What do archery professionals do when there aren’t events to attend? During the archery 3D season, professionals go from event to event with little to no time at home with their families.

Typically, the tournament season goes from the first of the year to the end of August. Many of these professionals are avid hunters and social media stars. A lot of them still have jobs that they go to daily. Some of these professionals don’t live close to these tournaments so they are on the road from when the season starts until it ends.

Levi Morgan, one of the most known archers in the archery community, owns a hunting channel called BowLife TV, which is broadcasted on the Outdoor Channel. Levi and his wife, Samantha, started this show in 2008. The Morgans also started OPA (Organization of Professional Archery).

Morgan threw scholarships away to become a full-time social media star, hunter, and archer. He’s been on numerous hunts over the past several years and has broadcasted them on his show. 

From Saskatchewan, Canada, Erin McGladdery gave up being a sports trainer to be a professional archer in 2017, she said on the CAM podcast. She also said she works part-time as a government-contracted pest control, which means she traps beavers and does inspections for rats, muskrats, coyotes, and skunks.

Since McGladdery lives in Canada, she isn’t home for months at a time. Living in Central Canada has its perks though, McGladdery hunts many different species during their hunting seasons. 

“13 Bowhunting Tips from the Pro to Stay Sharp in the Field,”  states, “Other than slaying yotes in sandals, Erin also hunts moose, whitetails, big ol’ Prairie muleys, black bear, ducks, and even more coyotes.”

From Central Ohio, Justin Martin and his wife, Brandie, go to 14 to 16 tournaments a year. Justin is the Customer Service Manager and the Pro Staff Coordinator at Rogue Bowstrings. Brandie works from home to make archery her main focus.

“This time of year we are basically home all the time which is nice,” Martin said, “During the tournament season, it feels like we are always on the road at tournaments, which is nice as well but it does get tiring especially when tournaments are piled on top of each other”

In the offseason, Justin hunts local whitetail deer as much as he can. 

“Weather and time of season depending on may have a couple “sick” days from work here and there,” said Martin.

Even though there’s a break in between outdoor tournaments and the indoors, Martin starts practicing for the upcoming year in mid-October and slowly gets more constant leading up to the first indoor event in January.

“I’ve actually kept practicing hard all off-season before and by the end of the next season I was so burnt out and ready for a break, I’ve found if I start practicing on that type of schedule it keeps me interested more and not so burnt out by the end of a season,” said Martin, “As we get to the last few weeks leading to the first tournament I’ll try to practice every day…how much depends on how I’m shooting at that point.”

Kailey Johnston Pettepher got married to her husband at the beginning of October. It was great timing since the season has ended. She has been a full-time nurse for the past five years.

“I used the money I won in archery to put myself through college and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Nursing,” said Pettepher.

Pettepher also hunts local whitetails on a local lease close to her home in Georgia. She cannot practice in the offseason as much as the other professional archers due to her full-time nursing job, so she chooses what she needs to work on most when she has free time. Even in the offseason, professional archers still work super hard to keep their heads in the game and food on the table.