Welcome to the 2024 Easton⧸Hoyt Pro⧸AM at Camp Minden, Louisiana

Josh Ryan, this is a dry rain. The ASA rolls onto the sprawling campus of Camp Minden, just east of Shreveport, Louisiana, for the Easton Hoyt Pro-Am this weekend. It's the third stop on the ASA's 2024 Pro-Am Tour, which means we've hit the halfway point in the season and the races for Shooter of the Year are intensifying. This is the third year the ASA has gathered at Camp Minden, a 15,000 acre military installation owned and operated by the Louisiana National Guard. Right now, this is a fairly new venue. I think this is the third year we've been here. They're growing, they're accommodating us, they act like they want us to be here, and it's a really nice place to shoot so far. The calling cards of the Camp Minden ranges are thick pines, dark lanes, and rolling terrain. To be successful here, archers have to be physically and mentally sharp. Every year, the base community makes tweaks and improvements to the area used by the ASA for the Easton Hoyt Pro-Am, and this year is no exception. I think some of the challenges here are, since it's a new location and a new venue, it's new terrain, new surroundings. Though this will be the third year they've shot here, the archers competing in the six ASA Pro classes will shoot their arrows at Delta McKenzie targets set on ranges they've never seen before, that no one has ever seen before. A new practice range, new kids ranges, and improved trails throughout the venue all greeted the archers who started their weekend Thursday with the ever-growing match bowstrings team shoot. That target doesn't change size. The lighting may change, the lanes may change, but that target stays the same. That's a friendly competition where amateurs are teamed up with pros to kick off the ASA weekend and get the competitive juices flowing. It's a fun event, but with cold hard cash on the line, the competition is serious. Around 1,500 archers from around the world are expected to compete this weekend, and the real competition starts Friday morning when the pros hit the woods at 8 a.m. for the first of their two rounds. This is going to be a good shoot down. The big show kicks off Saturday at 3 45 p.m. eastern time when the pro pressure point shoot downs begin in the Bossier City Civic Center. This should be a good shoot now, four points from top to bottom. An indoor controlled shooting environment will take mother nature totally out of the picture, allowing the finalists in the six pro classes to show what they can do. The broadcast starts on the competition archery media YouTube and Facebook channels with the senior pro and senior known pro divisions. Then the sportsman's channel will offer yet another viewing alternative starting at 5 p.m. eastern time when Women's Known Pro, Known Pro, Women's Pro, and Open Pro follow. Sunday morning the ASA amateurs who haven't yet finished their rounds will head back out to Camp Minden to close out the Easton Hoyt Pro-Am for 2024.