Local club hosts archery shoot
By Greg Seubert
Holiday archery shoots are nothing new at the Chain O’ Lakes Conservation Club.
This one, however, was different.
Hundreds of archers showed up at the club near Waupaca July 3-5 during the latest stop on the HHA USA Veterans Archery Shoot Tour.
Not only did they head out on the club’s 3D archery range, they also raised money for veterans’ groups, including the Old Glory Honor Flight.
Club president Craig Bailey served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and talked to tour organizer Chris Hamm last year about adding the club to the tour’s 2020 schedule.
“I talked to Chris at DeerFest and it sounded like it would work out well for us,” Bailey said.
The club has opened its 3D range to the public on Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends in the past.
“This club hosts three shoots a year and it’s always on a holiday weekend,” Hamm said. “This is actually one of the largest 3D shoots in the state. They have a beautiful course, one of the nicest in the state.”
More than 100 shooters showed up for the first two days of the event and Bailey expected at least another 100 on the final day.
“I think it’s important to honor the vets that served,” he said. “We had people tell us the first day that that was the reason they came.”
Some of the proceeds from the shoot are earmarked for the Old Glory Honor Flight, which provides one-day trips to World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans from northeastern Wisconsin to Washington, D.C., to visit memorials built in their honor.
Helping veterans
Hamm is vice president of operations at HHA Sports Inc., an archery manufacturing business based in Wisconsin Rapids.
He founded HHA USA in 2019, but the roots of the organization go back to 2015.
“I started as a ground volunteer for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight out of Wausau,” Hamm said. “I completely fell in love with the organization and fell in love with our veterans.
Hamm’s father started HHA Sports in the 1980s.
“We’ve been very successful over the years,” Hamm said. “I feel as a business owner when you have that success, it’s great to have it for yourself, but you need to share it with somebody else. That was where my heart for veterans and the HHA USA project came from.”
Hamm began organizing archery shoots in central Wisconsin three years ago to raise money for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight in 2017.
“We did three shoots, one in Wisconsin Rapids, one in (Stevens) Point and one in Wausau,” he said. “Our money comes from shoot fees, but we get about 60 to 70% of our funds from the silent auction. I get all those items donated from all the contacts I have in the archery industry.”
Those first three shoots raised $15,000.
“We gave all that to the Honor Flight,” Hamm said. “It costs $500 to send a veteran on the Honor Flight, so that was about 30 vets that first year.”
Those same three shoots raised $30,000 in 2018 and a fourth event last year helped push the 2019 total to $45,000.
Hamm added a fourth event last year in Wausau and raised $45,000.
“In 10 weekends over the last three years, I’ve put on these archery shoots with the help of clubs like this and archery shops and raised $90,000, which I thought was pretty awesome,” he said. “The more of these I did, I would have attendees say, ‘Hey, I love what you’re doing, would you come down here?’
“The demand is growing, but I don’t have a fundraising bucket to move to other places because the Never Forgotten Honor Flight only covers a certain part of the state,” he said. “This is Old Glory territory, so if I want to come over here, I have to do something different.”
Focus on PTSD
The USA in HHA USA stands for Uniting Service Members in Archery.
“We are also actively involved in the fight against PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and the 22 veterans a day that take their lives,” Hamm said.
He works with the E3 Ranch Foundation, Wounded Warriors in Action and the Kniestedt Foundation to help servicemen and women enjoy outdoor activities, including hunting and fishing.
“Now that we have our own organization, we’re going to give the first 22% of our profits to those organizations to enable them to get folks out hunting and fishing,” Hamm said. “If we make $100,000 this year, $22,000 is going to get divided into those three buckets. The majority of the rest of the money will plug into the Honor Flight chapter of the community where we host our shoot.”
This year’s shoots will raise money for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight, Old Glory Honor Flight and Freedom Honor Flight, based in La Crosse.
“We’re trying to expand our footprint and I don’t want to do it too quickly,” Hamm said. “I run a business and I know you have to walk before you run. I don’t want to have 20 events just to say we’re having 20 events. I want to have eight to 10 good events that people mark off on their calendar every year and say, ‘Hey, that’s that HHA USA shoot, we’re going to go.’”
This year’s tour started in January at the Antigo Bow Club in Antigo and also included stops in Weston, Stevens Point, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids. The tour will wrap up July 11-12 in Warrens.
“This is our third or fourth shoot since things opened back up in Wisconsin after COVID-19,” Hamm said. “We can social distance pretty easily at an archery shoot. We’re golfing with bows and arrows.”
Wisconsin’s archery and hunting community has always been passionate about veterans, according to Hamm.
“That’s made it so easy for me to get donations,” he said. “I pick up the phone or send an email and boom, two days later, I have two or three boxes of stuff sitting out on my receiving dock. It warms my heart to be able to use my influence and my success over the years to bless other people.”
Hooked on archery
Most of the shoot’s participants came from out of town, including Crystal Zessin of Oshkosh, a member of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Archery Club team.
“A bunch of my teammates came and shot yesterday, so I wanted to make it out today,” she said after warming up on the club’s practice range.
“I just love getting out and shooting during the day,” said Zessin, who competed on a club team in Hortonville, the Blazin’ Arrows, while attending Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton.
“I love how relaxing it is and how many friendships I make,” she said. “I’ve met so many great people here. I love the competitive aspect of it and getting to go to tournaments. It’s kept me hooked.”
Zessin has participated in HHA-sponsored tournaments in the past.
“It’s another opportunity to support a good cause while doing a thing I love,” she said.
“There are national circuits where people are shooting competitively and they’re trying to get the best score and win money,” Hamm said. “That’s not what this is about, even though there is scorekeeping. This is all for fun.
“The last thing I want people to think when they see archery shoot is, ‘Oh, I’m not going to go to that one because Joe Smith is the best shooter in the county and he’s going to beat me,’” he added. “This is a day for the whole family. We have a little guy who looks like he’s 5 or 6 years old and he’s coming to shoot with Dad today. You have families getting into the outdoors to raise money for a great cause. How awesome is that?”