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Iowa Bowhunters Association

Monsterbuck said:
Some questions for you board members.

I'm curious why you have decided to have the banquet on a different weekend than the deer classic? Seems like a lot of people who live further from Des Moines wouldn't want to make the drive two weekends in a row. Some of us with young kids find it hard to get away two weekends in a row even without having to drive very far.
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We decided to move the banquet ahead of the deer classic due to feedback from our members. There is so much going on the weekend of the deer classic that the IBA banquet seems to take the back burner.
- There is a huge Whitetails Unlimited Banquet on Deer classic weekend that has upwards of 400 sportsmen attending we are told.
- Our largest 100% Club - Mid Iowa Archers - is unable to attend on Deer Classic weekend because they are all busy running their Vegas Shoot at the classic.
- Lots of Groups that exhibit at the classic have planned events and dinner meetings planned for the evenings of the classic.
- Even IBA Board members have some difficulty getting there as we run a booth at the classic ourselves.
= We've talked with lots of our members at the Classic, at the Fall Festival and at our Banquet over the last several years and the majority have asked us NOT to have the banquet over Deer Classic Weekend.
- In 2016 & 17 the Banquet will be held at a fairly new facility that will be very nice, centrally located and not far away. Very easy to get to and lots of reasonably priced hotels within a couple miles plus a shuttle bus that can be used to bring people to their hotels if needed. Prices at Prairie Meadows have skyrocketed and would have required us to raise ticket prices through the roof in order to stay there any longer.
- Lots of ideas for changing up the banquet for 16 & 17 we will be working on and several new things happening at this years banquet. Active planning is still taking place so if anyone has great ideas or wants to help out in any way, there is still time and room for help.
 
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It is my understanding that the IBA has been a key component in the fight to keep the NR regs in place so I'm very surprised at the lack of membership in the IBA. As Gunrunr alluded to one only has to look at IL and KS to see what happens to non landowning residents when the gates are open.

I bought in Missouri rather than Iowa ONLY because I could get tags.

It sounds things are getting back on track for the IBA and I wish you good luck. Somehow the message of the value that the IBA brings to the bowhunters of IA needs to be communicated early and often.
 
MN Slick said:
It is my understanding that the IBA has been a key component in the fight to keep the NR regs in place so I'm very surprised at the lack of membership in the IBA. As Gunrunr alluded to one only has to look at IL and KS to see what happens to non landowning residents when the gates are open.

I bought in Missouri rather than Iowa ONLY because I could get tags.

It sounds things are getting back on track for the IBA and I wish you good luck. Somehow the message of the value that the IBA brings to the bowhunters of IA needs to be communicated early and often.
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I moved 10 hours to Iowa because of how tags are regulated. I know a lot of others have as well. That's a lot of economic stimulus that I doubt any of the policy makers are aware of.
 
We could talk all day about how the IBA members and their grass roots politics have kept Iowa's deer hunting in the best interest of it's residents. There is no other organization that protects the Iowa deer hunter and our Iowa deer hunting heritage like the IBA does.

What all this comes down to in my opinion is people have to want to give back to the things they love. Becoming involved in the IBA is an easy way to do that. Make your mark! Get involved and give back to the things you love. Be proud of it!
 
loneranger said:
Why I'm not a member,, Hatred of Cross B's,,,but I'm not bringin that up again!
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LR- I have a lot of respect for you but we disagree on this of course.... I don't think anyone "hates" crossbows. I think my sentiment goes with the majority... Crossbows for elderly and disabled are awesome. During ML season, fine, great. I bought one for my disabled nephew and I hope we can outsmart a deer & get one for him. We just don't want the MASSES out with them during Archery/Bow & arrow season. The season needs to be preserved the way it is now and not throw a big monkey wrench in it (like that last thread debated for pages) and mess with our delicate (and rebounding) resource. I will gladly pick up a crossbow later in life when my body goes downhill (which it will). I will never support crossbows during bow & arrow season and all the ripples of negative impacts it will have on: access, mature bucks, masses of gun hunters flooding to bow season, limited amount of Iowa timber/habitat that exists, etc, etc. Not doing the crossbow argumment full force on the IBA thread here and don't want to take away from IBA spotlight.
**IowaBuckSlayer2013 - man, I just don't get your motive?!?!? I seriously can't understand your push to change our Bow & arrow season that has been in place for decades and throw a monkey wrench into it?!? What's your motive here? You can use your crossbow now. No one "hates them" (ok, most don't). disabled and elderly can use them and late season you can have weeks to use them, why are you bent on the rest of the bow & arrow season that has been in place since I've ever seen it?!?! I mean, I'll fight against that and disagree with you the same as the guy who wants to put shotguns in November. NO WAY. Does it mean I "hate shotguns"? NO! (I also won't show up to a 3d shoot with my 12 gauge anytime soon either). I don't want to ruin or immensely damage our current delicate system, resource, access, etc. Maybe you don't think it would? I DO. Maybe that's our difference?

Sorry, let's keep the focus on the IBA and not one issue of thousands that may involve IBA's position on it. Back to the bigger point....

The other posts are dead on above me. Get involved. JOIN at a minimum. Listen to what the IBA discusses. Listen to their message, add to it. I was astounded, back in the day, how COMMON SENSE their approach was and how they really do have a job of "fighting off insanity & special interests". Guys like NR's, LR, etc who might not agree with 100 out 100 issues on IBA, I mean, come on - when do we agree with EVERY SINGLE POINT of anyone or any organization we know? NEVER. Republican, Democrat, Conservative, Liberal, Ministers, your family, your wife, your best friend - you're never going to agree with 100% of everything. But, the IBA, I would suspect if you're a common sense lover of Iowa's hunting, the deer hunting resource and want to protect it and keep hunting good for generations, I will suspect any of those folks will agree with 80-90% of what IBA stands for. If you don't agree with something, get involved and speak your objections. They are one of the biggest supporters of Iowa's resource, conservation and generations of hunting to come. Join and give your input.
 
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Man there sure are a few anti crossbow hunters out there. Seems there is one to find every thread. That is the reason people don't join groups like the IBA and just do their own thing. Crossbows are here to stay and aren't going anywhere. I seen 5-10 guys with crossbows in late archery. I will see even more this fall... So with that being said why join a group that is just there to pound hate into those who don't meet their standards. Just like the local 3d shoots. I know of two shutting down because of the same out come. If it's not their way it's no way. So what's the result loss of people attending and another activity down the drain.
 
IowaBuckSlayer2013 said:
Man there sure are a few anti crossbow hunters out there. Seems there is one to find every thread. That is the reason people don't join groups like the IBA and just do their own thing. Crossbows are here to stay and aren't going anywhere. I seen 5-10 guys with crossbows in late archery. I will see even more this fall... So with that being said why join a group that is just there to pound hate into those who don't meet their standards. Just like the local 3d shoots. I know of two shutting down because of the same out come. If it's not their way it's no way. So what's the result loss of people attending and another activity down the drain.
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Unbelievable! No one mentioned cross bows in this thread until Ed dropped the subject in to an otherwise very cordial and productive conversation about the IBA and membership, etc. Thanks Ed for "dropping the match". :rolleyes:

Then you jump in too and between the two of you, you take this thread in a very different, and I think, unfortunate direction. Let's keep this thread focused on the IBA and if anyone wants to reopen the crossbow debate...take it over to the 20 page thread on the subject from a week or two ago please.
 
I will make a pledge to support IBA by joining TODAY. Having not been a part of IBA my perspective is that of an outsider looking in. I offer the following as purely suggestive and not taken as being strictly critical. I have focused on things IBA could do from a "business perspective". Sorry so long.​
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  1. Banquet(s) are nice and should continue to be tweaked. There are a lot of good suggestions already in the thread and it sounds like the IBA has plans to make them better for 2016-17. That being said, banquets take a commitment of time and money to attend. Many folks don’t have one or the other or both. There is a huge audience that will never be "banquet goers" that needs to be captured.

  2. Spread the word. IBA is not "out there". If IBA is going to continued to be affective it must grow. It must recruit. It must spread the word. If it was in the budget I would hire a marketing/branding firm. Social media is an unbelievable outlet and its FREE. With the right marketing campaign the audience on social media could increase tenfold…. Almost overnight.

  3. Once a larger audience is captured it must offer relevant and interesting content. I think hunters are some of the most passionate people there are. They want to know what is going on and what the issues are. They will listen.

  4. The IBA website needs a major overhaul. It looks low budget and is not very appealing to the eye. This should be redone in conjunction with a rebranding of IBA. It doesn’t even appear you can sign up on the website (although you can pay via paypal). It appears you have to print something off and send it snailmail. I equate this to not being able to pay at the pump at a gas station. Its archaic! See QDMA website as an example of one that is well put together.

  5. The IBA logo is not very easy to read. The logo is actually blurry on the website! The most prominent thing on it is the word "IOWA". If someone glanced at while in passing on say a T-shirt all they would see is "Iowa". Again this could be tweaked as part of a larger rebranding effort. This may seem like a trivial thing, but it is not. People need to know who you are when a logo is used on any marketing material and it needs to be recognizable…instantly.

  6. Mission Statement: Does the IBA have one? It may be listed on the website….kinda sort of. "Its purpose is to protect, defend, and promote bowhunting in the state of Iowa". This mission statement should be tweaked and it should be at the forefront of what everything IBA does. It should be one of the first things people see when they go to the website so in 5 seconds someone who has no knowledge of IBA can get the idea of what IBA is all about.

  7. People on here have stated that they have not "felt" the benefit of being a part of IBA. It doesn’t matter if anyone on here agrees with that or not. It is irrelevant. If people perceive no benefit then that is their reality. IBA needs to "trumpet the masses" about what they have done, what they are doing, what they plan to do and explain the benefits of supported IBA. "Wins" by IBA should be celebrated and reported.
 
Iowabowhunter those all great ideas. This to me is were a lot of focus should be and suggestions should look like. I have printed that list off and will bring it with me to our next meeting. To clarify a little on some of them. #2 is something we are really pushing to do and it was discussed in length at the last meeting. We have a good start already but now there is a lot more to do. There are a few other ideas brewing that will be brought up shortly. #4 which has already been discussed is already in the works and you are right on. Expect those changes you mentioned to happen shortly. #5 and 6 both have been brought up recently as well in meetings and are being worked on as well.

Thanks
 
bkcrrtnps said:
Bingo, add in buying land and all of our money being here!
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Yes and a lifetime of wages being spent and taxes being collected. Unfortunately, I fear the louder voice is in the room is going to be that of the people with the short sighted view of how much could be collected by opening up tags.
 
Great post Iowabowhunter1983. My comments are in red below.

Banquet(s) are nice and should continue to be tweaked. There are a lot of good suggestions already in the thread and it sounds like the IBA has plans to make them better for 2016-17. That being said, banquets take a commitment of time and money to attend. Many folks don’t have one or the other or both. There is a huge audience that will never be "banquet goers" that needs to be captured.

Moving the banquet to a different location and even further (3 weeks before instead of the week before ) from the Deer Classic will attendance since the banquet and Deer Classic will be on back-to-back weekends.


Spread the word. IBA is not "out there". If IBA is going to continued to be affective it must grow. It must recruit. It must spread the word. If it was in the budget I would hire a marketing/branding firm. Social media is an unbelievable outlet and its FREE. With the right marketing campaign the audience on social media could increase tenfold…. Almost overnight.

We have ramped up our social media presence and have instantly seen positive results. This increased presence will continue. Follow us on Twitter @IAbowhunters or like us on Facebook.

I am the chair of the newly created marketing committee and have been in marketing/sales for two large companies over the past 10 years. We have to eat the elephant one bite at a time and at some point a marketing/branding firm will have to be brought in. I feel with the experience the marketing committee has, we can make an immediate impact at a lower cost and then take the next bite.


Once a larger audience is captured it must offer relevant and interesting content. I think hunters are some of the most passionate people there are. They want to know what is going on and what the issues are. They will listen.

Agree completely. Any ideas from the membership are appreciated and we will work to make them happen.


The IBA website needs a major overhaul. It looks low budget and is not very appealing to the eye. This should be redone in conjunction with a rebranding of IBA. It doesn’t even appear you can sign up on the website (although you can pay via paypal). It appears you have to print something off and send it snailmail. I equate this to not being able to pay at the pump at a gas station. Its archaic! See QDMA website as an example of one that is well put together.

Website is being overhauled as we speak and changes should be made over the next month. I agree that an online form for signup with credit card payment would be much more user friendly than Paypal or printing off a form to mail/scan and email back to the IBA.

This is already being incorporated into the new website!!


The IBA logo is not very easy to read. The logo is actually blurry on the website! The most prominent thing on it is the word "IOWA". If someone glanced at while in passing on say a T-shirt all they would see is "Iowa". Again this could be tweaked as part of a larger rebranding effort. This may seem like a trivial thing, but it is not. People need to know who you are when a logo is used on any marketing material and it needs to be recognizable…instantly.

This is the next bite off the elephant and the next logical step after the website redesign and was discussed at the last board meeting.


Mission Statement: Does the IBA have one? It may be listed on the website….kinda sort of. "Its purpose is to protect, defend, and promote bowhunting in the state of Iowa". This mission statement should be tweaked and it should be at the forefront of what everything IBA does. It should be one of the first things people see when they go to the website so in 5 seconds someone who has no knowledge of IBA can get the idea of what IBA is all about.

In any business this needs to be easy to find on the homepage for everyone to see. This will be changed!


People on here have stated that they have not "felt" the benefit of being a part of IBA. It doesn’t matter if anyone on here agrees with that or not. It is irrelevant. If people perceive no benefit then that is their reality. IBA needs to "trumpet the masses" about what they have done, what they are doing, what they plan to do and explain the benefits of supported IBA. "Wins" by IBA should be celebrated and reported.

Agree and that is why we are more aggressive about posting on Facebook and Twitter.
 
sheepman said:
Great post Iowabowhunter1983. My comments are in red below.

Banquet(s) are nice and should continue to be tweaked. There are a lot of good suggestions already in the thread and it sounds like the IBA has plans to make them better for 2016-17. That being said, banquets take a commitment of time and money to attend. Many folks don’t have one or the other or both. There is a huge audience that will never be "banquet goers" that needs to be captured.

Moving the banquet to a different location and even further (3 weeks before instead of the week before ) from the Deer Classic will attendance since the banquet and Deer Classic will be on back-to-back weekends.


Spread the word. IBA is not "out there". If IBA is going to continued to be affective it must grow. It must recruit. It must spread the word. If it was in the budget I would hire a marketing/branding firm. Social media is an unbelievable outlet and its FREE. With the right marketing campaign the audience on social media could increase tenfold…. Almost overnight.

We have ramped up our social media presence and have instantly seen positive results. This increased presence will continue. Follow us on Twitter @IAbowhunters or like us on Facebook.

I am the chair of the newly created marketing committee and have been in marketing/sales for two large companies over the past 10 years. We have to eat the elephant one bite at a time and at some point a marketing/branding firm will have to be brought in. I feel with the experience the marketing committee has, we can make an immediate impact at a lower cost and then take the next bite.


Once a larger audience is captured it must offer relevant and interesting content. I think hunters are some of the most passionate people there are. They want to know what is going on and what the issues are. They will listen.

Agree completely. Any ideas from the membership are appreciated and we will work to make them happen.


The IBA website needs a major overhaul. It looks low budget and is not very appealing to the eye. This should be redone in conjunction with a rebranding of IBA. It doesn’t even appear you can sign up on the website (although you can pay via paypal). It appears you have to print something off and send it snailmail. I equate this to not being able to pay at the pump at a gas station. Its archaic! See QDMA website as an example of one that is well put together.

Website is being overhauled as we speak and changes should be made over the next month. I agree that an online form for signup with credit card payment would be much more user friendly than Paypal or printing off a form to mail/scan and email back to the IBA.

This is already being incorporated into the new website!!


The IBA logo is not very easy to read. The logo is actually blurry on the website! The most prominent thing on it is the word "IOWA". If someone glanced at while in passing on say a T-shirt all they would see is "Iowa". Again this could be tweaked as part of a larger rebranding effort. This may seem like a trivial thing, but it is not. People need to know who you are when a logo is used on any marketing material and it needs to be recognizable…instantly.

This is the next bite off the elephant and the next logical step after the website redesign and was discussed at the last board meeting.


Mission Statement: Does the IBA have one? It may be listed on the website….kinda sort of. "Its purpose is to protect, defend, and promote bowhunting in the state of Iowa". This mission statement should be tweaked and it should be at the forefront of what everything IBA does. It should be one of the first things people see when they go to the website so in 5 seconds someone who has no knowledge of IBA can get the idea of what IBA is all about.

In any business this needs to be easy to find on the homepage for everyone to see. This will be changed!


People on here have stated that they have not "felt" the benefit of being a part of IBA. It doesn’t matter if anyone on here agrees with that or not. It is irrelevant. If people perceive no benefit then that is their reality. IBA needs to "trumpet the masses" about what they have done, what they are doing, what they plan to do and explain the benefits of supported IBA. "Wins" by IBA should be celebrated and reported.

Agree and that is why we are more aggressive about posting on Facebook and Twitter.
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One thing to mention. You can get a badass logo designed for about $300 on 99designs.com. If you are not familiar with it check it out. You set general guidelines and receive designs from people all over the country. You select the winner and they get the prize money. You help steer the design as they go by providing feedback. This is a fraction of what a company would charge and you get a whole lot more minds working on it. I have used it twice for my businesses and was very happy with the results.
 
Liv4Rut said:
I have sent in money twice to the IBA but after I have done that I have not heard anything. No newsletters, email updates etc or letters saying I need to renew. I did not see a benefit outside of just sending money and not hearing anything. I would like to support the IBA but it would be cool to at least get an email update on newsletters or something along those lines to see what is going on. As far as attending events it is simply a time issue. Tough to get away with little kids.
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Me too Mike. I know I paid twice, maybe three times, always at the classic and brought up the lack of email contact and no newsletters. I would get the newsletter once then not until I brought it up again the following year. The lack of a website that seemed to never get an update also was frustrating, for me at least. Now, I didn't buy memberships for the newsletter, and I know the IBA has done great work in the past for bowhunters, but it makes me wonder what is happening with an organization that has trouble maintain a mailing list.
 
Glad to hear the website re-vamp. With all the tech dudes on here, if it were needed, maybe you could get some volunteer help? But, maybe we're past that point and you have it solved now. Lot of tech & marketing type folks on here. I couldn't build a website to save my life but IW is a good place to find guys that could. Or, ya, I have to imagine you discovered the obvious - there's likely a million top notch website builders out there you could pay a reasonable fee to. Pretty standard for anyone and any business to have a really nice website so shouldn't be that hard. No brainer on the cost VS ROI & value either. Even a dumb dumb like me could find the right people to get the job done right.

All great suggestions on everything else. I sure hope IBA continues to grow and attract new members. It's a critical need to have IBA around and I can't think we'll ever not have a big need for them in my lifetime, unless deer go the way of the pheasant or something.
 
I was a member for one year in 2005 or 2006. I signed up at the classic and got a couple things in the mail throughout the year. I didn't go to the classic the next year and I never received any renewal notices. I will probably join again now, but it seems strange that nobody even tried to get me to renew. I would think it would be easy to have a program tell you who didn't renew and contact them to see if it was an oversight or there was a problem. If someone was mad and didn't renew, maybe contacting them to follow up would get them back and possibly help change something they didn't like. At the least it would make them think you care if they're a member or not.
 
DGorman said:
I was a member for one year in 2005 or 2006. I signed up at the classic and got a couple things in the mail throughout the year. I didn't go to the classic the next year and I never received any renewal notices. I will probably join again now, but it seems strange that nobody even tried to get me to renew. I would think it would be easy to have a program tell you who didn't renew and contact them to see if it was an oversight or there was a problem. If someone was mad and didn't renew, maybe contacting them to follow up would get them back and possibly help change something they didn't like. At the least it would make them think you care if they're a member or not.
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We are operating with a 2006 or older laptop with antiquated software. Revamps of that is also in the works. You should have gotten mailings and renewal notices, if you didnt' then something is messed up . All new people are in charge of this now and we are trying to fix it. We spend an hour on just that this afternoon. Send a PM to Hawk32 on here as he has our lists and we will do everything we can to get you squared away.
 
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