2025 Meet the ASA ｜ ASA Classic, Men’s Hunter 45

All right, hey everybody. PJ Reilly, Competition Archery Media down here at the Delta McKenzie ASA Classic, last ASA of the 2025 season. Meet the ASA. This is where we come out on the range and talk with some of the folks who are in the non-pro classes. So, here we're at one, and I don't think I've ever talked to anybody in this class before. This is Men's Hunter 45. So, 45 yard max, known distance. Our restrictions are gonna be max 12 inch stabilizer. Your sight, you can move it, but you can't have any magnification in it. So, I think those are all the restrictions. 290 speed limit, which is, I mean, that's what the Open Pro shoots. So, that's max distance for ASA. But we'll see if there's any other strange rules that I did not mention, but let's meet some of the folks in Men's Hunter 45. All right, out here, Men's Hunter 45, and I'm standing here with? Jaden Taylor. Jaden, where are you from? Barville, Kentucky. All right, how old are you? 22. And Jaden, how long have you been shooting this class, Hunter 45? It's my first year in this class. Okay. Did you come up through the ranks at ASA? How long have you been shooting ASA? Pretty well, yeah. I've been shooting for about six years. I started in 2019. Okay. What'd you start with that got you to here? High school pins. Yeah, I've been shooting pins for a while now. So, what is it about Hunter 45? Why do you choose that one? There's a bunch of classes, you can shoot anything. How'd you come to that one? Well, I shot pins for the University of the Cumberlands, and these are a bunch of good guys out here. I like to come out here and have fun. And these guys make me be able to do that. So, it's a fun time out here with all these guys. Are you a bow hunter? Yes, sir. I figured that played in. All right, when you're not here shooting your bow, what do you do back home, school, work, whatever? For school, I just got done at the University of the Cumberlands. I'm transferring to the University of Kentucky to finish out the civil engineering degree. And this summer, I actually started out with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and I'm a civil engineering intern with them. Nice. You're gonna come out here, so you're gonna be able to fix all these ASA roads out here one day? Yeah, hopefully. If they've got the funds for it, I'll be happy to blacktop it for them. So, Jaden, what's your plan for ASA? Like, do you see yourself doing this forever? I mean, life happens and you never know what that's gonna do, but what's in your head for what you'd like to do? Well, hopefully, next year, if I'm fortunate enough to win out of this class, I'll try out the unknown game. Not sure how that'll go, but I know I don't think I'm the greatest shot to hang with the known guys, so I'll give that a shot, and hopefully, one of these days, I can go for Open Pro. All right, awesome. Yeah, that would be, so if you win out of this, what is next above Hunter 45? Is that, there's not a Hunter 50? No, I heard some talks, maybe, about a Pro Hunter class, but that'd be awesome, but maybe like Open 45 or Semi-Pro or something. All right, well, how's your weekend going so far? Today's the first day, how's it going? The first three targets, it's kind of rough, but I'm kind of settling in now, so hopefully, I can get it figured out in these next few targets. All right, appreciate your time. Best of luck with the rest of your round. Thanks, sir. Men's Hunter 45, I'm here with? Brian Russell. Brian, where are you from? Gardendale, Alabama. Alabama, okay, so not too far away. Nope, 30 minutes. Nice, do you shoot all the ASAs? I started in May, shooting Alabama, local stuff, BHA and ASA, so I'm very new. Oh, okay, gotcha, this is your first year shooting any ASA? That's correct, just was looking for somewhere to shoot, then started seeing ASA and BHA stuff, and decided to go give it a shot, and I just liked it. Perfect, you're exactly the person I like to talk to for this. So, we hear from folks at home who are like, oh man, ASA, there's all this prose out there, that's intimidating. Obviously, that didn't keep, that didn't bother you. Yeah. It did bother you. 100%, no, I was most nervous my first two, probably local, and then the nerves went away. Coming here, I got here at seven o'clock this morning, just to get acclimated to everything, get used to everything, and then it worked, it helped a lot, and these guys are great. So, that's the biggest thing, is just how nice everybody is, so. That's what I tell people, is that I get it looking from the outside, but once you're here, it's different, it's not as intense as you might think. So, why would you do this to yourself? Let me ask that. I missed a doe two years ago, and I didn't ever want to miss another deer, so I just started shooting a lot, and I got tired of shooting in the backyard, wanted to look for something a little tougher, and I found it, so. Nice, well, what do you think so far? Your first season, this is the last tournament, what do you think so far? Oh, it's going great. I mean, I did decent for coming in so late in the year. Just hope to get better, maybe improve on a few little things, you know, holding steady, that sort of thing. But yeah, just loving it. What do you do when you're not shooting your bow? Got a new grandbaby, she's trying to keep, I try to see her as much as I can. I work for A.G. Peltz and Abramson, I'm the safety director for them, and so I do a little traveling, and I just try to stay busy, and when I'm not at work, I pretty much shoot my bow, or we're at the lake on the boat, so. That's what I was gonna ask, how do you fit in practice for this, with your busy schedule otherwise? When I'm traveling, it's not fun, because I can't shoot. They don't like it when you're at hotels trying to shoot a bow, so. But no, when I'm home, I at least try to get 20 a day, or if I can get 60, great, and I just fit it in whenever I can, and then, like I said, I've tried to make as many of these as I can, because that helps tremendously, and I appreciate my wife for letting me do it, because pretty much every Saturday morning, I've been hitting the trail since May, so, and just enjoying it. Hopefully I can get better. So is this something you think you'll keep doing next year? Yes, definitely. I'm hoping to upgrade a few things on the bow, and hopefully get me a little bit better, and just continue to improve. I don't try to beat anybody out here, I just try to beat my best score, and just keep rolling with it. Awesome, well, how is your round going today so far? I think I've got all 10s, except for one five, I miss set my bow. I went 38 instead of 33, but other than that, pretty good. All right, well, good luck with the rest of your round, we appreciate your time. Thanks, PJ. All right, continuing on, men's Hunter 45 I'm standing here with. Paul Malin. Paul, where are you from? Tinley Park, Illinois. Okay, gotcha. So you're, this isn't too far away, do you shoot all the ASAs? I shot two this year. How long have you been shooting ASA competitions? Second year. Second year, how did you come to start coming to these? A friend took me to a 3D shoot, and that was it. Hooked. It's cool, okay, Illinois, big buck state, you only get to shoot two bucks for you, resident. Here, you could shoot 20. Really? 40, actually. Really, maybe I should move down here, huh? Yeah. Yeah, so are you a competitive person by nature? This has got me very competitive, so I love the chase, it's awesome, you know? It's a good sport for, you know, for a middle-aged man, too, you know, who he was on for us to do, so, yeah, I love it. What, how did you come to Hunter 45? As I said, a friend of mine introduced me to bow hunting, and I just went from there, and then I went to a 3D shoot. Just using your hunting equipment? It's my hunting equipment, I just change arrows out, and climbing dead trees down come October. Okay, so now in your second year, what do you think about it, you got two years in? I'm hooked. That's all I can say. Next year, I want to try and shoot them all, if I can get time off work. Yeah, what do you do for work? I build high-risers in Chicago. So, yeah, we pour concrete for a living. So this is a lot nicer place to be, isn't it? Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. Anything to be out of the city, right? So, it's pretty cool. So, with doing that, I mean, you're in the city, do you get time to practice? Yeah, I'm a member of Archie Club in Joliet. There's a nice club out there, so I get to shoot as often as I want. How is your round going so far today? Terrible, terrible. Camera don't help. Well, we hope things improve, but we appreciate your time. All right, thank you. All right, Men's Hunter 45, I'm here with? Cody Porter. Where are you from, Cody? Clemson, South Carolina. South Carolina, all right. How do you shoot all of the ASAs? This is my third one for this year. And how long have you been shooting? How many years have you been shooting ASAs? I would say I've probably been shooting 15 years, probably. What is it you like about it? Keeps you coming back. It's good practice for hunting season. It's probably the favorite thing that I like about it. Have you always shot a hunter setup? No, I shot semi-pro for years, and then took a huge break, probably a 10-year break, and then come back into it. How come, okay, you went away and then came back. What brought you back? Just something to do, get outside, exercise, just enjoy the competition, and life change. The competition, that's the part folks don't seem to understand. If you're a competitive person with archery, just going to a 3D shoot, I mean, you can shoot your bow, but you're not competing. Right. Well, here, you really get to compare yourself from a national level, just not just a local level. That's what I like about it. What do you do back home for work when you're not shooting your bow? So I manage service departments in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. Marine service departments, boats. So when you're busy, I'm sure that keeps you busy, do you have room for practicing? Not really, I probably could practice more, I just seem to not have enough time to do it, or want to do it. Yeah. All right, well, how's your round going this weekend before this rain started? I think I'm two down. All right, well, we appreciate your time, good luck with the rest of your round. Thank you.