The Pope & Young Club Announces 'S3DA/P&Y Clear Path Initiative'

Chatfield, MN - July 6, 2015 – The "S3DA/P&Y Clear Path Initiative" is a combined effort between Scholastic 3D Archery and The Pope & Young Club to help students and their family members transition from introductory archery to a lifetime of ethical, Fair Chase bowhunting.

Scholastic 3D Archery and The Pope & Young Club are currently in the process of rewriting the S3DA training manuals to help educate young archers and their instructors about the importance of Fair Chase ethics, conservation and the rich heritage of modern bowhunting. Whether a student decides to bow hunt or not, they will learn about the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the important role bowhunters and bowhunting play in the preservation of our wild game animals.

Pope & Young Club members will be recruited and schooled nationwide to serve as mentors and instructors for the S3DA program. The goal is a nationwide presence of instructors/mentors capable of recruiting and serving these young archers.

"The P&Y and S3DA partnership is a big win-win for the bowhunting world," says Fred Pape, President of S3DA and owner of Papes, Inc. "We are instilling bowhunting interest in countless numbers of young archers through the S3DA program and there is no other organization more trusted to guide these new bowhunters and to ensure the future of bowhunting than P&Y."

"I think the industry recognizes the natural progression to bowhunting that S3DA provides," says Jennie Richardson, Executive Director of S3DA. "During the past two years we have had countless clubs asking for bowhunting seminars geared toward a young bowhunters skill level. At S3DA, we knew we were not set-up to guide these youngsters and their families into bowhunting, so we've been looking for a bowhunting organization that would be able to assist in teaching and mentoring these youngsters in ethical, fair chase bowhunting. The Pope and Young Club stepped up to partner with S3DA, bringing a tremendous amount of creditability to introduce these young archers to bowhunting. Pope and Young Club members will join our S3DA board of directors and will provide S3DA administrative support, fundraising initiatives and become mentors to the new bowhunters in S3DA."

"Discussions regarding a possible joint venture between S3DA and the Pope & Young Club have been in the works for a few months and came to a head at the recent Pope & Young convention in April," says Dirk Dieterich, member of The Pope & Young Club's Board of Directors. "Since their founding two and a half years ago, S3DA has done a phenomenal job of introducing young folks to archery and peaking their interest in bowhunting by utilizing 3D target archery and a family approach to the sport. What was needed was a way to introduce these young folks to bowhunting and educate them about how important it is to become an ethical hunter and utilize the fair chase philosophy. Our combined goal is to provide a "clear path" from introductory archery to a lifetime as bowhunters or bowhunting supporters. Combining the talents and experiences of both organizations was the obvious way to accomplish this."

For more information or to get involved with the S3DA/P&Y Initiative, please send an email to: S3DArchery@gmail.com

The Pope & Young Club is a non-profit North American conservation and bowhunting organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of our bowhunting heritage, ethics and wildlife conservation. The Club maintains the universally recognized repository of records and statistics on North American big game animals harvested with a bow and arrow.
The Pope & Young Club • www.pope-young.org • Box 548, Chatfield, MN 55923 • Ph: 507.867.4144
Media contact Rick Mowery @: rick@pope-young.org • Ph: 989.884.3800