This is a site dedicated to helping people in the archery community find traditional archery shops and events, as well as reviews of traditional gear and books.

Things here are just getting rolling, so the site might be a bit sparse in spots. I apologize for that, but encourage you to check back later to see how things shape up. Right now the lists of Shops and Clubs are filling out, so feel free to submit any we don't yet have. The Events list is still in the works but should be going in the next day or two, so in the meantime you are welcome to just email me directly with anything you might have. Keep in mind that this site isn't just limited to U.S. archery shops - international shops, clubs, and archery events are all welcome.

The end result of this will hopefully be a place that you can search for and map out shops, clubs and events - whether it's your home area or the area that you'll be hunting this fall 4 states away. Thanks for stopping by and checking things out!

News

• The Coon Rapids, MN shoot is this weekend (June 14-15) so I'm heading up there - I should have pictures and stories from there next week!

• I finally finished a page on the Wakarusa Valley Rendezvous

• Got back from Topeka Sunday night - I'll have pics of the Wakarusa Shoot up in the next day or two.

• The Wakarusa Valley Traditional Archers 8th Annual Rendezvous is in Topeka, KS this coming weekend (June 7 & 8). I hadn't planned on attending, but looking at my schedule for the week there is nothing that really would prevent me from going. I probably won't make it on Friday night, but should be there Saturday when things get rolling. So if you're going maybe I'll see you this weekend!

• Added a few new events - keep in mind that some of the lists I get events off of are 2nd-hand so if you think about going, please contact the name/number listed to make sure the info is all correct. The list I got these from had identical phone numbers for two events so I need to sort those out (Rib Mountain and Ojibwa shoots).

• Check out the article on the ITBS Rendezvous 2008. I have more pictures and some video yet, but I will get those up later.

• Just got back from the ITBS Rendezvous in Ames this past weekend - had a great time and met a bunch of new people. There should be a write-up on it here shortly (complete with pics and video). In the meantime I need to tend to my overgrown lawn and as-yet-empty garden...

• Hey folks - I finally started getting more events up on the Archery Events page, so stop there and take a look!

• Upcoming Event! The ITBS Rendezvous is this weekend in Ames, IA - so pack your gear and head on over!

• Interesting news this week. Apparently the NFAA (National Field Archery Association) is moving it's headquarters to Yankton, SD this year. I don't know how often they move things around, but it's still interesting news for this part of the country. They're having the 2008 Outdoor National Finals there on July 21 - 25 and being that it's only a 2 hour trip from here I might be able to attend for a day or two. If I hear more news on this, I'll let you know.

• Added about 15 shops tonight (Sat, May 22) - pretty well mixed across the country.

• So after a few days of delay, I finally have a page up on the ITBS Banquet '08. If you're considering going next year, you should check it out here.

• I'll be away from my computer for a chunk of this weekend (Mar 15 & 16) attending the Annual ITBS banquet in Ames. I've never been there before, but I'm looking forward to it. Look for a page of pictures and event-happenings when I get back (for those unable to attend).

• I appreciate the suggestions and feedback I have gotten so far from the trad community - I've only had this site going for a few days, but have gotten a good number of submissions and pointers to further info. Thanks!

  If anybody out there with a shop or club wants to support my effort by putting a link to this site on their own, I'm willing to return that favor with a little 125x125 picture-link (like the ones you see for Mike's Archery Leather and The Nocking Point) that points to your site. Even just a spot on your "links" page would be great. A great resource isn't much if nobody can find it, and a few extra links would help solve that problem here.

  Clubs would go on the clubs page, shops on the shops page, etc, and each picture-link would probably stay up for a couple of months, eventually allowing everyone else's to filter toward the top and prevent things from getting too cluttered.

• To give a few quick answers to some questions asked on the forums.

  • Within the near future I plan to make make the shops, clubs, and events searchable to make them easier to use - Category, State, Country... people will be able to search by those and more.
  • I'm hoping to have a map of each shop available via a link in their listing (likely via Google maps or similar) - a quick click should give you an idea where something is at.
  • I am likely going to have some sort of page-per-shop strategy in the future - this will allow more space to elaborate on each entry with pictures, product listings, etc. (the page-per idea would also apply to clubs and events as well)