ACCIDENTS/injuries - related to bows/arrows in Great Britain

Mumarcher

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:arc:
I believe that archery, in this part of the world, is extremely safe however I cannot find any official data on this so I would like to do a straw poll on AIUK to see if this is true.

I have seen a few photos on youtube :eye-poppi but these (I think) were from outside GB. So I would like to hear from anyone who has either had or witnessed an injury that broke the skin or worse, during the act of archery.

Please say when (approximate weeks/months etc) and where (type of range and part of GB) the injury occurred , who to (no need for names just m/f, adult/child etc), what happened (ie the injury) and how it happened (what equipment/behaviour was involved)

Thanks:wave:
 

bimble

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Archery tends to be a very safe sport to participate in.

There was a death in Scotland maybe 7-10 years ago when a bow press broke, and possibly a couple of serious knocks and scrapes due to limb/risers breaking whilst in use... but probably one of the reason you can't find much data is because the majority of injuries are literally along the lines of cuts and splinters.

Certainly in nearly 15 years of continuous archery practice I've never witnessed anything more serious than having to have a carbon splinter removed by a nurse... and that was last year.
 

Insanity-Rocks

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I've heard of/witnessed a couple of injuries in field competitions, dislocations, broken bones, cuts and bruises etc. but they were all down to the terrain rather than the sport, things like falling down hills or losing your footing, but nothing that couldn't happen when going for a walk at any other time.

I've witnessed arrows bouncing back from the target and hitting people, but never with enough force to break the skin, and the usual fletchings catching on your bow hand with trad shooters, occasionally drawing blood but not much.

I've heard of, but don't have much info on, a guy who was de-stringing his bow by resting the bottom limb against his foot, pulling the riser and pushing the top limb away from him and the bow slipped out of his hand, causing the tip of the bow to spring back and hit him in the eye causing some loss of vision.

I'm not sure of any specific details of any of the above, but I've never heard of anyone getting shot which is what I think you're looking for.
 

bimble

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Thinking about it.... probably moving heavy bosses has caused more injuries than anything else... (I have no stats to back that up btw)
 

bimble

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I know I've wrenched a shoulder pulling an aluminimum arrow from a wet danage boss...
 

Berny

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According to statistics published by the World Health Organisation
(Target) Archery is very safe, in that it does not appear to cause any/many deaths
as reported by their realtime death counter.

World Health Organization Statistical Clock
Based on Annual Death Rates For Listed Diseases and Traumas

See the stats (click!) here.

I can/have not verified the veracity of this myself so treat it with a pinch of salt.
 

mk1

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There was a death in Scotland maybe 7-10 years ago when a bow press broke, and possibly a couple of serious knocks and scrapes due to limb/risers breaking whilst in use... but probably one of the reason you can't find much data is because the majority of injuries are literally along the lines of cuts and splinters.
From what I recall the chap was setting up a very heavy 70lbs+ compound bow on his own land ready for a hunting trip abroad. Instead of going back to his house to use his bench press he was using a portable press that is a simple device made of wire cables. One of the cables snapped, whipped round and the metal toggle on the end of it embeded in a vital vein in his neck. It was therefore more of a workshop accident than an accident with his bow and arrow while out shooting.
 

bimble

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Yeah, like I said, archery itself tends to be very safe. Maybe bruising on the inside of the bow arm...

It was therefore more of a workshop accident than an accident with his bow and arrow while out shooting.
 

potnoodle

New member
I think with the rules we have in this country it would be very difficult to injure yourself without having a death wish in the first place. I had a near miss once packing up a shoot one Sunday afternoon at my old club where I was jogging across the range to pick up a target stand not realising someone else had decided to start shooting again. A few expletives later and everything was OK...

I don't think there will ever be a death in this country caused by an arrow by accident - we use target points which are designed to do very little damage to whatever they hit (prolong boss life) - as proven by the aforementioned event.

Other than this I have no knowledge of any serious accidents while shooting a bow - unless my calluses count!
 

ayrton clark

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Worst i saw was a kid having shards of carbon in his hand after pulling out a damaged carbon arrow. I read about an incident last year in England though where someone was shot in the foot.
 

Nightimer

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I've been injured TWICE !!!
Many moons ago I was shooting in a comp and it was a very wet day,so we were "double pulling " arrows.
I was on the "back" of the arrow.
The guy on the front pulled the shaft before I held the shaft.
The nock stabbed me in the hand,it was one of the old Beiter nocks that fit over the shaft.
It hurt like hell when I pulled it out,you should have seen the blood.
The second time was when I was shooting at the club with an archer who had only been shooting for 6 months (I didnt know this at the time).
He was fascinated by my compound.
I asked him if he wanted a go.
He was a big lad and managed to draw the bow with no problem.
I showed him the release aid and told him how to use it.
We stood 3 feet from the target and he drew the bow back and of course the arrow fell off the rest.
I told him to keep his thumb well away from the trigger while I lifted the arrow (from about 3 inches behind the point )back onto the rest.
BANG !!! the bloody thing went off and I felt a whack on my finger which I thought was the string.
No,it was a ACC 339 all the way though my index finger !!!!!
The guy was a gibbering wreck and I was thinking "what the hell to I do now".
He offered to drive me to the hospital,I declined as he was in no fit state to drive.
I couldnt drive with a 29 inch arrow in my finger,so I had to pull it out.
Yes it did hurt,yes I did get a rollocking from the hospital for pulling it out.
Luckily no real damage was done and the finger works fine.
To this day I cannot figure out how it happened as my finger was way behind the point.
 

buzz lite beer

Well-known member
I was at Lilleshall back in 2000 ish when a young gentleman compound shooters peep sight flew out of the string struck the bow and rebounded and hit him smartly in the eye, We all thought he'd lost his eye, he was taken to hospital and returned several hours later with a severely bruised and cut eye lid, and that incident I believe initiated the tied in peep advice.
 

N.Vodden

New member
Ironman
Or dropping heavy bosses on toes... seen that more than once
I nearly killed Mal Whitter a few years ago doing exactly this :)

I was bringing in one of the largest bosses from the very top of Pentref's course (up by the big stone outcrops). It was a huge thing, octagonal shaped as the corners were shaved off it for some reason. I slipped in mud and went down on my backside, the boss went sliding down the hill and hit an outcrop, propped itself up on edge and shot off down the hill like a wheel.

Mal was downhill about 60-70m away untying another boss so I shouted down to him, and he got behind a tree in time and it slammed into the boss he was working on, snapping the 6" thick stake it was anchored to.

Lucky escape!
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
I've seen a few injuries but nothing major, longbow injuries infact;
Bow breaking hit me in the head and gave a bit of a headache,
Seen people cutting their fingers with fletchings due to incorrect bracing height,
Seen someone walking into the back of the arrow that they'd not noticed that drew some blood,
Heard but not see people getting feather fletchings stuck in their finger,
Hurt my shoulder pulling arrows out of a hard boss(non-longbow injury)
 

bobbyb85

New member
Shot a field course with someone who showed me a scar he got from when he was shooting compound.

He released his arrow and as he did, it fractured. One half flew away safely, the other half embedded itself just above his wrist.

Bobby
 

Furface

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We had a very young archer a few years back who walked up to collect his arrows, one of which was at just his eye level. Everything went into slow motion, as the nock seemed to go in behind his eyeball - and then pop out again (probably all in a millisecond). No damage, except slight bruising - and he stopped coming.
I seem to recall there was an article on this in a very early edition of Archery UK, and, IIRC, the most common archery injury was being stabbed in the forehead by the arrow you hadn't seen in the target.
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
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We had a very young archer a few years back who walked up to collect his arrows, one of which was at just his eye level. Everything went into slow motion, as the nock seemed to go in behind his eyeball - and then pop out again (probably all in a millisecond). No damage, except slight bruising - and he stopped coming.
I seem to recall there was an article on this in a very early edition of Archery UK, and, IIRC, the most common archery injury was being stabbed in the forehead by the arrow you hadn't seen in the target.
See this is why you should be taught to approach the boss from the side, not directly infront.
 
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