Whos job is it?

[Murray]

After responding to another post, I thought this one was worthy of wider discussion.

Whos job is it to pull YOUR arrows?

You go to a tournament, shoot your arrows, but find it hard to pull them because of (a) injury or (b) hard target material. You opt to score and ask someone else to pull for you....

What if the other people on the target refuse? How do you cope? Is it fair for them to refuse? Is it fair for you to assume there will be someone at the tournament who will pull for you?

What about disabled archers who, being in a chair, cannot get to the targets... should they assume that someone else will always do their pulling for them, or should they bring along an assistant?

This is particularly topical these days as more and more targets appear to be tending towards solid-wood in terms of toughness and more and more archers are tending towards compound archery and simply MUST shoot bows in the 50-60lbs range.

[nfinite]

I have refused to pull a compounders arrows before now.

X10's from a 60lb wheely bow and the bosses were like barn doors.
The archer in question very quickly "suggested" that he should score after inspecting the bosses.

Its only happened once but the old tale of "injury" does get said a little to often.

It would be a fairer if a archer came out clean and said " sorry lads, could you pull my arrows out since I dont fancy doing my shoulder in"

Of course, a person may be telling the truth and may be working through a injury.

[John (OSF)]

If a person couldn't pull arrows I would do it for them, if I found myself struggling and it was causing problems with my shooting I'd explain the situation and stop. If they're reasonable they'd understand if not then they should have brought an assistant if they were going to have a problem

Offering to Double up on arrows works too

Any wheelchair archer can ask me to pull their arrows on any target and I will if they are having any problems with their target 'buddies'

[Furface]

Good question. I would start from the premise that it is your responsibility to pull your own arrows. However, if you are assigned the duty of scoring - which you take without demur - then it is courtesy on the part of the others on your target to pull your arrows for you. But if, because of your chosen bow, they cannot be pulled without threat of damage to the other archers or your arrows, you should pull them yourself. So you put down the scoresheets - having tough arrows is no reason to "get out" of scoring - try to remove your shafts, and ask for assistance with your arrows if necessary - which your target companions will give freely.
In the case of the injured or disabled archer, if they know beforehand that they will be unable to pull the arrows then they should have arranged for an assistant beforehand, and not presume upon the capabilities of their target companions (who, after all, might themselves all be unable to pull the arrows).
And no one should leave the target until all arrows are pulled.


Oh, and pigs might fly!

[moo-mop]

If there is a large problem then I must say generally it's the bosses that are to blame. I have only ever come across major problems with a select brand of boss. We just get two of us on it where necessary. Over on the girls line my partner's target bribed a gent to help out.

[avalon]

I have been to a tournament where none of us could get our arrows out from the boss as it was so hard (2* compound, 2* recurve on 34-38lb). As the tournament organisers didn't have an alternative softer boss available they assigned a member of the field party to pull our arrows for the day. I understand that preventing pass throughs is probably the point of tougher bosses, but I think it's reasonable to expect that you'd be able to get your arrows back out from the boss!

At Thirsk last weekend, I scored for the weekend whilst the gents pulled, as I couldn't physically move the arrows from the target. This weekend, I also scored as one of my fellow archers wasn't keen on scoring themselves... Whilst I will always be prepared to pull my own arrows, and everyone elses, I find that it's usually the scoring people are less keen to do

[clickerati]

Every comp I have attended, the person scoring has been exempt from pulling. Let's face it, scoring (for some like myself) is pants. I get stuck scoring a lot especially if I'm the only woman on a target. Fair enough, the gents *tend* to be stronger. But I have also been to comps where I (or someone else, for instance, a compounder) asked to pull my own arrows.

At last year's Bronte Double Fita, I scored and pulled Rainbow's arrows (she's a compounder) as she was on crutches and was tiring rather quickly just from the walk back and forth. She wasn't even on my target, but she asked nicely, and was happy to oblige on the occasional end when she needed help.

[moo-mop]

Originally Posted by avalon

I understand that preventing pass throughs is probably the point of tougher bosses, but I think it's reasonable to expect that you'd be able to get your arrows back out from the boss!

No because some of these bosses also end up with holes quicker too, the point of them is they are cheaper (in the short term).

[Watch_Man]

even Danage bosses can be a b@gger to pull arrows from. Our club and most of the shoots I have been to will have ladies scoring and gents pulling and I have only ever come across one situation where an archer refused to pull his own arrows. There were two ladies on the target, one from his club, myself and this particular gents recurve archer. He asked the lady from his club to pull his arrows for him. I did the pulling all day and she helped but she was not happy about it. There was nothing wrong with this guy as far as I could tell as he was shooting his bow OK he just said he did not want to injure himself pulling arrows

My own opinion is that it is down to courtesy, common sense and co-operation between the archers. In the case above if this guy had asked Wendy and there was nothing wrong with him, then I think she would have told him what part of his anatomy he could use as an arrow puller.....

[krela]

Tough question.

I'm chairman of a disabled club, we do whatever we can to make sure people can shoot. Which often means going to other targets and scoring/pulling other peoples arrows. At club level that's part of the deal of being a disabled club and making reasonable adjustments to allow people to shoot.

I have energy issues that mean I sometimes find it quite tough shooting, let alone the 200 yard walk to score/pull my own arrows. If I don't feel up to it I don't shoot.

At competition level is it fair for me to ask someone else to score/pull for me? Equally I could argue that it's not fair for me to have to find someone else to come along and do it for me as a helper (in fact it's against the law of the disability discrimination act to require me to do so). If you want to argue the disability discrimination act then it's the event holders responsibility to cater for disabled archers and make reasonable adjustment to allow them to compete, scoring and pulling arrows being one of those adjustments.

I would like to think people are human enough to help each other out, but then in competition I also recognise the needs of others to concentrate on themselves and their own shooting.

In my case I shoot a 38lb bow at 100/80 yards, my arrows are easy to pull and I've not bent/damaged one in the past year, but is that relevant?