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

[Ssamac]

I think we can all see that caution is needed.
My dad, rest his soul, was a marksman with rifle and pistol. Learned to shoot as a kid. Took a ton of awards during WWII and there were a lot of guys shooting back then. He also did some marksmanship on live target in battle, but he never talked about those. Not about the medals either, except when I asked what they were.

He would sit outside and clean his guns. Now when he cleaned his guns I mean he laid out a towel and took the entire thing apart clean, adjusted etc the things. No patch down the barrel and you're done cleaning. I recall I was about 11 and I picked up the frame a PPG and he chewed me out. "Never point a gun at anything unless you mean to kill it"  I argued it was only the frame. But it made no difference to dad. It seems to me the more experienced the shooter the more cautious they are. It seems from these stories most of them happened when we were less experienced.

The best we can do is to teach safety to our kids and other new shooters so they understand what we learned the hard way.

Good stuff guys. I love that about this site.

sam          

[Ssamac]

What I mean to say is when you point a bow in a direction, you need to think that it will kill anything in that direction if you miss or ricochet (which seems worse to me than a bad shot) etc. Plan your targets accordingly

Sam

[RocketDog]

I learned respect for arrows while shooting with wheels many years ago.  We were having trouble with hawks and young Australian Shepherds we were raising.  I would scare the hawks off with flu-flus.  One day I didn't have a flu-flu handy so grabbed a practice arrow.  I aimed out over our pasture and put one through the hawk's tail -- he didn't even wobble.

I walked in a straight line out to the end of our pasture, over 300 yds, but could not find the arrow.  I finally shot another at the same angle, still could not find it.  I wound up shooting 5 arrows at that angle hoping to see where in the world they were going.

I finally walked the straight line through our pasture, across the country road and into a wooded area across the road ( we had no neighbors anywhere at that time).  I finally found all 5 arrows in about a 20 foot circle.  My bro-in-law and I measured it off -- over 460 yds from where I shot.

That made us both respect the power of a bow a lot more!

[artelkhunter]

had a misfire with a release back in my old compound days, shot one up in the air. scared the c--p out of me. I had to drive around for about 20 mins making sure I had not impaled someones kid playing in there back yard. never did find the arrow!

[FOXXNTROUT]

The empty lot beside me has maybe ten or so arrows lost there. Broken or otherwise couldn't find.

[chrisg]

ssamac, I agree, enthusiasm is great but inexperience can be lethal. My dad was the same, cleaning guns meant all and any ammo was locked away, no pointing 'empty' barrels at anything except the sky or ceilings, and we always checked the barrels from the breech end dismantled ones too- we had shot guns of course. He said the same thing exactly, and the old rhyme "never ever point a gun...", that morning back when I was nine was one I wont forget.

We all need to be careful to teach the youngsters the safety rules and practise them ourselves. All the new associations and clubs are doing a good job esp the gang! This thread is thought provoking.
chrisg

[smoke]

I know a guy who was shooting his compound in his yard with a new release . . . which turned out to be a bit more sensitive than he desired.  He released his arrow unintentionally before he was on-target and it sailed over the target and over his fence and into the side of neighbor's house.  They were from Viet Nam and he immediately heard some very excited chatter from inside the house.  He jumped the fence and saw about 6 inches of his arrow sticking in the house - the business end came out about 3 feet above the dinner table where the family was sitting.  He said that they were extremely nice about it and he, of course, paid for repairs.  To my knowledge he never shot in his yard again.

[Kenneth]

yep,  I had a release break while drawing a wheelie when I was broadhead tuning!!  I used to draw with the arrow pointed skyward and then settle in on the target.  Well I found the arrow 3 blocks away stuck in a yard about 3 feet from the house and about 15 feet from a main road!!!!
Lesson learned kinda.  I still shot there but I started drawing with the arrow pointed at the ground and I did my broadhead tuning at the range.

[mrpenguin]

Yikes!  I always learned to draw a compound straight back.  "Breaking it over" usually meant too much weight... I still kinda chuckle at 3D's watching some guys "break" their wheels over while I smooth draw back my 55# longbow (that most of them couldn't pull let alone hold or shoot!).

[BRITTMAN]

Shot a squirrel with a feild point a few years ago that ran into the neighbors yard with the arrow still stuck in him . That didnt go to well  :(

[Kenneth]

Originally posted by mrpenguin:
Yikes!  I always learned to draw a compound straight back.  "Breaking it over" usually meant too much weight... I still kinda chuckle at 3D's watching some guys "break" their wheels over while I smooth draw back my 55# longbow (that most of them couldn't pull let alone hold or shoot!).

Erik,  yeah I was overbowed 83# and I hadn't shot a bow in about a year before I got it!      I did learn proper form later but by that time I was already getting back into trad where I belong.  I will say that the 83# made shooting a 50# recurve seem pretty easy to hold after being away from trad for a couple years.

still waiting for the cover of darkness and my ninja suit to retrieve it.

[TooManyHobbies]

When I was a kid, my brother made a bow out of a sapling. He would shoot arrows into the air, like straight up. At least one came down and stuck into the neighbors roof. I have no idea if he (or my dad) went and got it. At the time we all just ran. We (my two brothers) didn't have any brains back then.
They also used to shoot me with the BB gun.    

[Cal bow]

I never have but my brother did quite a few times when we were kids (sometimes he was not even home when he did it).

[Cal bow]

A few years ago a Deputy friend of mine was conducting a car stop on a busy road and took an arrow in his calf from a guy who just bought a compound and was shooting in his yard. As you can imagine it took a while for the muscle and bone to heal and the shooter was out a few bucks. Have fun but be careful.

[First White Falcon]

While trying to get rid of a tree rat, I( when you had to put your name on the arrow) shot one length ways, and the arrow was sticking out both ends. The little bugger climbed my fence and climbed my neighbors tree, and died. My neighbor is a Peta person. So that night I had to climb about 30 ft up the tree to get the tree rat so PETA didn't find it!!

[mrpenguin]

That's the best story yet...

[1bjd]

Yep and it will stay there unless something digs it up. Could never happen to me! LOL Great thread.

[Big_Al]

Well I have to say I learned my lesson on this one Sunday.  I was shooting at around 10 yards, hit anchor, cell phone went "WOK WOK WOK WOK" the instant I released, I flinched, the arrow took a hunk right out of the top of the back of my McKenzie bear and went through two vinyl fences next door.  I could have easily killed someone.  Now I have two sections of fence to pay for, and I'm thankful I got off that easy.

[Big_Al]

Update, it cost me right at $150.00 to replace the two damaged panels in the neighbor's fence and I paid it with a smile.