While both entities are worthwhile endeavors, and a few of the inductees are recognized in both organizations, there are distinct differences. Some of the inductees of the AHoF are industrialists and have never bowhunted. Others are world class and dedicated target archers who have never hunted with their bows. Certainly, there are some who have hunted with bows and arrows, however many of these individuals have hunted with crossbows and compound bows.

On the other hand, inductees in the TBHoF are dedicated bowhunters who have hunted with the longbow, recurve, and/or selfbow for a substantial portion of their lives, and have in some way been dedicated promoters of this traditional way of life for most of those years. 

First of all, there are no salaried individuals on the Board of Directors. They are all volunteer positions. The monies that are donated by our supporters are used for typical office supplies; things like a dedicated phone line, printer paper, domain names for our web page, shipping, etc.  The awards/plaques alone for each of our inductees is approximately one-hundred-and-fifty dollars ($150).  

One of our short term goals is for a traveling museum of artifacts from our inductees. A longer range goal is for a brick and mortar museum to house additional historical and educational artifacts.  These goals cannot be accomplished without financial support from our patrons who share this passion that we have for adventure and things wild.

The Board of Directors is in sync with the belief that there are individuals in this world of ours who have unselfishly dedicated their lives to this way of life that we love. In many cases, they have hunted with their traditional bows for thirty, forty, fifty years or more. In some way, they have been of service to our traditional community by mentoring young and old for the entirety of those years. They may have been major officers of their local or state bowhunter association or traditional bowhunter groups for any number of years. They may have donated countless bows or other bowhunting tackle to those same organizations. It’s possible they have written articles promoting ethical sportsmanship afield during those years, or even testified before various wildlife agencies. And yet, these individuals are not known on the national level. We believe they deserve to be recognized and their names should sit alongside those more recognized nationally known names that we are so accustomed to seeing. 

So yes, it is very possible, and even likely, that someone in Small Town, USA from the West Coast, will likely see the name of someone from Small Town, USA on the East Coast inducted into the TBHoF some day. We encourage you to look over our induction guidelines on our website and let us know about these individuals.

It is most likely one of these two reasons:

First of all, some of the nominations that we have received have been brief, one paragraph nominations that clearly suggest that the nominating individual did not take the time to go over the proper procedures that have been outlined.  Keep in mind that the person you are nominating may not be known to each of the Board members so we need for you to be thorough. For sure, these nominations are gong to take some effort in preparing. The procedures that we have outlined ask a lot of questions so as to help guide you in going over the nominees bowhunting career. It doesn’t mean that the nominee has to have achieved each and every listed line item. We’ve asked a lot of questions so that we can get to know each of the candidates. Additionally, we want to be aboveboard and transparent, so that nominations that do not follow the guidelines we have requested, will either be discarded or returned.

Secondly, be patient! If all of the information you have submitted is complete and the Board has agreed that this individual is worthy of consideration, they will be passed on to the electors for voting at some point. But it may take a year or two, or even more. Why is that? Well, for starters, we have decided to keep the number of inductees relatively small each year. Every year will be different based on a number of factors.  Keep in mind that for the foreseeable future, we are borrowing time from the Compton Traditional Bowhunters, Big Game Classic and the Professional Bowhunters Society, Biennial Gathering. So time is a factor. We usually will have an hour or two for the presentations. Some years we may induct only four or five individuals, while other years we may induct as many as eight or nine. Also, while qualifications is certainly going to be a primary factor in who is being inducted, other lesser factors will also be considered. In order to keep this a true national and/or international Hall of Fame, it’s possible that we spread the nominations out from around the country or globe for each year’s class of inductees, as in selection someone from the north, south, east or west, or even someone from Australia or Canada. We might choose two lesser known local or state nominees, and then two nationally known individuals. The point is, it won’t happen overnight. Be patient. We’re as excited to get to everyone as you are.