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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: LinemanARK on January 02, 2011, 05:29:00 PM

Title: finding lost arrows
Post by: LinemanARK on January 02, 2011, 05:29:00 PM
Was shooting at one of the boys tennis balls and lost an arrow in the grass. My boys are always coming up with something, they hung a ball off to the side of one of are targets and told me I couldnt hit it.I can shoot really well with my compound but, I have put it away seens I got into trad archery so I hit it 2 times in a row at 15yds  third time it went low and into the grass couldn't find it for 45 mins or so. So does any one have a good way to find lost arrows. thanks Mike
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: on January 02, 2011, 05:35:00 PM
metal detector will pickup on the point..
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: $bowhunter$ on January 02, 2011, 05:37:00 PM
or make a little hook claw thing on the end of a broom stick or u could use something that was made for finding arrows. A RAKE
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: kat on January 02, 2011, 05:39:00 PM
Take off your shoes, and sometimes you will feel it with your feet, as long as it is a field point. Not a good idea for a BH
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: magnus on January 02, 2011, 05:47:00 PM
One trick is when you miss don't take your eyes off of where it went and retrieve your arrow immediately. Once you take your eyes off it's hard to go exactly back to the spot.  The bare foot thing works as Kat said.

Keeping the Faith!
Magnus
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: LinemanARK on January 02, 2011, 05:49:00 PM
thanks guys I did get the rake out but the arrow went alot futher than I thought it would just happen to line up my shot and look 20yds behind the target and seen the shaft sticking up in the grass thanks guys Mike
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: mcgroundstalker on January 02, 2011, 05:59:00 PM
Next time, if you are gonna shoot at tennis balls on the grass or hangin' from a string, use Judo Points or rubber blunts. They won't dig so deep into the grass or weeds.... By the way, my middle name is "lost arrow".   ;)  (But I find them years later.)  :archer2:   ...
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Eugene Slagle on January 02, 2011, 06:07:00 PM
quote:
Originally posted by mcgroundstalker:
By the way, my middle name is "lost arrow".    ;)   (But I find them years later.)   :biglaugh:  

I'm learnin to find my arrows a lot faster now a days but there is still about a dozen out there that still elludes finding.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: weezy on January 02, 2011, 06:57:00 PM
Don't laugh; I've actually found lost arrows with a y shaped tree branch, the same as I use for water dowsing (witching). I swear on my best bow. If you can witch water give it a try.
Bob
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: lpcjon2 on January 02, 2011, 07:08:00 PM
If you don't use blunts or judo points hang an old blanket behind the target and let hang and the bottom lay forward like a big L . If you miss it should slow the arrow down and it wont get buried.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: on January 02, 2011, 07:13:00 PM
i actually found one this year that i shot at a turkey about 25+ years ago,that was kinda neet to see that old aluminum arrow....
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Pete McMiller on January 02, 2011, 07:29:00 PM
My dog has found a couple for me.  Just tell him to "fetch it up" and sometimes he will - if he feels like it  :)   Always wondered if the water witching stuff would work, I might have to give it a try next summer.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: lpcjon2 on January 02, 2011, 07:40:00 PM
OK pete whats the water witching stuff?
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Friend on January 02, 2011, 08:00:00 PM
The first thing I do is cry. Then I go get the twins then cry some more if they can't find it.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: NorthernCaliforniaHunter on January 02, 2011, 08:03:00 PM
I lost an arrow in exactly the same way and I've been looking for it for two years now, every time I hunt where I lost it.

It baffles me and I can't help but spend a little time at it each trip. Must have slipped into a crack in the earth!    "[dntthnk]"
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: smilinicon on January 02, 2011, 08:50:00 PM
Use another arrow to rake the ground in the area you suspect the lost arrow, perpendicular to it's path. You will hear it "tap" when the tip touches the lost arrow. Works well when arrows are laying under cut grass.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Bud B. on January 02, 2011, 09:42:00 PM
QuoteOriginally posted by smilinicon:
Use another arrow to rake the ground in the area you suspect the lost arrow, perpendicular to it's path. You will hear it "tap" when the tip touches the lost arrow. Works well when arrows are laying under cut grass.
Same here. But like said before, don't take your eyes off where it went and stay in line with it as you walk up. Sometimes they'll skip out of the grass and back into it way down range.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Friends call me Pac on January 02, 2011, 09:46:00 PM
When you come here to learn how to make a string I can show you how to make an arrow while we are at it.  At less than a dollar it will not hurt so bad when you looses one.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: reddogge on January 02, 2011, 10:40:00 PM
A little trick I use is to go back and recreate the shot with a judo point.  Then search in line with it forward and backward with an old arrow or rake.

That said I still can't find one I lost in my backyard this summer and I've looked a dozen times now.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: kevin braun on January 02, 2011, 11:19:00 PM
I have a German Hunting terrier that is about 99% on finding my lost arrows in the grass.  saves a lot of money, but I usually have to reflectch after she finds it.(she likes to bite the feathers)
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: stalkin4elk on January 02, 2011, 11:44:00 PM
Someone here advised reflective tape behind the fletching and shine a flashlight in the area after dark.I still have a good aboyer brownbear/ easton shaft lost out there with reflective tape and if anyone finds it I still want it! Anyone know of a source for reflective knocks?
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: GreenJeans on January 03, 2011, 08:42:00 AM
I find mine all the time sitting on the riding lawn mower. It amazes me how a straight line in nature stands out!
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Stumpkiller on January 03, 2011, 08:54:00 AM
A ski pole makes a good arrow finder, also.  (Cross-country better than downhill because of the tip shape).  Drag it lightly in two foot perpendicular paths to the arrow's flight.  

Where my target hangs there are dozens of 6" to 12" pieces of barbed wire just under the surface.  (And old shotshell brass, nails, .22LR bullets and brass, lead shot, slugs, fence staples, everything but valuables).  Must be someone hacked a strand or two of wire up on a brush-hog some time past.  I have two metal detectors and neither is of much use finding the arrow tip.  An aluminum shaft would be cake because you could select out iron.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: redpepper49 on January 03, 2011, 09:13:00 AM
use your lab retriver use turkey fletch or apply bird scent . mine breaks wood arrows i think for some strange reason he likes the smell of poc.  my best arrow finding dog was a brit he would point lost arrows.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: sffar on January 03, 2011, 09:50:00 AM
Lost arrows make me crazy! The last time, I went to the skeet house at my club and grabbed a fireplace poker, then furrowed the ground in front of the archery targets every couple of feet for about twenty feet in both directions until I found it. Lots of roots. Anyway, a stout hook set on a broomstick would make a fair tool for finding arrows, and I've been meaning to make one. Usually I try to focus on the spot where it hit the ground and try finding it before I shoot any more. A very good incentive not to miss.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Cottonwood on January 03, 2011, 09:56:00 AM
When shooting at a tennis ball, I have already put a hole in it, knot a cord and push it thru so I can hang it in front of my bale target.

No lost arrows.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFW2dZ3Y2m8&feature=related

After seeing the arrow bounce off of the tennis ball, I discovered that my point had gotten dull, so I filed it a bit to redeem myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6vfRzyhoxE
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Cool Arrow on January 03, 2011, 10:10:00 AM
Maybe it would be a good idea to replace the tennis ball with a basket ball. If that fails there is always the medicine ball. Just kiddin.
Larry
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: kat on January 03, 2011, 10:12:00 AM
My target butt is in the same situation as STUMPKILLER'S.  I have a metal detector, but trying to find the tip on a carbon arrow is almost impossible with all the barbed wire, and other junk buried back there.
I did find one a couple of weeks ago.  It had a judo point on it, and it was laying in about 2 inches of snow just behind a large bush.  My only guess is that it got hung up in the bush, and fell out with the snow and wind.  Go figure.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: mand0ralen on January 03, 2011, 12:48:00 PM
Use the Force, Mike.

Use the Force ...

++M (sorry, can't resist^^)
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: LoweBow on January 03, 2011, 01:32:00 PM
My GSP (Gullivor) is an arrow finding machine...it actually becomes a chore keeping him still when you're shooting as he's hoping w/ every shot that it doesen't stick in that 3D target.....He runs down range w/ every shot and looks at the target in disgust when it's sticking in it.
When it's not...I walk him down and say "Find"...and he goes to work.  Give him time and he'll pull the shaft from the grass reathers first and run it to you.  He's a piece of work!  Best way I've found yet!
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: bofish-IL on January 03, 2011, 03:58:00 PM
When I loose them I figure maybe a cedar tree will sprout there. Hasn't  happened yet though.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: LinemanARK on January 03, 2011, 05:22:00 PM
Thanks guys ya'll are some funny son off a guns I'll say that. And thanks to my old buddy Pac  might get to learn how to make me some arrows. Thanks guys, Hay Pac, be looking for a letter in the mail  thanks Mike
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Bowwild on January 03, 2011, 05:49:00 PM
Once I shot a follow-up for a hint where the first one went -- yep, you guessed it -- lost em both!  My favorite way is to use another arrow to slide under the grass and lift. I've found lots of arrows that were otherwise invisible.

When in college a very long time ago my dad loaned me one of his metal detectors. Like was said above, they can find the point (some can find aluminum but aluminum is often tuned out of the machines to save hunting pull tabs).

Surely a dog could be trained to find arrows?  Of course a fellow would have to admit to a lot of missing to make such an investment in time.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Bowwild on January 03, 2011, 05:53:00 PM
I should have read all these posts first -- indeed some fine hounds are arrow finders. I had to run my dog off when shooting, he whined. Now my son's dog is doing the same thing.  Maybe I grind my teeth when I shoot? Or maybe, these 56-year old ligaments make noises only man's best friend or an MRI can hear?
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: oxnam on January 03, 2011, 06:11:00 PM
I have always had great success with my labs and I have never tried putting scent on them because I don't actually plan on missing.  I wave another arrow's fletchings under the dog's nose and get them excited.  Then get them looking with their nose to the ground.  Doesn't hurt to practice it with your dog before it's really needed.  Mine did it with very little effort.

For me the hardest ones to find are the ones that have gone further than I thought or even thought possible.  So I like to stick an arrow in the ground where I am standing and then lob an arrow past where I think the arrow is.  Then I have two points to reference to it keeps me on track.
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: Bud B. on January 03, 2011, 06:29:00 PM
I lost one in the woods today behind the house. Had to break out the back pack blower. About five seconds of running the blower and the arrow was found.  :)
Title: Re: finding lost arrows
Post by: sagebrush on January 03, 2011, 06:43:00 PM
I got an old broomstick that I broke the threads off of and bolted a coat hanger on it. Works great. I have found all of them so far. It is about ten years old. Gary