Six New Inductees Into the Pope & Young Hall of Fame
Pope and Young recently inducted six highly deserving Pope and Young members into its Hall of Fame at the 34th Biennial Convention.
At the 32nd Biennial Convention, Pope and Young announced the creation of their Hall of Fame and inducted its first five members. Becoming a part of the Hall of Fame, for an organization with so many iconic hunters and conservationists, is something to be held in high regard. Each of this year’s inductees have played a significant role in the promotion and preservation of bowhunting, and Pope and Young is proud to induct them into the prestigious Hall of Fame.
This year’s Biennial’s Hall of Fame inductees include:
M.R. James: As editor of Bowhunter Magazine for some 35 years, Bowhunter became the most successful and widely read archery/bowhunting publication in history. M.R. arrowed his first record book whitetail deer in 1963. Since then, he has successfully bowhunted most North American big game species. A long-standing member of the Pope and Young Club, M.R. has served the Club as a Board Member and later as President.
In 2001 M.R. was inducted into the Archery Hall of Fame as its 54th member. In 1999 James was awarded the Outdoor Writers Associations, Excellence in Craft award in recognition of his writing career. In 1988 James was named one of Bowhunting 25 most influential personalities. Most overlooked is his contribution to bowhunting has been the great many local, state and national bowhunting gatherings that M.R. appeared at over his career. M.R. James’s many contributions to the P&Y Club not only include his many years as a club officer but also as a seminar, luncheon and Saturday night keynote speaker at the Club’s Conventions. M.R. has always been a generous donor to the clubs’ fundraising auctions and other fundraising projects.
As an influencer and educator there are few of the equal of M.R. James. James’s greatest attribute is his friendly and outgoing personality. James always makes himself available to any convention attendee who wants to visit.
John D. “Jack” Frost: Jack has 69 years of bowhunting experience and has hunted exclusively with bow and arrow since 1980. His first bow kill of small game came at age 7, with his first bow kill of big game (deer) at age 16 in 1961. He has taken 29 North American big game species with at least one of each recorded in the P&Y Records. Jack serves as a Master Instructor for the National Bowhunter Education Foundation, as well as an Official Measurer for Pope and Young. On top of being a Senior Pope and Young Member, Jack is also a Lifetime Member to eight other organizations.
Jack served on the Board of Directors for Pope and Young from 2004-2012 and was elected to serve two terms as Director. Jack continues to serve on the Board of Directors for the National Bowhunter Education Foundation, where he began serving in 2000. He also still holds a position on the Board of Directors for the Alaskan Bowhunters Association, where he has served since 1998. Jack has served extensively on the boards of hunting, conservation, and education organizations at the local, state, and national level.
Roger Atwood: Roger has been an active member of the Club for nearly 50 years. He became a member of the Club in 1976, and an Official Measurer in 1978. Roger and his wife Nancy were married while attending the 1981 Pope and Young Convention. Roger achieved Regular Membership status in 1991, and Senior Membership status in 1996. He was elected to the Board from 1998 through 2008, served on the Records Committee from 2008 to 2016, and served as Records Committee Chair from 2008 through 2010.
Roger was Elected President of the Club from 2010 through 2014, and served 22 years on the Board, and 10 years as the Director. Roger has also served as a measurer at more than 20 Pope and Young Panels.
As well as his incredible service to Pope and Young, Roger has played significant roles in Boone and Crockett, Idaho State Bowhunters, and Upper Snake River Bowmen Club.
Billy Ellis: A very charismatic character, Billy Ellis also has a long-time service to Pope and Young and their mission to Preserve, Promote, and Protect his shared passion for bowhunting. He served as a board member for many terms. Billy is also the one who started the Pope and Young Trust Fund and was the first Trust Officer. He was a guest speaker at many of the Biennial Conventions, sharing many colorful stories, mostly as “Colonel Billy!” Billy was recently inducted into the Mississippi Outdoors Hall of Fame. He helped form the PCBA, Physically Challenged Bowhunters of America, and early on hosted many hunts for them at his place outside Lexington, MS. Billy is also the author of many books, particularly Hunter to the Dawn, which is about many of his hunting trips. He has been a positive voice for bowhunting, conservation, and Pope and Young for many, many years.
Charlie Kroll: Fred Bear needed a cook for an Alaskan hunt, and he got word that Charlie Kroll, one of Howard Hill's friends, was a good cook, so Fred invited to camp. Fred took a liking to Charlie and invited him to come work at Bear Archery. He was hoping to make enough money for a grubstake to move to Alaska. Then he met Fred's daughter, Julia, and that one-year stint at bear archery turned into 37 years. Charlie did not get the notoriety that Fred received but he was the guy behind the scenes. Charlie was the curator of the Fred Bear Museum and wrote the scripts for all 22 movies that Fred made. Charlie wrote many of the articles for magazines because Fred did not have time. The Archer's Bible was written by Charlie as was Fred's Biography.
While he was doing all this for Fred, Charlie was Executive Secretary of Pope and Young from 1967 to 1969. He was 2nd Vice President from 1978 to 1980, 1st Vice President from 1980 to 1984, and Conservation Chair from 1977 to 1989. Charlie was inducted into the Michigan Bowhunters Hall of Fame in 2005. Glen Hisey said, "Charlie was right in the middle of the early days of Pope and Young and he was such a worker for the club!"
Carl Hulbert: Carl is one of the early Wisconsin bowhunters born in 1901. Carl grew up in rural Wisconsin and his love for the outdoors began at a young age. He went to NYU and got a degree in physics then returned to his beloved home state to teach high school. He started his passion for bowhunting in 1930 and in 1955 he bought the National Bowhunters Magazine. Wisconsin Bowhunters Association started in 1941, and he was the first to sign up. In 1952 he became director of WBA and in 1964 he became the Vice President. After that term he returned as director until his death in the late 1970s. He was the Pope and young Executive Secretary from 1967 to 1976. He was inducted into Wisconsin Bowhunters Association Hall of fame in 2013. One senior member said that "he was always promoting bowhunting and he went and truly loved the sport. He was a tremendous asset to the Club."
The “Spikepress” Under New Ownership
Archery Tooling Concepts (ATC) recently announced the acquisition of the Archery Tooling Corporation, previously founded and operated by George and Dora Gouramanis. Under the new leadership of Eric and Karla Griggs, owners of GAS Bowstrings and ACU Archery, the company will begin operations under the title of Archery Tooling Concepts.
The original Archery Tooling Corporation was founded in 2012 by George Gouramanis with the intention of creating products specifically for use in archery pro shops. George’s goal was to create rugged, durable, “one-time purchase” pieces of equipment that would outlast anything else on the market. After inventing and receiving the patent for the Spikepress, George began manufacturing his first Spikepress products and distributing them to select pro shops in 2013. After receiving immediate interest and acceptance of his products, George was quickly inundated with as much business as he could handle.
As time went by, George continued to hone and perfect his craft – adding the Limb Guard attachment to his bow presses to prevent beyond-parallel limb bows from falling out of the press. The patent for this IP was awarded in 2017. In addition to the Spikepress, and various components that make working on bows from every manufacturer a breeze, George also created the vertical Quick Bow Draw Tuning Machine and Crossbow Master to round out the Archery Tooling Corporation collection.
The acquisition of the Archery Tooling Corporation by the Griggs’ came from Eric’s own personal experience with the products and the desire to share the Spikepress with users around the globe.
“When I started my archery journey at the age of 12, my father and I quickly became the DIY-guys,” Eric said. “We were all in. We bought bow presses, string jigs, fletching jigs and arrow saws – pretty much everything you can imagine. Over the past 35 years, I’ve used every bow press under the sun. In 2017, when we started GAS Bowstrings, my staff and I built a small, but professional grade, pro shop in our shooting range for both R+D projects and to work on our own personal gear. We got our hands on a Spikepress, along with the Vertical Quick Bow Draw, and the Spikepress quickly became our go-to bow press; the ease of operation and speed that we could transition between limb finger attachments for working on different bow models was second to none. When George and I were speaking a few months ago at the ATA Show, he told me that he was considering retirement and would potentially be looking to sell the company. I knew right then and there that this would be the perfect opportunity to bring these amazing pieces of equipment to the archery world on a larger scale and continue to grow the legacy of ATC that George had created.”
For the future chapters of the Archery Tooling Concepts story, all products will be designed, machined, assembled and shipped out of Kentucky. George will remain involved with the company in an advisory role to help with product development and testing.
In a final sendoff before transferring the reins, George wishes to extend the following sentiment, “I had the privilege to serve the archery industry for the last 12 years, and I’d like to thank all of our customers and friends for the support, along with their positive feedback. I decided it was time for me to step aside and have Eric Griggs of Archery Tooling Concepts take over and continue offering top quality archery products and make them available to more dealers and archers across the industry.”
For ordering information, call (606) 663-2300.
Boone and Crockett Club Names New President
The Boone and Crockett Club has announced that Tony Caligiuri of Osceola, Iowa, has been elected as the new president of the 138-year-old organization. Caligiuri, who has been a member since 2011, began his term as the Club’s 37th president by leading his first spring meeting of the Club this month in Louisville, Kentucky, during the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. The long-time outdoor industry veteran and CEO of Boyt Harness Company has served in various Club leadership roles, most recently as Executive Vice President of Administration.
“I am humbled to lead the Boone and Crockett Club into the near future. We are blessed with a combined membership of regular and professional members that no other conservation or hunter advocacy group can equal,” Caligiuri stated. “Our regular members provide strategic thinking, financial support, industry connections, political influence, and guidance that keep us moving forward. The professional members are the brain trust of the Boone and Crockett Club, representatives of the brightest and most highly respected names in science, wildlife health and management, conservation policy, and education.
“I am also extremely excited about our records program as we bring 100 years of history into the digital era. The Boone and Crockett records program is the gold standard of worldwide record keeping systems that combines the principles of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the awe-inspiring history of North American big game hunting in pictures and stories of hundreds of record-class game animals. We have the opportunity to be the thought leader in helping states address technology issues and to help standardize them wherever possible so that our ethics and Fair Chase guidelines are the same from state to state and province to province.”
An Iowa native, Caligiuri has been a leader in the hunting and conservation industry for 40 years, starting as an outdoor writer before building on the more than a century of history of the Boyt Harness Company as its president and CEO. Boyt Harness Company is the parent company of Gokey, Bob Allen Company, Mud River Dog Products, the Outdoor Connection, and others. He is a past chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, past board member of the Wild Sheep Foundation, and current board member of Bear Trust International and the Jack O’Connor Heritage Center. Caligiuri is an avid upland and big game hunter with a particular love for the hunting and conservation of wild sheep. Caligiuri will serve a two-year term as Boone and Crockett Club president, leading the organization through the completion and implementation of its next strategic plan.
