Guys unfortunately the airboats drew a stink. Missouri gave them a one day permit for this event because I the noise and the highway patrol has already said next year airboats will not be allowed.

 

http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-neighbo...-near-table-rock-lake-upset-about-bowfishing-tournament-20130408,0,386932.story

 

I bet if someone would take these complaining people out on a airboat for a bowfishing trip they would change there opinion of our sport.:tu:

 

This tournament needs to be moved next year to a bowfishing friendly lake then. i think what Bass Pro did this year was nothing short of amazing...but if the locals want to ban a type of watercraft or not allow an exemption...move it. Like warrior said...we all need to stick together.

 

I just love how its made out to be all about the airboats creating the noise pollution. Fan boats are loud when they have to throttle up and down all night long, you guys with the 5k and 7k generators on troller boats with boxes covering them on 3 side creating essentially a big echo box out the back of the boat those are loud. Those lights we ALL run which shine in peoples houses at god awfull hours of the night really make folks mad. Lets face it folk ALL of us piss homeowners off who live on or near the lake/river some way shape or form so instead of pointing the finger at an airboat or a fanboat or a troller with a loud ass generator or you guys that run 300k lumens of light lets all just stick together and stand up for the sport and stop pointing fingers once they take airboats its gonna be fanboats then a decible rating for generators in trollers then a light pollution restriction.

 

I bet the motel, gas stations and resturant owners didn't ***** about us at all. 500+ people spending money was great for Branson. Too bad some will ***** about anything. We must all stick together. Airboats, fan boats and trollers.

 

I agree. Hell I don't think u could fish guntersville or at least have big tournaments there if it wasn't for the businesses an city council people for the most part bein for it.... That being said tho, to make it easier just move it

 

Hmmm Looks like this tourney needs to be moved down south in future years, yankees have to many rules op:oke:

 

Son we ain't no damn Yankees.. you don't got the right to think anyone north of you drives a Prius n drinks starbucks

 

Anything north of lake guntersville is Yankee land

 

Anything north of lake guntersville is Yankee land

Anything north of I-20 is!!
:co:

 

Remember guys this was put on by Bass Pro. They swing a pretty big stick in Missouri.

 

good call scott

 

Touche ******!

 

Anything south of the Ohio east of the Mississippi is the south!! Don't you dare throw Kentucky into the Yankee bucket!

 

We dont have these issues and red zones in Michigan.

 

I would really like to see Mike start an offical thread to see just how many boats were shot at and the location of each. One of the Iowa teams got shot at during night also. First shot was in the air, second hit the water right next to the boat kicking up a huge spray. They hit the deck and killed the lights, went to fire the big motor to get out of the area and their Battery was dead, they had left something on and they couldnt make a fast exit. Had to keep really quiet and troll out toward deeper water. Ive heard/read of at least three others so far that had shots fired at them, I would like to know if it was the same location or multiple places.

 

Wtf!!! Wow!!!

 

I run a troller d a 250 jet it is loud am I nexTo b banned? Air boats rock I loved watching theme and feeling them in my chest.

 

whats wrong with Yankee's?

 

Nothing at all

 

:shh:

Nothing live up there a bunch!

:wave:

 

We had someone shoot in the air at viney creek in a cove

 

we need a statement put in the local papers on how much money we spent in that area for this tournament and how it helps the local stores that may slow down some of the complaints. The stores we helped are also the stores these people that complain shop at, for them to complain is like taking money away from there friends. just my thoughts way to go J.P. awesome shoot. For better outdoors take a kid hunting & fishing it's our future. randy

 

How many ppl got shot at... Maybe they should report on that... We got called over to the bank by a guy w a gun tellin us to get the hell out of there then shot at by another guy as well... I mean we might have been loud but none of us ever threaten the lives of these ppl or shot at them! Seems crazy we are the ones getting in trouble when they are the ones shooting at ppl!

 

Very true.

 

Dayum. Sounds like a warzone. If I knew bullets were coming my way, I don't think I would have just left.

 

Attempted murder at a bowfishing tournament and nothing made the news?!?!

 

Stuff like that makes me nervous about taking clients out bowfishing.

 

I posted here a couple of years ago when we were shot at on Bartletts Ferry lake. I can absolutely PROMISE you this, it is a GOOD thing that customers were on the boat or the people in house that shot at us and hit my boat would have looked like swiss cheese before I pulled out. But I always keep my customers safety in mind. What I did do is pull the boat around some trees well within hearing distance of the shooters. Asked my clients to forgive me for a moment. Yelled out to the shooters some words that I'm sure made them think twice about what they just did. I took a GPS reading at the spot. Then I completed the trip with the customers. At the parking lot I contacted the marine police. I arrived home and verbally spoke with the head guy. Gave him the gps readings. They immediately went to look for the house. I was not able to give them an address since I was in the water when the shooting took place. Unfortunately the marine police could not get their boat in the sand bar area the next day where I was at in my boat. So supposedly they went and knocked on some doors and spoke to houses in the surrounding area of my gps readings. Have not had any problems on the lake since that night. I did tell the marine police that I do plan to defend myself if it ever happens again!
My point in telling you guys this is: DO NOT just drop this. If a guy comes over and tells me to get off his lake and is holding his ar 15. I will politely tell him to hang tight as I call the marine police and 911 right in front of the idiot and tell them I am being threatened by a guy with a gun and that I will defend myself if his gun points anywhere in my direction. Then I will press charges. Dont just let this stuff get brushed aside guys unless you want it to keep happening!!!!

 

My point in telling you guys this is: DO NOT just drop this. If a guy comes over and tells me to get off his lake and is holding his ar 15. I will politely tell him to hang tight as I call the marine police and 911 right in front of the idiot and tell them I am being threatened by a guy with a gun and that I will defend myself if his gun points anywhere in my direction. Then I will press charges. Dont just let this stuff get brushed aside guys unless you want it to keep happening!!!!

X100 DO NOT DROP THIS

Noise and lights is no way an excuse to shoot at or even up in the air as a threat. This will continue and possibly escalate if it is not stopped immediately. I CCW in my boat and fought vocally to get it allowed in our state tourneys. (our state used to not allow ccw so it was in our tourney rules since b4 state laws changed)

 

One additional piece of advice is that no matter what lake it is LA, AR, MO, TX, etc., we should all try to minimize the noise, lights, etc around boat launches, houses and camp sites to insure similar issues do not arise at your local lakes.

Simple things such as - dont power load your airboat at 2:00am onto the trailer, kill your fishing lights/spotlights way before you get into the launch, idle out until you are 500+ yards away from the boat launch before running, etc. You get the idea!

 

Hey guys. I am writing a letter to the Core of Engineers and the Water Patrol about the tournament and its effect on the local area. There are a lot more positives that came out of it than negatives. I will be backing up all my statements with hard numbers and statistics. I agree that it is ridiculous that homeowners can shoot at boaters while on the lake and not go to jail. I will soon be reaching out to everyone for some input and testimonials about the amount of money they spent in the area on hotels, fuel, food, ect. Also I want to thank everyone for their support on Bass Pro's Facebook page for the tournament and the sport of bowfishing. I will tell you that I have heard great things about the tournament from lots of people that did not compete and I want to educate the authorities about the mass support. Also please let me know if you have information about where you were shot at. GPS coordinates, Point references, house descriptions, ect.
Thanks
JP

 

Thank you JP
Can you get the local news to do another story on everything from money pumped into the area and actions from the public once you get the numbers done.

 

We were never shot at but we did get an annoying green laser pointed at us

 

Im not going to go through and read all of this I dont have the patience. But here is the problem when you get down to it. We were one team that had issues with a guy coming out on us with a rifle. It was in an area where the nearest house was over 1000 yards away according to gps. and in that place there were not any houses right on the water for almost a mile down river. He ended up shooting at a few boats the next night. I was told by someone directing the tournament to call a number he gave me it lead me to the state highway patrol. (this is all on friday during the day after he came out with the gun thursday and the guys got shot at friday night) The woman I talked to accused us of being on his property and trespassing and basically told me he had every right to be threatening with a gun towards us. Well after that I told he I needed her to have someone else call me that was more familiar with the law. 30 minutes later a guy from highway patrol dispatch called me back. He was very helpful told me possible courses of action etc. I told the man I am from 10 hours away and would not have time to drive back up there to press charges plus I couldnt pick him out of a line up. SO he had a state trooper call me back, where he continued to accuse us of being the problem and that we would never be allowed back on that lake, I did my best to keep my temper in check but he could tell i was aggravated. All this took me over 3 hours on the phone. I told every single one of them that that man was going to shoot at or hit someone that night (friday) and that if it wasnt worth an officers time to go talk to this man in person and let him know his actions were not acceptable then that was extremely screwed up. And I hope they could live with their self if their lack of action resulted in someone losing their life.

Fast forward to saturday morning at like 2 am we roll up at the hotel after scouting for a few hours to find out he had in fact shot at several boats in the same area.

So back to the HUGE flaw in the Missouri law enforcement's actions. What in the world is it going to take before something is done about this, Will he have to kill someone? will he have to get in a gun fight with a bowfisherman (because im fairly confident most were strapped up). What is it going to take people. Do you want it to be you or your fishing partners, or even a fellow bowfisherman you dont know we are a tight knit bunch and I can talk to anyone anywhere that does this and i feel like i have known them my whole life, I dont want anyone hurt.

Btw we were in a fan boat and just happened to be there after 4 airboats had done circles on plane through this area.

 

Letters should be sent to the city officials and to the Governor. You will be surprised at how these people will respond back. Especially when you are bringing revenue to their cities and towns. In the letter you should inform them of all of the info in the above quote and demand an apology from the local officials that misinterpreted the law to you. Not that you will get an apology but they will certainly understand that this is something that can get real ugly real fast and is not something that this category of people (us) will simply lay down and take. They will act on this if you guys step up to the plate.