So the time has come to review another fabled Maryland institution: the Baltimore Bowmen club.
Background: this archery club has a land use agreement with state of Maryland since it occupies the Gunpowder State Park. So there is some rent for this place to pay but not really a whole heck of a lot. It has about 40 acres of land of which roughly 2 acres consist of a dumpy looking club house and a cleared off area with only one or two big trees where your regular target buts reside. This is known as the Howard Hill course and has often in the past featured high uncut grass plus zero back stop (which is a regular constant). Perfect situation for loosing arrows and never getting them back.
The rest of the range is wooded area that goes into the park's valleys where various 3D targets can be found in varying conditions for you to shoot at and, you guessed it, loose a few arrows or two if you miss as very few of these targets have a back stop. This is known as the Fred Bear course. It is restricted to non-members because, I believe, one of the old dude's who was club president for a while went back there and had a heart attack and had to be ambulanced out with ETMs actually taking a stretcher into the wooded area he was in to get him out.
For years, the Bowmen club were kind enough to grant access to non-members free of charge any time during the day to use the Howard Hill course. Now that has changed and there is a very narrow window of time for non-members to show up for use. And so you may ask, why not become a member and get to use all of the clubs facilities at your leisure? Few reasons.
1) There is an incredibly annoying SCA clique that dominates the use of this club. It takes up nearly all decent hours of Sunday to use the range and uses the club to host SCA events that appear unpublished more often than not on the club's FB and website pages. During these events, non-SCA are not permitted. This has been an ongoing situation for years. Why would anyone pay money to belong to a club with such 'surprise' restricted use?
2) Speaking of cliques, the club is Cliquish in general. With a capital 'C' of course. Even guys within the non-SCA clique will tell you that. So if you're looking for easy comradery its really hard to get that here. Heck, even if you ask to help out or volunteer or attend a meeting they'll look at you funny if you're an outsider.
3) It has TONS of other unannounced activities that occur so even it you are a member and show up, you will not be able to use the club if the activity group does not permit your presence.
4) Its kinda bush league/tad on the dumpy side/half heartedly maintained/managed. Granted its essentially volunteerism that runs this place but for a place this size and all the other mis-doings I'm afraid its the wrong approach. For instance, it runs a Traditional Classic event which is quite the cash cow for the club. Yet they refuse to invest in very useful items like backstops, and even more sheds near the 3D targets so they can be put away at the end of the day. But there is a lack of constant presence on this range to do that in the first place. And so what do you think has happened recently over the years? 3D targets were stolen and now they are seemingly (hey could be wrong here) penalizing non members for this by restricting access and posting up video signs that say 'video monitoring in progress' which is probably complete and utter BS as I doubt such is really occurring. But hey it beats actually having to manage a place properly.
5) Safety is a problem. And not just lack of back stop related. This place is kinda secluded as you have to go down a trail past the Graham Equestrian center. In this area there are some creepy houses that are close to the park. One night, I remember fairly vividly a group of kids tearing through the Howard Hill course on motorized BMXs and ATMs. They came from the area behind the buts and could have easily ran me over given the speeds they were going at. In retrospect, they were probably the ones who were looking for items to steal. However, since this place can't manage itself properly, it will always have this potential element of danger.
It only has a handful of people who are cool in the club's upper echelons or just regular members. I hate throwing this place such a hard ball because some of those dudes are really cool but its all overshadowed by the stupidity of the above. A special mention of stupidity needs to go out to a few of the more grating SCA members particularly the short fat creepy old dude who also happens to be on the committee board, and a retarded field captain. Neither of these guys help this place's daily operational situation. Or lack thereof.
Shame. This place is essentially the quintessential range in the area but due to what I've seen over the years it just isn't remotely worth it to pay. read more