Posts Tagged → rose anna moore
ETAR 2026 is unbelievable!
The Eastern Traditional Archery Rendezvous has been kind of perking along the past few days, with campers setting up their sites, vendors setting up their tents and booths. Holy moly today was the strongest official opening day I have ever seen since 2000, when I started attending. Back then it was hosted at Denton Hill State Park in Potter County, and was a pretty decent sized event. But this, now, today….
Honestly, ETAR might almost be suffering from its own great success, because man oh gees, there were a LOT of people there. And one imagines that by tomorrow afternoon, the start of the weekend, a LOT more people will be joining the gang. Saturday will see a big push of day trippers. When I pulled out of the third parking lot at 5:00 PM this afternoon, having arrived at noon and still had to go find distant parking nonetheless, and what a beautiful afternoon it was, like Vermont kind of weather, campers were still pouring in and setting up. People were parking way up on Oregon Hill Road by English Run Road and walking quite a ways to join the event at Ski Sawmill.
This event is really an unbelievable success, and it is probably due to a natural reaction by a segment of Americans fed up with technology saturation 24/7. Toting your traditional long bow and a quiver full of arrows around to shoot instinctively at 3-D targets all day every day is about as non-tech as life can get. Lot of camaraderie and old friends. I saw my brother in law, of all people. Bought a nice new ceramic knife sharpener for camp, by Steamboat Super Sharpeners. Also got some tee shirts for family members, who could not be there with me…
Up on today’s speaking roster was Rose Anna Moore, a noted tough participant in the TV show ALONE, who was choppered out of deep British Columbia grizzly country because her inner toughness was greater than her body was tough. I first heard her speak in 2021, or 2022, at ETAR, and was impressed. Since then, she has grown her non-profit group to educate and help and heal about 500 people annually. Her place in the world is in the woods foraging, hunting, fishing. Fascinating person, and worth the event entry fee alone.
Lots of families, lots of dogs, lots of tents and custom campers and friendly strangers who are happy to talk about almost anything. ETAR is the antidote for what ails an over-technified nation like ours. It is what every family and friends summer should be, and it runs for few more days. You should go. I wish I could stay, but the Kempton Gun Maker’s Fair starts tomorrow, and a man cannot be in two places simultaneously (no marriage jokes, please, not yet, anyhow).
ETAR 2026
Everyone I know who uses sheath knives already has waaay too many knives. I myself have an awful lot of hunting knives. I do not know how this guy did selling his knives.
3-D archery targets of every shape, size, animal, alien and zombie known to humankind
Local sporting good store
The Outdoor Artist can make all kinds of outdoors stuff into pretty art for your home
Outdoor Artist, one of about 100 vendors at ETAR
The main 3-D archery field
Rose Anna Moore and some fanboys
Nessmuk’s carries wool clothing and fancy custom axes. We are fortunate to have them in the Wellsboro area
Rose Anna Moore in a vulnerable moment, when she is not battling some grizzly bear for a rotting salmon carcass
Rose Anna does interpretive presentations the old way. Her outdoor kit is laid out on the table, and the audience is invited to come up and handle stuff
Archery targets are hidden away across the entire ski slope complex
Just what you need: More camo
Prospective bow buyers testing the wares
The big tent
The Big Jim’s tent
Like a summer fair or carnival
The old steam engine that powered the old sawmill here, surrounded by campers. Lots and lots of campers
People and their bows
Main camping area
Non-stop wagons taking people hither and thon. ETAR is a big event and there are a lot of places to go
Fancy campers, basic tents, truck caps…
Parking and camping area at Ski Sawmill
David and I share the same tee shirt, and I have the hat. We hit it off immediately
summertime fun! great ETAR & Kempton shows
Big Jim replaced the arrow shelf material on my bow as only one of the top archery professionals can
The shuttle at ETAR was in constant use this year
Conservationist and outdoor leader Rose Anna Moore gave a fascinating lecture about her experiences as a wilderness survivor contestant and a mom and entrepreneur.
The Eastern Traditional Archery Rendezvous this year was the biggest, most successful ever. The Ski Sawmill location is far superior to the old Denton Hill State Park. Much more flat ground, much easier to access everything. Thousands of archery fiends camped out, and when I left campfires were just breaking out everywhere, their aromatic smoke resurrecting memories from childhood.
First time I have had to park way out on the landing strip, and take the hay wagon shuttle. Lots and lots of people!
Tyler Mazer demonstrating how he forges historically accurate knives from the 1700s
Learning how to boil cow horns in 325 degree lard so you can make a flat powder horn
Colorful character Jerry Heister is a super talented artist who works in all kinds of mediums, including horn, wood, metal, and raucous humor
Jerry Heister’s signature flat “hunter’s horn”
A ton of vendors at Kempton, this is just one room of many
Big vendors were there, including Big Jim’s Bows, KUIU hunting clothing, etc. Big Jim replaced the original arrow shelf padding on my Mike Fedora bow, showing me the advantages of simple Velcro®️in lieu of the original “Bear Hair” that had been put on by Fedora when he made the bow in 2001. Big Jim said he had sold all but a few of the bows he had made and brought with him on just the first day of the show.
At the KUIU tent I yukked it up with the guys and bought an Axis outer shell. KUIU makes their clothing super tight, and I ended up with a 4XL…. 😬. Unsure how to interpret this data. Let’s see how this works in Alaska this Fall, where water resistance if not waterproof is a necessity whenever you are outside. I hunt and fish outside. Especially in Alaska.
I did some shooting, and was generally happy with my accuracy, though I did not take a shot at Bigfoot, who was at least 150 yards out, if not farther. That’s just too far for my ability. Can you find the Bigfoot target in the picture of the archery range?
Saw some friends and acquaintances, maybe even a family member, and soaked up the breezy sunshine surrounded by wholesome families and kids.
Topped it off with a fascinating lecture by Rose Anna Moore, a pretty and down to earth mom and conservation entrepreneur and leader who competed in one of those “survival” tv shows several years ago, and whose body is still recovering. Guess those shows are real, after all…Rose Anna almost died because of her competitive spirit being boxed out by Canada’s ridiculous bureaucratic nonsense. She wasn’t allowed to eat squirrels, or even mice! Not even salmon…guess the producers of these survival shows are not the smartest people. <sigh> city people…
The next day I was at the Kempton Gunmaker’s Fair, where I was able to replace a flat powder horn I apparently left way up on our hillside in Pine Creek. Colorful character Jerry Heister made a new one almost as nice as the one he made me ten years ago.
Checked in with Mark Wheland to see how the 62 caliber BSR is coming along, and met a lot of friends along the way.
Topped off Kempton with a long and really helpful lesson in forging a knife by blacksmith Tyler Mazer.
The summer is going to be over in a few weeks, so you had better get a move on with your own plans. By the way I am seeing hardly any berries left anywhere.