Being a compound archer I always offer pull my arrows unless reluctantly voted into the task of scoring, particularly in the case of the straw bosses.
Shooting a 60lb bow is not only legal but quite common and these bows have been around for some time (I have one from the late 80’s) this should be a concern of the manufacturers (when designing) and the applicable equipment officer (when purchasing),
so when you attend a shoot where it becomes necessary to request the help of two additional people to pull your arrows it is quite clear that the bosses are by no means fit for purpose.
The potential for damage to both the archer and their equipment is most defiantly related to the hardness of the boss.
Personally I carry two sets of arrows x10 for Foam and ACE for straw, mainly because I am to tight fisted to risk having to replace the x10 after shooting into hard straw bosses, something I have had the displeasure of experiencing. “Walking up to the boss hoping that you still have enough serviceable arrows to finish the day” does not make for a fun day
and furthermore watching your arrows being bent into so many different angles while the helpful fellow target members assist you is a little unsettling.
Don’t get me wrong I am always grateful for the assistance and thanks to those who have helped in the past and to those who will in the future.
Recently at a shoot it was necessary for two or more archers to pull the arrows from our boss and not all where compound arrows belonging to male archers. The situation was such that we had to rotate and take turns at pulling lest some of us end up with damaged shoulders. Point in case the target next to us had a female compound archer shooting 40lb’s and it still took 2 people to extract the arrows.
I feel that the root problem is as indicated by others, the straw bosses are becoming harder and the alternatives are not getting any cheaper.
Compound or otherwise it is only good manners to offer to extract your own arrows or to make alternate arrangements, most archers are of such moral fibre that when asked buy a genuinely disadvantaged person for assistance would not turn them down whether in a comp or not.
PS I will be returning to the particular shoot next year but will be sporting a special set of FMJ’s to ease this exact problem.
