Tag Archives: woods

Aug 11 2016

Some new ideas from off the arrow shelf site

walk in park

Hi everyone

This is a quick message to say that there are a few new developments here in the near future. I hope to be launching a couple of new sections or categories of articles for this site.

A walk with… will cover informal interviews with archers I’ve met, giving an insight into their love of archery, how they got into it initially and so on. It is based on the idea of chatting with them as they walk round the woods shooting.

Behind the counter… is aimed at businesses associated with archery, whether these produce bows, custom leather worked quivers, or whatever, giving them the opportunity to provide some insight for readers.

So why am I doing this?

This is a new development for the Off the arrow shelf blog so I hope you all enjoy it. The reasoning about this is pretty simple really, like all good ideas. Quite often I am being asked about archery suppliers, where you can get the arrow shafts from or which bow to go for. So I thought I would create a series of articles on different archery related shops, suppliers etc.

Before I start I’d like to make a couple of things clear. I have no company sponsorship or formal connection to these businesses. Yes I may have bought products from them in the past and even written review on some products, but I am not sponsored.

I’ve also met loads of people over the past few years I’ve been doing this hobby and running this site. Some have become good friends and nearly all have a wealth of stories or advice that I feel would be great to share.

I will still be writing shoot reports, equipment reviews and linking to other useful resources for archers.

Let me know what you think and thanks fro reading.

May 10 2016

Shoot report – South Cheshire – May 2016

Traffic jam on motorway

Traffic jam on motorway

Sunday morning we were packed and on our way to South Cheshire shoot early as it’s one of the further shoots and takes about an hour and a half journey time. The problem was the motorway north was down to 1 lane instead of 4 due to an accident so that made for a very stressful drive as we sat in the traffic for 30 minutes waiting our turn. As it was we made the shoot in time to register and by all accounts several others had been delayed in the same incident. Let’s hope the passengers in the van that had crashed and flipped onto it’s side are okay.
South Cheshire

South Cheshire

The weather on Sunday was unseasonably warm with temperatures in the low 20 degree centigrade a complete contrast to recent weeks, this meant I was able to get a few photos.
Second target of the day 3D antelope

Second target of the day 3D antelope

This would be the first outing with my new Black Brook flatbow.
3D fox between the trees

3D fox between the trees

The course was entirely 3d targets and they had painted small pink dots in the centre of the kill zone for every target.
I’m unsure if I like the idea or not. In some ways it means all archers know where the highest scoring zones note just those with sights or access to listing of 3ds, also there are no arguments as to which scoring zones count.
The downside was it appeared to wear off as the day went on so not all archers were as clearly visible later in the day. Possibly the use of different paint would solve this.
3D boar

3D boar

There were some new 3ds including a sea lion and big cat which we hadn’t seen on previous shoots at South Cheshire or other shoots.
Small 3D cat in the sun

Small 3D cat in the sun

Another 3D between trees

Another 3D between trees

There were a number of shots framed between trees and branches making them hard to judge.
3D Turkey shot between trees

3D Turkey shot between trees

I think a few well placed catching nets would have sped the search for arrows up on a couple of targets, especially the ones near the water.
Very long shot at 3D Deer

Very long shot at 3D Deer

My thanks to the two marshals who helped retrieve the wayward arrows in the lake. Glad I could help launch and retrieve the boat, though I think a couple oars might be useful next time.
Discovered that the arrow sock labels I’d put on the night before don’t cope with being in water.
Sharon shot well winning ladies afb and actually scoring higher than the gents did too. Unfortunately my first outing wasn’t a very auspicious one, I really need more practice.
Sharon shooting 3D

Sharon shooting 3D

The journey home was less eventful but looks like we’ve developed an issue with the cars rear breaks, so no doubt that will be pricey to solve. So all in all was not the best day for car journeys.
Thanks for reading.