Robin Hood might not have been among the more than 1,900 competitive archers who descended on Foley Feb. 27 and 28 for the Archery Shooters Association Hoyt Archery Alabama Pro-Am, but some of his fellow countrymen were.

“We’ve got archers here from all over the world,” said Dee Falks, national director of ASA’s federation of clubs. “We have archers here from as far away as England.”

The tournament was one of six national pro-am tournaments ASA will hold this year, including its national championship. It kicks off the tournament season for ASA, which will run through August and had the best attendance of any first tournament of the year yet.

Archery Shooters Association targets Foley with tournament from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

The pro-am is a 3D archery tournament in which archers shoot at foam replicas of game animals with targets on them. Where the archer hits the target on the animal replica determines his or her score. Targets are placed in natural settings at varying distances from the hunter.

Foley hosted the tournament at the city-owned Graham Creek Wildlife Preserve, a park intended for outdoor recreation and passive activities. Archers used the park’s nature trail for target ranges and tournament organizers cut target lanes along the paths.

“It seems to be a really good fit for out here,” said Leslie Gahagan, environmental director for the city of Foley.

Clay Harbstreit of Bedford, Indiana, takes aim at a practice target during the Archery Shooters Association Hoyt Archery Alabama Pro-Am tournament in Foley Saturday. The tournament attracted 1,900 competitive archers from as far away as England. (Robert DeWitt/Alabama NewsCenter)

The preserve already featured an archery park, an outdoor classroom, a canoe launch and a disk golf course. The city is building a $1.2 million, 12,000-square-foot multi-purpose pavilion. It would be useful to tournament officials if they and Foley officials decide to hold the tournament in Foley again.

ASA likes to put locations on a one-year trial. If ASA, the host and the participating archers all believe it is a good fit, ASA tries to reach a 5-year agreement with the host, Falks said.

“I really think Foley is going to work,” Falks said.

Archers seemed to like Foley.

“It’s a good shoot,” said Clay Harbstreit of Bedford, Indiana. “It’s well organized with good target presentations. It’s a nice property.”

Heath McGill of Campobello, South Carolina, shot in an ASA tournament in Kentucky last year. He thought the Foley tournament compared favorably.

“It’s a fantastic location,” McGill said. “There’s plenty of hotels, plenty of places for family members to go, like the beach, and lots of nice restaurants.”

Don Staley, executive director of the Foley Sports Tourism, attracted a similar tournament to Tuscaloosa while working with Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports Commission. When ASA was looking for a new location to replace the pro-am it had held in Gainesville, Florida, for years, ASA officials contacted Staley about Foley’s potential as a host site.

Heath McGill of Campobello, South Carolina, inspects arrows in a practice target shaped like a boar during the Archery Shooters Association Hoyt Archery Alabama Pro-Am tournament Saturday at the Graham Creek Nature Preserve in Foley. The tournament drew more than 1,900 competitive archers. (Robert DeWitt/Alabama NewsCenter)

“This is the biggest event to date we’ve done in Foley,” Staley said. He hopes to make the tournament an annual event and to attract more events like it to Foley.

In addition to the 1,900 competitors, family members accompany archers to the tournament. Falks estimates another 1,000 people come to the area for the tournament.

Archers are scored on 40 targets during the tournament, shot in two rounds of 20 targets each. They compete in different classes that are determined by skill level and equipment type. Most of the archers use modified compound bows like those used in hunting. Only about 30 competitors used recurve bows, Falks said.

Three dimensional target competitions are frequently used to sharpen hunting skills.

“It will make you a lot better hunter,” Falks said. “I personally use 3D archery to help my bow hunting skills.”

But the organization isn’t limited to hunters.

“There are a lot of avid hunters in our organization but many of our members are strictly target shooters,” Falks said.

Most of the organization’s members live in the eastern two-thirds of the country with much of the activity concentrated in the Southeast. By the end of the year, it will have about 300 local clubs scattered throughout the country. In addition to the national pro-am tournaments, ASA also organizes about 190 state qualifier and state championship tournaments a year.

Archers can qualify for the ASA national championship either by qualifying for and participating in a state championship or by participating in at least two of the national pro-am tournaments. The organization also names a shooter of the year in each of its classes.

Ten percent of the entry fees in each class go into a pot for the shooter of the year purse.

Heath McGill of Campobello, South Carolina, prepares to shoot at a practice target during the Archery Shooters Association Hoyt Archery Alabama Pro-Am tournament in Foley Saturday. The tournament attracted 1,900 competitive archers from as far away as England. (Robert DeWitt/Alabama NewsCenter)