here a hour or so early so you can eat i plan to fry up some smelt, lake trout and possibly some crayfish.

 

Dont shoot the dam shoots if your that worried about money, if everybody else in every other state can do it why can't you? If your that worried about 5 dollars find a different sport or stay at home and jerk off.

 

why is it that you fu**ing whine and bi*ch about every shoot and how they run this like steve said be the pres. for bam next year see if you can make a difference all i was doing was throwing my opinion out there and you didn't even get what i was saying..most people look like they are just staying out of this but im sick of your constant "i want it my way or no way attitude" im not a professional at this sport at all and dont claim to be.....i dont have a problem with you..and its not all about the money sometimes people like to just win or place and if we combined the two then newbs will be intimidated IMO and i think less participation the open class is for the real deal and the sportsmen is for the "sportsmen" who want to maybe win a few dollars and compete with a bunch of fun fellas!!! ...sorry for the rant but its been a day...

 

And as far as the tourny being on big bay. We will see. That is still up to T.J. Werever he wants it I will support his decision. Big Bay has benn brought forward along with Little Bay and also Mucsoug Bay on the north side of the u.p.

 

Highjacked!

 

Got any input on all of this steve?

 

Shane for president and Zachory for V.P. in 2012!

 

Gotcha....I guess I am somewhat neutral on some of the issues. I hear what you're saying about payback however it is a non issue to me. I will support pretty much anything from no change to change. In my mind it is for fun and if I get all pissy and sore about things it won't be fun anymore. But everyone is different.

 

Read my post up a few adam, have you ever shot out of state? Were about the only place where you cant scout at night or not have bows in the boat 3 days before hand because people are worried about cheating, we can't trailer anywhere, our payouts suck because we split everything up so bad its impossible to win any amount of decent money,the tourny we just shot cost 25 bucks plus a 5 dollar membership fee. That included numbers, big 10, and big fish. There wasnt two seperate classes with 5 different side pots. There were only 21 boats and we took home more money taking third then we would taking first at one of our shoots. Granted its not all about the money it sure is nice to help comp. some of it back.

 

the only reason i like the 2 different classes is because it gives us non-pro's(yes me haha) a chance to win or place once in a while..so lets hear it ....i know YOU will have something smart to say about it...

 

As far as another tourny on houghton, Not going to happen...........

 

I still think that the u.p. shoot can be good. Maybe not as many boats but after everybody sees the fish that come from up there, They'll be there next year. And dont count it out yet. Its still in the schedule. As far a Zeak stateing that it is better out of state, Very true and i think we need a change, But from what i can see, its not going to happen. Too many people NOT wanting to change. So yeah, i guess we will keep shooting out of state.

 

I definitely agree with what you say about Big Bay being good....should be balls out awesome! I guess for those of us that don't get what this change that keeps being brought up truly is, will you enlighten us?