whole club in lost arrow quest

grimsby archer

New member
I'd like to nominate the whole Tuesday night attendance of my club for persistence in the face of the obvious.

One of our number declared a lost arrow this evening. "It went well over" quoth he.

Our entire assembly, 20 strong, joined in the search, wandering aimlessly, but cheerfully here and there in search of the missing shaft.

Eventually, I who shall be obeyed, gathered the throng into a forage line, 20 men, women and children wide, and herded them from one side of the range to the other and back again several times in fruitless quest. Almost on the verge of admitting defeat, now at the far end of the range, another would be shepherd suggested a line walking the length of the field back towards the targets, to which the madding crowd merrily acceded.
Some half hour in now, it was declared that the manxsome foe had won and the mob disbanded and we all trudged, defeated back towards the shooting line.
3 yards in front of the target, a little voice asked "is this what you're looking for?" indicating the errant shaft, lying in full view on Englands green and pleasant ground.

Red faces all round, quashed only by the attempts at the obligatory banter.
 

TJ Mason

Soaring
Supporter
Fonz Awardee
American Shoot
Arf arf! Had something similar a few years ago when we spent ages looking for an arrow, which we eventually found when packing up - it was stuck in the rear leg of the stand.
 

woodsplitter

Member
Supporter
Ironman
American Shoot
We once had a visitor who, on leaving at the end of a very wet and miserable day's shooting, declared, "I think I had 15 arrows when I arrived, but I've only got 14 now." On being asked whether he did or did not have 15, he replied "I think I had 15.", with a little more emphasis on the "think". We couldn't find it so if he did have 15 it's still out there somewhere, and that was 12 years ago.
 

Rabid Hamster

Well-known member
Ironman
I always look in the flag first when searching for a lost arrow. I learned this the hard way when annoying teen, who insisted in shooting a distance they were not capable of, lost an arrow. our search proved fruitless for multiple ends till on wandering back to the line I wondered how the light breeze was getting the flag into that '70mph gale' shape.
 

Bertybobby

New member
We always check the stand and both short and long despite what the archer may believe...!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
 

BillM

Member
We had a situation last year when someone started looking for a 'lost' arrow after the first end - a compounder. We all joined in searching but as the shinty pitch grass is kept short and there was no obvious sight of it - it was low left he claimed - I started to think he didn't shoot it at all. Some years previous at Banchory one on my target did the same and we spent the whole weekend searching (I was camping there and spent a couple of hours with the metal detector sweeping the whole field without success). He searched throughout Sunday and was made to continue searching by the National Judge when I left after the prizegiving only to find out later that it was found behind one of the bosses at another club where he was practicing prior to the competition. I asked our member if he did shoot the arrow and was told that he brought 10 arrows as 2 were left at home due to needing repair. As he lived locally I asked if he would go home and check as I was now convinced he hadn't shot the arrow. He returned about 10 minutes later to declare that it was at home. He had shot on the Friday evening and a fletch had come loose so it was left out of the bow case. A matter of poor memory and can't count but everyone there assembled and did an organised search for it. One even took off his shoes, daft b****r.

BillM
 

ieuan_johns

New member
We had one of those not long ago, spent a good ten minutes looking for a lost arrow at 60 yards. Turned up the next end when the group next to us picked the errant arrow out of their 50m target. My nameless colleague had managed to aim on the wrong target despite the different sized face. Was dead straight horizontally as well for good measure.
 

BillM

Member
Again on this thread, today shooting at the clubs end-of-season competition my target companion had a miss at 50m - it was gold high and left was the claim. We searched behind the target after the next few ends but as there was a shinty match scheduled and the players had begun to arrive we had to finish the round quickly. I then asked some of the shinty lot to assist in an organised grid search and we found it. About 3m in front of the target, but definitely to the left.

BillM

Oh! I won and broke the club record, taking it from my target companion. Serves him right.
 

Raven's_Eye

Active member
Ironman
We used to shoot on a rugby pitch and a longbow arrow decided to bury itself in the uneven grass. We searched for it after the shoot with rakes and metal detectors to no avail, next day again it was searched and couldn't be found so was declared the archer mustn't have shot it.
Two years later it was found, in one piece (though bent in several places) and through fletchings were smaller and flatter we still on it. It was more surprising that it was in one piece as I said it was a rugby pitch so rugby, and lawnmowers all over it.
 

JohnR

The American
Supporter
American Shoot
At one of our record status shoots the entire field crew was searching for a lost arrow, the archer knew it had gone long. When the judge called us in, to get on with the next end, as we were walking back there it was - in the gold! It was a longbower - I guess the gold was the last place she expected to find it.
 

its my party and

Active member
Ironman
We once searched for an arrow of a club mates after 2 sessions and many hours looking each end at the start of the third session he turned up and said it had fallen out of his quiver into his van and was behind a bit of wood. He has found it that evening when cleaning the van out
 

Furface

Moderator
Supporter
County champs, some years back. Junior lady, last end before lunch, says she has lost five - yes five - arrows. The one she had found was about 80 yards behind the target, and she claimed they would all be there as her sight had slipped. Field party, together with most of the available parents and several others, spent all the lunch break searching, to no avail. Eventually, just before restart, the five were all found in a scatter pattern some twenty yards in front of the targets.
We all make mistakes. But what made this truly memorable (and I can feel my hackles rising even now), was that the girl, her brother, and her mother spent the lunch break enjoying their leisurely picnic, watching the search party. (Yes, they were asked)
 

mk1

It's an X
Supporter
County champs, some years back. Junior lady, last end before lunch, says she has lost five - yes five - arrows. The one she had found was about 80 yards behind the target, and she claimed they would all be there as her sight had slipped. Field party, together with most of the available parents and several others, spent all the lunch break searching, to no avail. Eventually, just before restart, the five were all found in a scatter pattern some twenty yards in front of the targets.
We all make mistakes. But what made this truly memorable (and I can feel my hackles rising even now), was that the girl, her brother, and her mother spent the lunch break enjoying their leisurely picnic, watching the search party. (Yes, they were asked)
I'd have had words and/or confiscated the arrows!! :soapbox: simples - either they helped find her arrows so she could shoot after the break or she went home without them - their choice
 

ieuan_johns

New member
I'd have had words and/or confiscated the arrows!! :soapbox: simples - either they helped find her arrows so she could shoot after the break or she went home without them - their choice
Ay that's not on. You lose an arrow you look for it, if not then you take your bow and shoot somewhere else.
 

fbirder

Member
We all make mistakes. But what made this truly memorable (and I can feel my hackles rising even now), was that the girl, her brother, and her mother spent the lunch break enjoying their leisurely picnic, watching the search party. (Yes, they were asked)
Yup, found one. Oh, I trod on it.

Found another - ooops.

You'll never believe this...
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Wonderful post calloo callay.
I am imagining the photo( being taken just prior to the release) in a "spot the arrow" competition, where you put an X on the picture where you think it will land.
 

Rik

Supporter
Supporter
Yup, found one. Oh, I trod on it.

Found another - ooops.

You'll never believe this...
No need to be so heavy handed ( footed? ). Just use a rake with a single stiff tine. The arrows will come up quite nicely ( in two pieces) .
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
Scratching with a single tine rake might seem damaging to arrows, but used to Locate the arrow, rather than dig it out, can be gentle enough. Just because there are no electronics, doesn't mean brute force has to be used.
Better to find an arrow cheaply than leave it to be found accidentally by some... body who would rather not have done.
 
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