Is archery dying ?

[alexnelon]

I asked about membership at local archery club in 2022 they told me waitlist was many many years wait, like 200 people Deep. then they asked if I wanted on it. Nope.

I just Got a call this year there’s an opening for me so I’m joining.

I’m not sure what that All means, either waitlist people don’t want to spend the annual fees or are dropping out of archery?

Combination of both. A lot of people getting out of the sport entirely after trying it out for a year after c19, and a lot of people who can no longer afford it without getting big giant checks in the mail from the government.

A lot of the perceptions on this forum are still stuck in 2021 when there actually were a lot more people trying out new hobbies. But those perceptions haven't adjusted back to reality with the decline we're actually experiencing.

 

[Billy Goat]

I’m not sure what that All means, either waitlist people don’t want to spend the annual fees or are dropping out of archery?

At one of my local clubs, to look over the league numbers over the past 10-12 years they have dropped.

Then you look at the names from a decade ago, and it's sad how many are dead.

 

[Szwampdonkey]

Interesting people point to things like bow sales as some sort of proof archery is alive and well. Yet there are fools out there who buy a new bow every single year because of all the “massive advances” in tech form one year to the next. Some amazingly buy multiple bows a year as they are suckers for slick marketing!

Those guys are probably keeping bow manufacturers in business cause guys actually spending their fall killing deer instead of blowing money tinkering and going to archery shoots buy like one bow every 20-30 years. Only way to explain archery sales remaining strong but archery kills going down.

Only 38,000 archery kills this year in WI down from 89,000 in 2013 season. That is a MASSIVE nosedive! I think that’s a way more accurate representation of the death of archery than bow sales.