lost arrows

[jhmonaghan]

I'm a stump shooter, although I've bagged my fair share of dirt, next to stumps...

I've lost arrows.   I look around a bit, and then say "Gosh Darn It, I lost another arrow"...  or something like that.

I'm wondering, given the time and effort to make an arrow...  shaft selection and straightening, fletching, knapping the arrowhead and attaching same ...

How much time would a subsistence hunter spend to recover a lost arrow?

How much time do readers spend trying to recover a lost arrow?

[zeNBowyer]

In practise  it's  all  about having  a  good  target  set  up  that  doesn't  damage  your arrows,  and with  a  good  backstop, or  like  me,  shooting  like  Howard  Hill....
    Hunting is  another  matter,  you  just  have  to, well,  let  go- 

[hawkbow]

 I can tell you that in the wilderness on a long hunt.. 30 days or more.. every arrow is valuable. I often live off the land and hunt what I eat on these trips.. points are easy to make for small game in the wilderness but shafting is hard to come by if you lose too many.. I look for lost arrows until I find them in these situations..when close to home and hunting birds on the wing ..say ducks.. I have been known to lose a dozen in one day..    all in good fun.. Hawk

[Cromm]

If I kind of know where the line is I will remove my shoes and walk across the line taking little steps up and down. That way you can feel the arrows under the grass/soil.
If you kind of just lose it, then walk back and forth not looking at any real thing and if you are lucky you will pick up the colour of the feathers or shaft.
Thanks for your time.

[Wolf Watcher]

The Indians of this area coveted the shaft much more than the points.  You will always find the broken nocks of an arrowhead in a chipping ground.  The point of that arrowhead could be miles away where the arrow was shot .  I hunt for them and usually one of the Hustons will find it for me.  Hawk can spot them!  Joe

[Tsalagi]

Well, generally, if you find a perfect or near perfect point away from a village site (i.e. in an area with lots of pottery shards and other artifacts), it was a lost arrow. Not always, but many times.

There's a canyon here outside of town. Near Winona. Yes, the "Flagstaff, Arizona...don't forget Winona..." of the "Get Your Kicks On Route 66" song. (I'll settle everyone's curiosity who haven't been here---there's NOTHING in Winona!!!! A frickin' gas station---whoo-hoo! Take pics, tell the family, stop for souvineers!  )
Anyway, I could see my backdrop well beyond the other side of the canyon, so decided to see how far the arrows could go. Got some stumper arrows out of the quiver and let go. It cleared the canyon and landed on the other side. Well, now, when we crossed over to retrieve our arrows, I couldn't find one. About four months later, a co-worker who knows I'm into traditional archery comes to tell me he wants to show me this great artifact he found. He shows me that lost arrow!!! I said, yeah, seen it before. It's mine, but you can have it if it means something to you. Oh, and you might want to check with the museum, but I'm pretty sure the Sinagua tribe didn't have plastic nocks, steel field points, or Port Orford Cedar. To be fair, the nock was black, so he might have thought it was horn or something.  Oh, well, whaddya gonna do with people???

I generally look for an arrow for about 5 or 10 minutes. After that, it becomes an offering.

[FlintWalker]

I usually look pretty hard for them.  I'm tighter'n the bark on a beech tree  
 I sometimes paint the whole arrow white.

[Pat B]

Most of the arrows I shoot these days are either hardwood shoots or cane. Lots of time goes into either so I usually give a good look but after a while I just consider it a gift back to Mother Nature. After all, she gave it to me to begin with! 

[Swamp Bow]

Most of the arrows I shoot these days are either hardwood shoots or cane. Lots of time goes into either so I usually give a good look but after a while I just consider it a gift back to Mother Nature. After all, she gave it to me to begin with! 

I like that.

Swamp

[sailordad]

i look untill they are found
i may give up for the day,but always relook when i am in the same area again.
i lost an arrow 2 years ago turkey hunting,missed the bird and the arrow went into an uncut/unused field.
this year when the wife and i were hunting there again,we looked in that same area again 3-4 differant times.
this time the field was cut and we found my arrow.i was shooting the back yard one day and lost an arrow trhu the fence(in the winter)
the house next door has been forclosed for 2 yrs now,i went back in ths spring and found it with a rake.

i am like sawfiler,way to tight to let them be gone.
granted i collect my own shaft material,so its more or less free.
but it figure my time and gas and the work has to be worth me to put in the time to find it.

[nugget]

I look for a bit and then like Pat I figure I sacrifice it back to Mother Nature.

[El Destructo]

I sacrifice noting till it Mother Nature has taken from Me... ...I carry a peice of Stainlees Steel Tubing (1/8") in my Quiver....it has a Shepherds Crook in one end...and I will drag it through the Grass or weeds ...where I beleive the Arrow may have stopped....and most of the time I will hook it within a few minutes...and it's back in the Quiver for another day!!

[Tsalagi]

Good a place as any for this joke:

Two guys are out hunting and they get lost. One tells the other: "I heard in hunter's safety class that if you're lost, to fire three shots and it'll bring help." So they try it. Nothing happens. They fire three more shots. Nothing happens. They try again and again. They hike some more and one says, "Ok, let's try it here. Fire three shots."

"I can't. We're out of arrows."

Bada-bing! Thank you! Thank you folks! I'm here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress and try the house special----Linguine in Clam Sauce!

[adb]

 

[ricktrojanowski]

I'll look for a really LONNNNNNGGGGGGGG time.  The amount of time that goes into an arrow it kills me to lose one.   The worst loss is if you ricochet one of the back of a foam 3 d target.  I swear they pick up speed and go any direction at that point.