BlackKnight Bowbenders to host BigFoot Open
Competition featuring Top Gun, Last Man Standing is Sat., Sun.
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above, BlackKnight Club members Paul Winans, Howell, and Mike Schulz, Little Egg Harbor, practice their skills with a compound, free-style arch bow in anticipation of this weekend's 12th annual BigFoot Open in Jackson. Below, Jim Neborsky, of Lambertville, aims for the target.

Many of finest archers in the state will face a variety of tests at

this weekend's 12th annual BigFoot Open.

The BlackKnight Bowbenders' archery range in Jackson Township (on Anderson Road) will become Sherwood Forest, as archers will take aim at a number of titles, among them Top Gun, Last Man Standing and BigFoot Skins Game, as well as the overall BigFoot Open winner. There will be $3,000 in cash, prizes and gift certificates on the line at the two-day competition that runs Saturday through Sunday and is sponsored by the BlackKnight Bowbenders. Registration on both days will run from 7-10 a.m.

Anyone who owns a bow of any kind can participate this weekend.

The BigFoot Open is open to all shooters, with the competition being 14 field, 14 hunter and 30 McKenzie/Reinhart 3-D targets (at unknown distances raising the degree of difficulty). Both the 3-D and dot ranges will be open Saturday and Sunday.

If shooters choose, they can shoot only 3-D or dot targets, or both, and shoot for score or fun.

The Top Gun competition is Saturday, starting at 2:30 p.m., and is a very different contest, pitting Dot archers against 3-D archers in a shoot-off. The challenge for Dot shooters is how well they can guess the yardage on the unmarked 3-D targets, while the 3-D shooters are looking to score big in the dot on a Field Target. There will be eight shooters in the final, determined by early-morning competition.

In the morning, the Dot and 3-D shooters will shoot their normal competitive rounds - for the Dot archers, that's 14 field and 14 hunter targets, while for the 3-D shooters, it's 30 normal targets scored on a 10-8-5 basis.

At 2 p.m., all shooters will turn in their score cards with the top four Dot and top four 3-D shooters qualifying for the Top Gun final at 2:30 p.m. The finalists will shoot at three field targets at a distance no further than 50 yards and at three unmarked 3-D targets that are no further away than 50 yards. The combined scored from the two targets will be added up to determine the winner. Last year, the Top Gun honor went to 3-D shooters.

The BigFoot Skins Games is Sunday at 2 p.m. This game is an exhibition round where the weekend's top eight Dot Shooters will shoot three arrows each at nine field targets for $200 a target. If there is a tie on a target, the money from that target carries over in full to the next target, creating the possibility for some very lucrative shooting.

Last Man Standing is Sunday at 11:30 a.m. and is open to Finger Shooting Recurve and Longbow shooters for a $5 fee. Any target tipped arrow can be used and there are no sights or mechanical releases or stabilizers allowed. One finger must touch the arrow at all times. In the competition, archers will shoot two arrows at five targets at unmarked distances, chosen at random. Paper animal round targets will be used and scored 5-4-3, with an extra point for the "x" ring.

After each round, the field will be cut in half until there are three shooters standing. They will divide the prize money 50-30-20 percent with the winner being the Last Man Standing.

For more information on the BigFoot Open, or the BlackKnight Bowbenders, log on to www.blackknightbow-benders.com or call Gene Grodzki at (732) 462-2278.