How do you find your arrows?

[sagebrush]

#4335

How do you find your arrows in grass when they slide under? I have seen tools that you drag through the grass perpendicular to the direction of the arrow. I made one out of an old broke off broomstick about ten years ago. I just went to the hardware store and bought a coat hanger and bolted it to the end. It works great. Sometimes it’s the only way you can find them. Gary

[M. Miller]

#30153

Hi Gary, This may sound to much to beleive but, when my wife got her German shepherd puppy about 10 years ago now we would always take her stump shooting with us. Eventually over time the dog started to run up to where the shaft struck and sit next to it. As this took behavior took place more and more frequently we continued the possitive reinforcement. She became so good at finding the arrows tall grass thick brush was no obstacle. I even had an incident at a Trad shoot in Oregon. A group ahead of mine was looking for an arrow and having trouble finding it. I offered my dogs services and after a few “Yeah Rights” in disbeleif. My dog foung the arrow burried up to the knock in the mud within a few seconds of sending her on the trail. After that the cheers were more encouraging. Now because she is getting older and having trouble getting around, I’ve started to train a cattle dog to do the same. He is showing some good potential and has saved me already money in arrows found. The only draw back i’ve had is the occasional slobbery feathers. I’ll post some of the pictures I have after I’ve located them.

[Clay Hayes]

#30247

I do the lost arrow dance! Take off you shoes and take little bitty steps back and forth across where the arrow is thought to be. works well but it looks kinda silly:roll:

[Ron Roettger]

#30256

I just replace the missing arrow with one from my buddies quiver! “just kidding” I use a a metal detector when at home shooting in the back yard, if I loose one at the club I go back out later with the detector, takes more luck/time with my wood arrows looking for the tips, then it does my wifes Alum. shafts. But most are found by spotting them hinding in plane sight in the same spot I passed over 3 or 4 times already.

[Bender]

#30353

I find my arrows stuck in the target. That’s usually the easiest way.

[FUBAR]

#30495

lol Bender

I usually give up, then find it 20 feet to the side of where I could have swore it was

[Bender]

#30684

I made an arrow rake out of an old 2219 shaft with a rod jammed down into it and with a hook bent into the rod. I use it to help look for my friends arrows.
Funny story one year we were shooting the State Field and the Ladies were in the group ahead of us. On one of the long shots we noticed they were all behind the target hacking through the weeds looking for arrows. We’re all friends so naturally we had to start razzin’ them. “Hey! Whatcha doin’? Hoeing the garden? Is that a weed whacker you got there? Etc. etc.” So when we step up to shoot the same target one of points out, “I don’t care what you do or how you shoot, but you realize that from now on, if anybody misses, we don’t even THINK about stepping behind the target for ANY reason. If you lose an arrow, too friggin’ bad! You just gotta leave it!” I think I might have lost an arrow or two that day.

[Stumpkiller]

#30716

I’ve got a couple very good metal detectors, but there is so much iron in the soil hereabouts from old nails, fence staples and brush-hogged barbed wire that they are about useless for steel and iron hunting – or a field point. I rely on an old cross-country ski pole and making pulls every two feet perpendicular to the arrow flight. They’re usually much closer than you thing. That is, unless they took a skip or richochet and then they can be 10s of yards off on a tangent somewhere.

Out stump or bunny hunting I’ll find a stick and do the same perpendicular drag in the leaves past where it disappeared. PAys to search for the arrow as soon as it’s lost so the trajectory is fresh in your mind.

I believe it was Saxon Pope who said you should spend as much time looking for an arrow as it takes you to make one.

[Steve Sr.]

#56223

Going to share something someone else shared with me.

Kinda…….well, some may not like it on “traditional” equipment but needed such for something in my plans where a lost arrow will be :shock:!!!!!!!!!!!! 😥 !!!!!!!

Take a look.
That is what the reflective tape looks like with a light of ANY kind shown on it……….and I found some RED tape (so I can be anal and color code things!!) 🙄

Lose one…….wait till dark and head out with the flashlight.

I’m HOPING the sender will not sue me for both my remaining nickles for showing his set up. A friend and I are impressed with their effectiveness when finding the errant shaft!!

We found the reflective tape that has a “V” type pattern on it……..IS BRIGHTEST. Love to hear of others some try.

God Bless
Steve Sr.

[Steve Sr.]

#56226

NOT much use if totally buried…..but quite helpful if anything at all is slightly visible in the nock to feathers area!

(Kinda fun shooting at night too!!!)

😀

[wildschwein]

#56284

Man those are bright! Gonna have to give that a try.

[adirondackman]

#57123

Don’t Miss!:lol: German Shorthair – nothing gets past his nose. Finds all my arrows even when out in the woods stumpshooting unless he gets wind of a Grouse.

[wahoo]

#57501

I too have a GSD that loves archery. She will find and retrieve any lost arrows . I take her pheasant hunting and she gets the bird up and when I miss she pulls off that bird and into the field to get the arrow.She is funny no hard feelings just loves archery and hunting.

[Bender]

#57774

I tried to train my dog to find my lost arrows. He was really good at finding them. And even better at chewing them up into little pieces.

[SteveMcD]

#57789

Steve Sr… Great to see you here again! I hope all is going well for you now.

I usually use some white fletch as well. But, if I cannot find an arrow after searching for 5 minutes, I just make new ones. Normally I try to hit what I’m shooting at though. 😆

[William Warren]

#59524

Don’t have too much high grass here but dead leaves can hide an arrow. But the yard rake usually turns ’em up. I imagine high grass would be tough to find an arrow in.

[Ripforce]

#60112

I lose one arrow a year that I never seem to find not matter how hard I look! my neighbor has a 16 target 3D range at his house last year at this time I hit a deer target low and the arrow skipped on the frozen ground we have looked around never found that arrow but found 2 others that were lost on the same target go figure, however they were not my arrows! LOL this year I was shooting a foam block target in my driveway, I have large snow plow piles behind the target, I was shooting a new batch of Doug fir arrows I had just done up, one was a little squirrely ricoched off the side of the target & into the snow bank, snow has been melting and I still cannot find the arrow, 2 bright chartruese feathers on the arrow no less! I chalk up both losses to the arrow gnomes!

[stringwalker]

#60183

if i am worried about losing arrows in the snow I will tie a piece of thread on the arrow and add some coloured, powdered dye to the thread….this will leave a coloured trail in the snow as the dye gets wet…it’s worth a try

[David Coulter]

#60673

After seeing a buddy’s pooch at work, I started to train my lab to find arrows. My pup is about 4 1/2 months now and found his first real hidden arrow yesterday. I carry a pouch of dog food kernels and hold one next to an arrow to get him used to the idea. It’s working and the best part about it is it’s fun.
There’s one other trick I know for finding arrows. It’s being too dang cheap to give up. As far as I can remember I have three arrows still in the woods. One I’m pretty sure I’ll find when the snow melts, one is from last summer and one if from winter of 09. I’m pretty sure I know within a twenty foot circle of where they are and I’m still looking for them. Last Spring I found four when the snow melted. They needed feathers, but otherwise were fine.

[George Tsoukalas]

#28666

I mostly find lost arrows when I am looking for other lost arrows. :)Jawge

[David Coulter]

#28670

I found one two days ago that had been lost for two weeks, pretty much lying right out in the open. Then I lost another one today, shooting downhill into some of last years dried up ferns. A new hunt is on. I also have one at large in a big pile of wood chips I shoot into. Judos penetrate about a foot, but I made the mistake of shooting a field point and I’m still digging…

[David Petersen]

#28717

Stringwalker (Bo), good to see you posting here! Bow-bending Canucks are always welcome and there are several among the tradbow club.

Like Steve, I don’t expend much effort in finding lost arrows (unless they were shot at and hit game), but just make more. In fact I should do more stumping in arrow-eating terrain, as I so enjoy the process of making new ones. Guess I should ask Fletcher for a job as junior assistant taper-grinder or such. 😆 Dave P.

[Hubertus]

#29821

2 things for me:
-“judo” style points or wide rubber blunts (to keep them from getting burried).
-blaze orange (crest wraps, fletching, and nocks) for visibility.

[W David McLendon]

#37543

I have a lab that will sniff out a cedar shaft in just a minute but if it is carbon I am out of luck and pull a hook through the grass or leaves.

[trapperDave]

#37651

I do the “drag an arrow perpendicular”, the barefoot dance and just plain comin back later with fresh eyes….some arrows are just meant for the “Arrow Gods” though 😀

[David Coulter]

#38732

Persistence is the key. I’m training my lab to help find arrows and he’s catching on. I also use a long hook designed for hanging plants from tree limbs. I drag it through the grass and it works pretty well. Judos are essential for stumping though. I tried a hex head and they transmitted so much shock to the arrow that my alum. shafts were split in one or two shots.

[David Coulter]

#15866

I was thinking about this thread this morning when I found an arrow with a judo head I’d lost track of a few days ago. At the shot, the arrow skipped off a vertical piece of dead rhododendron and probably bounced off the top of the rotten log I was aiming for. The shot was about 15 yards + and I found the arrow under some ferns close to 40 yards from the log. These things can really take on a life of their own sometimes, which brings to light two things.
First, of course, is safety. We have to be mindful of the landscape beyond our targets and not just directly behind. The arrows can jump to the sides, too. Second, when looking for arrows, it pays to keep looking farther out than you might suspect. dwc

[griz]

#15904

METAL DETECTOR

[David Coulter]

#15944

I was thinking about that, too. I lost three judos that bounced or snapped off the ends of arrows. I found the arrows, but I’m still looking for the judos!

[Ralph]

#16885

Last one I lost I found in the target. Last place I’d look!:lol:

[Murray]

#20708

Very seldom.

[Steve Sr.]

#21013

I still think the BEST way to find an arrow is

FOLLOW THE BLOOD TRAIL! 😆

Sorry…….season is coming!!!

God Bless
Steve Sr.

[Author]

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