Just One More End ...

Lets give it 10 more minutes ... someone might get lucky and find it.

If you've been around experienced archers for any length of time you'll hear this said a lot. They are into their archery. They are having a good time. There's probably dodgy banter going on. However, they have reached the end of their allotted time and need to go home/go shoppie/go to work ... but they don't want to go. "Just one more end" they'll say but this is the most dangerous time for an archer. If anything is going to go wrong, the great god Murphy will make it go wrong now for maximum impact.
So in our experience whats likely to happen?

Probably the most significant disaster to befall the archer having one more end will be the lost arrow. Perhaps fatigue from a long session or an unfortunate loss of form ... but an arrow in the grass at this time is a nightmare. All lost arrows must be found and we may not leave the field till that puppy is found. If not recovered, lost arrows need to be reported to AGB and to the field owner (in our case Hutchison's Grammar) which are rarely easy discussions and can have serious ramifications. Worse still, the archer probably needs to be somewhere five minutes ago but has an obligation to recover their arrow. Should the archer decide to leave ... well, that's going to lead to quite a tense conversation with the field captain. Notable incidents at GA include a lost arrow right at close of shooting one Wednesday evening. As dusk fell, cars were brought down to the field to illuminate the search which did prove successful much to the relief of all. In another incident, our own vice chair in a klutz moment one Sunday, missed the boss at 70m. He continued to search for his arrow well into the afternoon even during a cloudburst. Two minutes after the cloudburst passed, our soggy archer found his arrow right where he had been searching.

if only he had gone home at a reasonable time!

Broken arrows are another of those Murphy moments that tend to happen just as you're finishing up. Woodies are susceptible to striking the frames, the wood edging of the boss or even spikes and shattering into splinters. Recurve arrows when shot at distance have a high arcing flight and can clip wooden frames towards the rear of the arrow (see pic left).  Compounds have very high velocities and can end themselves if they hit something solid. There's also the dreaded miss the indoors boss, through the curtain and into the back wall. And finally, all arrows can robin hood each other or get so embedded in boss or foam that the point remains when it's pulled and cannot be recovered/found.
If you hadn't had that last end, your arrow would still be fine. The epitaph of so many broken arrows is "if only they hadn't shot that last end".

Injuries in archery are pretty dang rare ... per 1000 participants (US figures so it includes hunters), it's still THREE TIMES safer than golf and in the US the insurance rates for archery ranges are on a par with badminton clubs! However, stuff happens and dropping heavy things is just a happenstance. If you are going to drop something heavy on your foot at the field, it's likely to be when you have stayed too long and are rushing to get away. Its when you rush that accidents happen. Obviously pulling or straining something at the last gasp when you've been happily shooting all day is just ironic or possibly funny depending on who or the circumstances. However, its vitally important you don't ask our Vice-Chair about injuries UNLESS you like gore (with pictures or worse) and harrowing tales of painful rehab. You'll hear about him stabbing himself in the leg with an arrow, the cracked rib from frames falling on him and the lateral epicondylitis (Archers Elbow) from boosting bosses to eye level on his own. All in graphic detail. Warned you have been.

Then there are the things that befall you leaving the field as a result of you staying too long (all having happened at/around the field to archers) ... flat tyres/flat batteries/low blood-sugar, speed traps**, traffic congestion (Hampden/Ibrox/motorway roadworks/flooding), ramifications from being late for work, domestic strife (having a relationship with a non-archer? what were you thinking! ;o) ... but these are all real life. Archery can't take any responsibility for these bits. These are all on you.

So next time you're at the field and have a definite departure time, stick to it. And then perhaps the great god Murphy will leave the rest of us poor archers alone ... or at least leave us to the tender "mercies" of the archery and weather gods!!!!

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**watch the bus stop close to the traffic lights when traveling east (motorway to field) on Drumbreck Road.  A fav spot for a speed trap.

Moon Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay