September’s Sportsmen’s Night was the beginning of a new format. Sportsmen’s Night will now be meeting on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. We will be having guest speakers each month share with us their hunting and fishing experiences and expertise.
To kick off this new format we introduced Mike Klein, Atlatl specialist as our first speaker. An atlatl (pronounced at’ lat el) was an ancient type of spear thrower, a 'throwing stick' used to hurl a spear with greater force towards the target.
Mike began his visit by explaining the history of the atlatl. The Atlatl was used in most parts of North America prior to the appearance of the bow and arrow. The Pueblo and Creek Native American tribes used it to hunt deer, elk, rabbit and bears. The Atlatl was also used by the Artic and Sub-Artic Native American tribes in the far Northern areas of America for hunting land animals and large marine animals such as whales.
After we had this brief history lesson Mike did his best to train us on how to throw these Atlatl darts. Some of us were able to pick it up right away whereas others of us finally hit the target after 30 – 40 tries. But when it was all said and done, we had a blast chucking darts all over the grassy area of Fluid Events Center.
We concluded the evening with a quick Bible study on the old and new wineskin. Since we are moving to a new format it seemed this was an appropriate discussion. Everyone agreed that they enjoyed having the new format and were excited to see what the future new wineskin would hold.
If you missed this great time with Cross Trail Outfitters, our next Sportsmen’s Night will be Wednesday, October 14th at the Fluid Events Center, 601 N. Country Fair Dr. Champaign, IL 61821.
