How to Be Safe With a Bow and Arrow

Archery can be a fun recreational activity or sport, but it can also be dangerous. You should use safety techniques whenever using the bow and arrow. Today's bows can shoot over 200 yards with arrows traveling in speeds up to 135 miles an hour.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Use only shooting areas designed for archery practice. Targets should be clear for 20 yards behind and about 6 yards to each side. Placing a target in front of a hill increases safety from straying arrows.
2. Notch an arrow in your bow only at the shooting line when all is clear in the archery field. If an arrow falls off the bow behind the shooting line, use the end of your bow to pull it to the front of the shooting line.
3. Aim arrows only at a specified target when all living things are removed from the shooting area. Arrows shot straight up in the air can injure someone coming back down. Arrows shot out of your range of vision could likewise end up hitting another person.
4. Retrieve arrows only when all archers have stopped shooting and the all clear has been given. Walk to the target, leaving your bow against the target if you must look for your arrow behind the target. This safety technique alerts other archers not to shoot.
5. Pull an arrow out of a target from one side with no one behind you, using this technique to remove the arrow: keeping one hand on the target, twist and pull the arrow with the other hand.
6. Check archery equipment regularly for cracks, fraying or twisting. Replace any parts as needed. Cracked equipment can splinter, injuring the shooter upon release regardless of technique.
7. Make certain to safely cover broadhead arrows when not in use. Made for hunting, broadheads maintain a sharp edge.

Tips & Warnings

• Take a bowhunter education course if you plan go primitive hunting with a bow and arrow.
• Dispose of wooden arrows with cracks in the shaft.

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