Safety Please

SAFETY! SAFETY! SAFETY!  Okay this is a reminder all you guys and gals.  I am a Hunter Safety Instructor.  I have a mental check list I go through every time I touch a weapon of any kind (or a sharp knife for that matter) and I was still the first causality of the Northeastern TalkHunting 2^nd Anniversary Party.  First Shooter, First shot.  It can happen to anyone.

 WHAT HAPPENED: I had a new string put on my crossbow at the pro shop in December last year when the season was over for crossbow.  I had shot that bow approximately seven times to check to see that the scope was still sighted in, I packed it up and to the party I went.  Let me describe my crossbow: it has a double safety system, if the bolt is not sitting correctly against the string and/or if the string is not cocked and seated right in the bow the safety will not come off.  Fact is you could not move that safety into shooting position with a time bomb.  Then I go through my mental routine, check the sight, double check the bolt, left hand under the crossbow, safety off then finger on the trigger.  Shoot! The bow made a BONK sound, the string breaks in the middle, and lashes under the crossbow and cuts my finger Wide Open.

WHAT WE FIGURE: All of the Pros (even the guys from the manufacturer) that have looked at the bow since my mishap have said they do not think it was a bow malfunction.  That said, let me tell you what the Pro Shop did say:  First,  it could have been a defective string from the start (that does happen) but usually defective strings do not brake right in the middle, they brake at the ends because the string had a nick in it that the eye could not see; and/or Second (and most likely) is that the carbon bolt or its nock were defective, cutting the string in the middle where it was seated when fired.

 I have now fired this bow a half a dozen times with the new string and NEW BOLTS and have had no problems.

 Now LET ME REMIND EVERYONE.  Please always check your equipment.  Even on new bow strings, run your fingers ALL over them every time you take them out.  Check your arrows/bolts, not only to see if they are straight and that the fletchings are in order but check for nicks and cracks in the shaft and nock.  Make sure that your releases are functioning properly.  Change those bow strings every year and do not use arrows or bolts if there could be the slightest problem.

 My crossbow cut my left index finger but had this been a compound bow what could it have cut?  Today’s high tech archery equipment can be killing machines but they can also HURT the HUNTER.

 REMEMBER, with hunting season approaching fast, everyone be safe, wear your Hunter Safety Systems when in your tree stand. When climbing up and down do not carry your equipment, pull it up and down with a string.  Keep three points in contact with ladders at all times.  Do not load you guns until you are in the tree and don’t pull your gun up into the tree muzzle first.  If you are hunting with a muzzleloader do not put the primer in until you are in the tree.  Always treat a firearm like it is loaded whether it is your gun or someone else's gun (no matter what anyone says about it being loaded).

 There are so many more Safety issues that I could touch on but that would be a Hunter Safety Course Book.

 Go get that buck of your dreams and be careful.  PLEASE.