During a conversation I had with a friend last week about hunting and other topics, he mentioned that someone he knew was injured while shoot ing his bow.
My friend went on to say how the carbon arrow the guy had been using exploded when he was shooting at a buck. The broken arrow went through his wrist and hand, leaving him with a very severe injury. He’s still in rehab trying to get his wrist and hand back in shape.
I guess we take things for granted like picking up an arrow and shooting it over and over without complications. I searched the Internet for infor mation on carbon arrows and accidents resulting from them exploding. I did find accounts of people being injured by carbon arrows, but not many.
It seems this only happens when the arrows have been damaged and not examined by the archer. If you shoot carbon arrows make sure you check them out as often as you can. The type of injuries that occur are not pretty and it seems like they all affect the wrist and hand area.
Most of the arrows in these type of accidents seem to be affected around the fletching area of the arrow, resulting in the arrow penetrating through the wrist, hand and forearm areas.
Archers, we need to start inspecting ours bows on a reg ular basis. We know to inspect the string and serving for fray ing and then the limbs on a recurve and compound for cracks and splits. But we also need to check the other hard ware such as sight screws, rest, limb bolts, string loops, peep sites and stabilizers. Finger tabs and release aids need to be checked to make sure their mechanical integrity is still good. You should do this every time you take the bow out of its case.
What is often overlooked by the archer is inspection of arrows, arguably the most important part of your equip ment and the most likely to influence your score and your safety. I remember one archer telling me that during the National Target Championships one year he shot three consecu tive ends at 90 meters with five arrows being an eight or better and the sixth being a miss. After the third miss, he took a close look at the missed arrow and noticed it was cracked.
This is not a case isolated to just one brand of arrow — any arrow by any manufacturer can suffer damage in normal use over time. In addition, just so you don't think this can only occur with carbon arrows, here is another arrow from the archer's aluminum shafts. He noticed this split near the nock after destroying the nock. The nock was replaced to highlight the crack, but was wisely never shot again.
So, what is a good archer to do? After shooting an end, it should be part of the routine to pull arrows and inspect them on the way back to the shoot ing line. Clean off any residue that might affect how the arrow slides under the clicker or comes off the rest and look at the arrow closely from point to nock. On carbon arrows, flex the shaft slightly and listen for 'Rice Crispy' sounds: snap, crackle, pop. Anything that hints of a reduction in mechanical integrity means that arrow doesn't get to play anymore and it becomes as one person put it, a tomato stake, because at best it can affect your score and at worst it can injure you or someone else.
Record bear harvest in state
West Virginia hunters har vested a record 2,064 black bears during the combined 2008 archery and firearms seasons, according to Chris Ryan, Black Bear Project Leader for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. The preliminary harvest data for the combined seasons in 2008 was 14 per cent higher than the previous record of 1,804 established in 2007.
“Numerous factors con tributed to this record bear harvest,” Ryan said. “West Virginia has a tremendous bear population that allows for a variety of different hunting opportunities. The expansion and increase in the bear popu lation has led to the extension of hunting seasons designed to keep counties in line with their management objectives. With the cooperation of hunters, wildlife managers can maintain and/or adjust bear populations to desired man agement levels by implement ing appropriate hunting regu lations.”
Hunters took 477 bears during the 2008 archery sea son. The top five counties were Randolph (56), Nicholas (37), Preston (36), Webster (32), and McDowell (24).
Firearms hunters took a record harvest of 1,587 bears during 2008. Hunters took 670 bears during the September season. Top five counties were Pendleton (72), Randolph (66), Hardy (62), Pocahontas (60) and Greenbrier (52). Hunters took 109 bears during the concur rent buck gun season. Top five counties were Kanawha (32), Raleigh (27), Boone (25), Fayette (24) and Monongalia (1).
Hunters took 808 during the traditional December season. The top five counties were Pocahontas (128), Greenbrier (105), Pendleton (102), Randolph (76), and Webster (68).
E-mail Danny Snyder at dsnyder@timeswv.com.
During a conversation I had with a friend last week about hunting and other topics, he mentioned that someone he knew was injured while shoot ing his bow.
My friend went on to say how the carbon arrow the guy had been using exploded when he was shooting at a buck. The broken arrow went through his wrist and hand, leaving him with a very severe injury. He’s still in rehab trying to get his wrist and hand back in shape.
I guess we take things for granted like picking up an arrow and shooting it over and over without complications. I searched the Internet for infor mation on carbon arrows and accidents resulting from them exploding. I did find accounts of people being injured by carbon arrows, but not many.
It seems this only happens when the arrows have been damaged and not examined by the archer. If you shoot carbon arrows make sure you check them out as often as you can. The type of injuries that occur are not pretty and it seems like they all affect the wrist and hand area.
Most of the arrows in these type of accidents seem to be affected around the fletching area of the arrow, resulting in the arrow penetrating through the wrist, hand and forearm areas.
Archers, we need to start inspecting ours bows on a reg ular basis. We know to inspect the string and serving for fray ing and then the limbs on a recurve and compound for cracks and splits. But we also need to check the other hard ware such as sight screws, rest, limb bolts, string loops, peep sites and stabilizers. Finger tabs and release aids need to be checked to make sure their mechanical integrity is still good. You should do this every time you take the bow out of its case.
What is often overlooked by the archer is inspection of arrows, arguably the most important part of your equip ment and the most likely to influence your score and your safety. I remember one archer telling me that during the National Target Championships one year he shot three consecu tive ends at 90 meters with five arrows being an eight or better and the sixth being a miss. After the third miss, he took a close look at the missed arrow and noticed it was cracked.
This is not a case isolated to just one brand of arrow — any arrow by any manufacturer can suffer damage in normal use over time. In addition, just so you don't think this can only occur with carbon arrows, here is another arrow from the archer's aluminum shafts. He noticed this split near the nock after destroying the nock. The nock was replaced to highlight the crack, but was wisely never shot again.
So, what is a good archer to do? After shooting an end, it should be part of the routine to pull arrows and inspect them on the way back to the shoot ing line. Clean off any residue that might affect how the arrow slides under the clicker or comes off the rest and look at the arrow closely from point to nock. On carbon arrows, flex the shaft slightly and listen for 'Rice Crispy' sounds: snap, crackle, pop. Anything that hints of a reduction in mechanical integrity means that arrow doesn't get to play anymore and it becomes as one person put it, a tomato stake, because at best it can affect your score and at worst it can injure you or someone else.
Record bear harvest in state
West Virginia hunters har vested a record 2,064 black bears during the combined 2008 archery and firearms seasons, according to Chris Ryan, Black Bear Project Leader for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. The preliminary harvest data for the combined seasons in 2008 was 14 per cent higher than the previous record of 1,804 established in 2007.
“Numerous factors con tributed to this record bear harvest,” Ryan said. “West Virginia has a tremendous bear population that allows for a variety of different hunting opportunities. The expansion and increase in the bear popu lation has led to the extension of hunting seasons designed to keep counties in line with their management objectives. With the cooperation of hunters, wildlife managers can maintain and/or adjust bear populations to desired man agement levels by implement ing appropriate hunting regu lations.”
Hunters took 477 bears during the 2008 archery sea son. The top five counties were Randolph (56), Nicholas (37), Preston (36), Webster (32), and McDowell (24).
Firearms hunters took a record harvest of 1,587 bears during 2008. Hunters took 670 bears during the September season. Top five counties were Pendleton (72), Randolph (66), Hardy (62), Pocahontas (60) and Greenbrier (52). Hunters took 109 bears during the concur rent buck gun season. Top five counties were Kanawha (32), Raleigh (27), Boone (25), Fayette (24) and Monongalia (1).
Hunters took 808 during the traditional December season. The top five counties were Pocahontas (128), Greenbrier (105), Pendleton (102), Randolph (76), and Webster (68).
E-mail Danny Snyder at dsnyder@timeswv.com.
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