Autumn Sky Outfitters grew from a young boy’s dream to a man’s reality. From the first time Gus entered the woods, his mind was made up to be an outdoorsman.
The journey to creating and owning Autumn Sky Outfitters began in his parents’ backyard. Gus crafted makeshift recurve bows from old curtain shades and sticks scattered near the woods. Eventually, a little lawn mowing money took him to the archery shop down the road. He bought a PSE Polaris with saved lawn mowing money (plus a little help from Dad).
Eventually, he was spending so much time at the shop; he gathered the courage to ask if they needed any help. He was disappointed that they turned him down, but he held out hope that they might call him in for their busy season. By the end of the summer, he was determined to create a job for himself within the shop. He asked again. This time, he signed up for $3.25 an hour from 9 to 8. Considering he would have worked free of charge and with longer hours for the experience, he was on cloud nine. Starting on the ground floor he learned quickly the mechanics of archery from arrow fletching to cam adjustment. So, the seeds for owning Autumn Sky Outfitters were planted 20 years ago.
Gus’s outdoor odyssey continued in Montana only to bring him full circle right back to the same property where his archery education began years ago. As an outdoorsman he has guided hunters and whitewater enthusiasts from the Rockies of Montana to the whitewaters of the Colorado along the banks of the Grand Canyon. Gus is a practiced white water kayaker, anything archery and lazy-day kayak fisherman.
Our Team
Autumn Sky also employs three full-time and two part-time employees all with outstanding knowledge of the sport of archery. We are proud to have Trent Ardledge, the current Maryland MAA FITA State Champion and several record holding recurve champion, Dave Jackson, as integral players on our team.
Trent Ardledge brings 20 years of archery experience to the shop as well as 15 years of exclusive Bow Tech experience. Beyond his many regional championship accomplishments, he consistently places in the top 75 during national shoots. Trent is a graduate of the 2000 PSE Dealer School and the Easton Arrow School. Ardledge’s many significant titles include:
2002 Maryland State Field Champion
Maryland State Broadhead Champion
Perfect 560 Score Broadhead
2004 Place Midsectional Champion
2006 Maryland Indoor FITA Champion
Maryland Outdoor FITA Champion
4th Place Midsectional Outdoor
Bigfoot Open Top Gun
2007 Maryland Indoor FITA Champion
Dave Jackson is the resident recurve “Merlin” and offers over 40 years of solid archery experience and accomplishments. Dave’s archery career began in the sixties. In 1970, he joined The Professional Archer’s Association. Jackson was sponsored by The Bear Archery Company and was acquainted with Mr. & Mrs. Fred Bear. He is also proud to hold the first recorded perfect indoor score of 300 points in Maryland at Vingt Neuf. From 1970 through 2001, Dave developed a long and distinguished trail of myriad first place awards including:
1971- 1st Place Maryland State Indoor Championships
1st Place Mid-Atlantic Championships, top class with recurve bow competing against compound bows.
1st Place Maryland State Field Archery
1st Place Maryland State Target Championships
1973- 1st Place Maryland State Target Championships
1st Place Eastern Sports Show Open
1975- 1st Place Maryland State Target Championships
1977- 1st Place Atlantic City Archery Classic- Professional
1st Place Target Archers of Maryland
1978- 1st Place Target Archers of Maryland
1979- 1st Place Atlantic City Archery Classic- Professional
1st Place Target Archers of Maryland
1st Place Maryland State Field Championships
1987 1st Place Maryland State Field Championships
