Archery festival offers competition, trade show

Whether you're an experienced archer or just curious about the various archery disciplines, you might want to set aside a few hours to drop by the Riviera this weekend. Some of the world's finest archers will shoot for a share of some serious prize money and have the opportunity to learn about the newest archery equipment.

The National Field Archery Association World Archery Festival combines competitive archery with a trade show and is open to the public. Event organizers bill the event as "The Largest Archery Show in the West" and say the trade show will offer more archery products than you will find anywhere else.

While that remains to be seen, the list of event sponsors is extensive and includes names such as Hoyt, PSE, Beman, Sims Vibration Technology and Mathews. It couldn't hurt to do a little window shopping, could it?

Besides, admission is free.

The list of tournament participants is almost 45 pages long and includes shooters from the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Belgium and Slovenia in addition to the United States. The Las Vegas shoot is the first of three major NFAA tournaments and has a total payout of more than $165,000.

Gee, maybe it's time to dust off that bow and start practicing for next year.

To keep things interesting, tournament organizers have included five shooting styles on the competition menu. One of those is Freestyle Bowhunter, which permits the use of fixed-reference or sighting points, a string peep and a kisser button. But none of these can be adjusted once competition begins, so the shooter has to have everything dialed in by the time he finishes the official practice period.

The rules are specific about having no other marks or reference points that can be used as sights. However, shooters are allowed to use release aids. The bow even can be equipped with string silencers and a quiver, so one probably could use his hunting bow to get started in this game.

On the other end of the spectrum, archers competing in Barebow style must use a bow free of sights, marks or blemishes that could be used as sighting aids. They also are limited to using gloves, tabs or fingers. Release aids are not allowed for this style.

Other shooting styles on the competition lineup are Freestyle, Freestyle Limited Compound and Freestyle Limited Recurve/Longbow. Freestyle is the big-money style, with the first-place finisher taking home $25,000. Tournament competitors are divided by gender and age groups.

Competition starts at 7 a.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The trade show area opens at 9 a.m. those days.

Also on the agenda is the Nevada National Archery in the Schools State Tournament, which is expected to draw nearly 350 local student-archers who participate in the National Archery in the Schools Program. Although this event is not an official part of the World Archery Festival, the NFAA is providing space on its shooting lanes so the young men and women have a place to compete. It takes place at 9 a.m. today.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.