Williamsburg, KY – Scholastic 3-D Archery held the 8th annual S3DA Eastern Indoor National Championship at the Owensboro Convention Center in Owensboro, Kentucky on March 2nd-5th, 2023. As part of the event, S3DA had a conservation booth to make S3DA members, parents, and coaches aware that the program is actively promoting bowhunting and conservation activities to bridge the gap between target archery and hunting. All S3DA youth archers that stopped by the conservation booth were entered into a raffle for the opportunity to win a 3D deer target. Other activities included: Using different turkey calls, guessing the age of a deer with a jawbone from a deer, looking at different age deer antlers, as well as viewing and touching mounts of a bobcat and trout, aging turkey beards and spurs. Various organizations and companies, including but not limited to Vortex and OnX provided donations for giveaways.

“The S3DA conservation initiative is bringing youth archers and their families the information and inspiration they need to enjoy a lifetime of enjoyment in the outdoors. S3DA touches on many different aspects of conservation. It’s not just hunting at all. It’s fishing, predator management, food plot installation and seed selection, foraging, and just developing a passion for the outdoors. We’re proud to play a role in creating the next generation of archers and conservationists,” said Kerby Long, Kentucky S3DA State Conservation Coordinator.

S3DA National Conservation Coordinator, Patty Reel said, “Teaching kids conservation will in return further the care for our natural resources. We are providing them tools to last them a lifetime and by teaching just one child, they can then pass on what they have learned with someone else. One of the really neat things we were able to do at this event was provide each archer a piece of paper with information on conservation and at the bottom they signed to pledge to be a conservationist. We had tons of archers and their families to visit the booth over the 4-day event. I look forward to the 3D season now and working with our state conservation coordinators to continue implementing conservation education at regional and state 3D events.”

The S3DA National Conservation Coordinator and State Conservation Coordinators are working directly with the Archery Trade Association (ATA) and various state and wildlife agencies to encourage participants to get more involved in archery and efforts that protect and preserve the nation’s natural resources. S3DA aims to have a “Conservation Booth” at each of the 2023 Eastern S3DA National events and encourages conservation activities at each S3DA state event. S3DA National Conservation Coordinator, Patty Reel and various state conservation coordinators are working diligently to put together a plan for lots of fun-filled activities for archers and their families at the upcoming Eastern 3D National Championship set for Rend Lake, Illinois on June 15th-18th, 2023.

To learn more about the S3DA program, please visit the Scholastic 3-D Archery Facebook page or the website.

About Scholastic 3-D Archery

Scholastic 3-D Archery (S3DA) is a unique, family-oriented youth archery program which has grown exponentially across the United States as a next-step initiative to follow introductory archery programs. The mission of the Scholastic

3-D Archery program is to foster, educate and guide youth in the areas of 3D, indoor target, and outdoor target archery as well as safe, ethical bowhunting practices. The goal of the S3DA program is to provide archery and bowhunting opportunities to youth in after-school settings, as well as with archery-affiliated clubs and businesses in the community. S3DA youth participate in 3-D and target archery using compound and traditional archery equipment. Youth members can participate at regional, state and national archery events and earn college scholarships from colleges and universities across the United States. S3DA addresses the need for a program to bridge beginning target archery experience and more advanced activities such as 3-D shooting and bowhunting. The program currently operates across the United States with hundreds of certified coaches serving thousands of youth archers.

Contact the Scholastic 3-D Archery National Office at:

www.s3da.org or 410 Sycamore Street, Williamsburg, KY 40769, Ph: 606.524.3685

Media contact Kayla Bolton at kayla@s3da.org, Ph: 423.494.2204