Aug 31 2025

Episode 127 – Shoot Report – Lyme Valley

Several weeks ago, we ventured to the Lyme Valley club for the first time in what seems like years. Only now have I’ve finally got round to writing this shoot report. Sorry guys for the delay.

This would be a 36 mixed target course with some cracking shots and some JVD faces (I really don’t like the old JVD faces. The course is situated in a valley, hence the name, not far from Stoke on Trent. Being in a valley the course offers a variety of gradient based slots, both up and down hill, something few clubs can offer.

One great shot was the grizzly and fish from the top of the hill to the screen below. This was a double shot where you would shoot both the Grizzly 3D and fish 3D from the red, then if needs be you would take shots from the white. Etc

Another shot worth mentioning was the 3D polar bear, where they had positioned white sheets and duvets, making it look like the bear was exiting a cave.

Check out the podcast for a full breakdown of my thoughts on the course and shots.

I’m afraid I can’t embed Amazon music on this page but can provide a link https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/c649e917-695a-4c30-aa50-d99742ccd824/episodes/c314e454-dad9-41a1-9812-ecf3b66655e4/off-the-arrow-shelf-episode-127-%E2%80%93-shoot-report-%E2%80%93-lyme-valley

I much preferred the shoot through for lunch, with catering being central in the woods than the old situation where you would stop at 12.30 for 30-40 minutes.

Overall it was a good shoot with some interesting shots.

Thanks for reading.

Jun 13 2025

Shoot report – NFAS 3D Championships & episode 120

Welcome to this write up on this years National Field Archer Society 3D championships. This two day event, was held at Thoresby Estate with around 500 archers attending. Each competitor would shoot 2 courses, one Saturday and one Sunday, in mixed groups. The courses consisting of 36 3D targets of varying sizes and distances, the longest being 68 yards I think. I all there would be 3 course A,B and C.

This year I had chosen to shoot barebow so I could be on the same course as my son who had put down his recurve, to shoot a full unlimited setup.

As always I have recorded an episode of the podcast giving my thoughts on the event. Below is a link to the Spotify copy of the recording. The podcast is also available on Amazon Music (https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/c649e917-695a-4c30-aa50-d99742ccd824/episodes/22c25f8c-362d-4cb1-8f6e-25f098d3a212/off-the-arrow-shelf-episode-120—shoot-report—nfas-3d-championships-2025) Sorry I can’t get the embed code to work for Amazon on this site.

This would be the first year where binoculars would be allowed for all archers and I feel this did help, especially on the longer shots where you weren’t sure what you were shooting at or whether the arrow was in or not. My feeling was it sped the day up and I know that others I spoke to felt similarly.

I’ve created a couple of galleries the photographs I took over the 2 days. First course was on Saturday which would be B course having been set by Centaura club.

Sunday would be a very early start with admin being open from 7 am to 8 am, and it would see us shoot C course which was set by Castle Bowmen. I felt that Castle was the tougher course of the two I shot, being the furthest walk out and not helped by the amount raking undertaken when looking for wayward lost arrows.

Overall it was a good event though I did feel that the courses were a lot tougher that in recent years. I know several people struggled with the distances. Though I know it is very hard to please everyone and setting a 3D course is very exhausting, I do feel that a few well placed archery nets would have made a huge difference on a couple of targets, especially in respect of finding missed arrows.

We were very fortunate with the weather as the rain arrived in the evenings, leaving the days dry and pleasantly warm. A distinct change to how warm it had been over the past few weeks here.

My thanks to all who were involved in the setting of the courses, managing and marshalling the event. I think it is was one of the smaller championships with only about 500 archers and no large trade stalls which is really unusual.

If you are interested you can listen to episode 119 where I ask if events like the champs as really worth it?

As always thanks for taking the time to read the review and listen to the podcasts. Enjoy your shooting.

May 16 2025

Episode 118 with Special guest – Paul Chittenden of Dirty Gnome Leather Co

In this episode I am delighted to be able to have a special guest on, Paul Chittenden of Dirty Gnome Leather Co. To say he is a maker of archer finger tabs, arm guards and the like is doing him an injustice.

Just a quick update on Dirty Gnome and Paul. He’s just set up a website showing all his tabs and leather work, so if you get the chance check it out (https://dirtygnomeleather.co.uk/).

We talk about the process of making these high quality archery products as well as diving off down various rabbit holes of other topics along the way.

Please check out Pauls Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/kentish_toxophilite/) and Facebook Page for Dirty Gnome Leather Co., both of which are packed with photos of his incredibly artistic creations. I’ve created this slideshow to give you an idea of what Paul creates.