Ever Lost an Arrow... in the NEIGHBOR'S yard?

[chrisg]

those stories make one wonder.. I nearly skewered my Dad all of forty eight years ago with an itty little 30# Pearson bow... He was working behind a hedge and just shrugged but I could see a really angry Dad behind those eyes..tough Ex fighter pilot ace but kind enough to spare me a thrashing I deserved. He accepted my squeal of fright as a proof of a genuine error, those errors can be fatal.  I don't want to make that mistake again. I am almost paranoid about where the arrow lands ever since.
The Japanese kendo archers shoot from a covered barn to another covered barn,I saw a wonderful series of pictures from somewhere in USA once of the construction of such a range. Beautiful and safe. I shoot with a thirtyXtwelve foot brick wall backdrop that just happens to be alongside my yard  but I still have a wooden shed and backstop behnd the target. We use conveyer belt strips here, they are amazingly tough but also 'rubbery' enough to slow down ricochets.
chrisg

[fatman]

yes

  :rolleyes:

[mrjsl]

Originally posted by mrpenguin:
In my town in CT, there is no ordinance about archery and shooting distances etc... In fact, if in season, I can shoot deer and turkey on my 2/3 acre property with a bow.

This reminds me of a story - long time ago - in the 1980's I worked up around Greenwich, CT one year - doing carpenter work. We stayed in a condo outside of Norwalk, and in the complex we had about 4 or 5 condos in a row that were all guys from Louisiana up there to work.

After the first guys stayed there a while and saw the area was overrun with deer, they went home and came back with bows.

The way the condos were set up, one would have a back deck, and the next one a balcony, etc. The woodline out the back door was about 20 yards. So two balconies became deluxe platform deer stands for all practical purposes. I won't say my buddies broke any kind of laws, but we ate a heck of a lot of venison.

[La. bowhunter]

Luckily I dont have neighbors to worry about. It is probably close to half a mile to the nearest house. But I have sent a few arrows off that if I did have neighbors they would probably be upset.

[SteveB]

Amazing with all the yes answers that no one has been hurt. Of course those would not be "funny" and admitted to so openly. Easy to understand why most municipalities have regulations prohibiting it - there are plenty of cases right here to support it it and I'm sure they are but a fraction of the real number.

[Buckwheaties]

I am guilty... In a residential neighborhood, back when I shot wheels, but still had trad in me.. Shooting a carbon shaft with a 190 gr Grizz, brass insert, steel adapter,(been reading and studying Ashby) Anyhow shot a 18-1, ricocheted thru the wood privacy fence and into the neighbor's heavy shrubbery. Looked from the street couldn't see it, trespassed into neighbors yard (didn't know her from Adam) and the PETA loving , sandal  wearing lady appeared on the porch, "what are you doing?" I confessed and she turned around without saying a word. I never did find that arrow, probable still there someplace. I quickly took down all of my target/ archery evidence and watched for the cops for a few days. Luckily nothing. I learned my lesson from that experience.It could have been really bad.I thought I had it all under control but obviously didn't. Now I do.. S*it happens.

[Buckwheaties]

This was in Escondido Calif. I never checked the city ordinances but I'm pretty darn sure they have one..?

[Johan van Niekerk]

I once took a shot at a bird passing overhead (I used a flu-flu AND had a rubber blunt on) anyways, the arrow carried over the neighbours yard and ended stuck upright amongst his flowers less than 5 meters from where he and his wife was sitting!! Luckily neither of them noticed it..later just after sunset I went over the fence and quickly grapped the highly visible flu-flu back...
I no longer shoot at birds overhead...

[mrpenguin]

These stories are amazing... truly.

[awishanew]

I skipped on off the top of my foam block and it made it to the neighbors yard. I heard it hit plywood. It was the bass of his greenhouse about 4 inches higher it was broken glass.

[sagebrush]

I had a nephew that was shooting in his yard and had one get away from him. It went in the side of the neighbor's house. He snuck over and pulled it out. I few days later the cops were over there examining the hole and looking for the spent 357 bullet in the room. I don't think he ever told them. Gary

[WildmanSC]

We won't go there.  After a couple of visits from the local Deputy Sheriff I no longer shoot towards the ditch in the back yard.  There are homes the other side of the ditch.  I managed to miss the target a few times, please don't ask how many, and they penetrated the plywood I was using as a backstop and ended up in the backyard of a neighbor across the ditch.

I now have my targets up against the back side of my brick home.  I don't shoot back there very much because my old body just can't handle the heat and humidity anymore.

Bill

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

Yep done it, AND STAY AWAY FROM HAY BAILS! If you want a cheap target that STOPS arrows stuff a burlap sack with plastic bags. Haven't had to walk to the neighbors with that guilty look in quite some time.

[trapperzeke]

Never put one IN the neighbors yard, but did stick the fence between us.  After that, I started using my own metal shed as a backdrop.  It was already beat to heck, and I don't think the 3 or 4 extra holes I put in the door made much differnce in appearance.  I don't live in town anymore, and have quite a bit more room to play with, but still have the wide open neighbor lawns behind me, no fences.  I checked first, and they're all OK if I do plant one over there, and I won't ever shoot if anybody/any pets are out.

A couple of years back a kid put an arrow dent in a garage that had a hole rotted through the roof big enough to drop a cow through.  the city manager and one of his police buddies used it as an excuse to tell me in a a very rude and big mouthed way that I would be prosecuted if I ever shoot in my yard again.  I use my garage as a back stop and have never lost an arrow off of my own property.  He stuck a copy of the ordinance in my face, I could plainly read that I was not in any violation what so ever. Since I was the only person given the warning, I declared that they were singling me out and practicing social discrimination.  I talked to my lawyer and he said give them 24 hours to apologize, before we take them to court.  
  The chief of police, (compound shooter) who has lost arrows in his neighbor,s yard and a longbow shooting officer went to bat for me and put the fear of God into the city manager.  Early the next morning I got my apology.

[maineac]

When I first started shooting (wheelie bow) I came home from college.  My mom wanted me to get rid of a couple of rabbits that were destroying the garden. Low and behold an hour later there is one of the little buggers in the back yard on the property line.  No fence just a row of spruce trees. I got up on the roof and shot down at the rabbit.  First shot missed.  Second shot hit it and it did a back flip and took off into the neighbors yard with the arrow.  Never found the arrow or the rabbit.  

[NBK]

Few years ago my wife and I rented half of a duplex from an older couple.  One afternoon after work I went in the back yard to shoot and the fella asked if he could watch.  No problem.  Second shot zipped through the bail and stuck into his wooden shed.  
First thing I did was go to the store for some wood filler, second was to put up a plywood backstop!  Great guy, he just laughed at me.

[Ray Hammond]

lost one in a water heater once...

[baretraks]

Nope... Lost one in the neighbors cat one time though.... LOL

[tim roberts]

Not only did it go through the neighbors yard, it went across the road, up the drive way and in the neighbors steel garage door, good thing none of the neighbors were home as they were not the type that like hunting..................