Thursday, November 1, 2007

Can It Be Done?


Is it possible to split an arrow with another arrow? Many people believe that splitting an arrow with another arrow is impossible. Actually “robin hooding” an arrow is not that uncommon. When you “robin hood” an arrow you first shoot one arrow then you shoot another arrow that hits the first arrow on the noc end and sticks into the shaft of the first arrow shot. I have done this before and it is very exciting when you go down to the target and you see two arrows stuck together.
Some people wonder why shows like MythBusters say that this is impossible. What MythBusters says is that it is impossible to completely split an arrow in half by shooting another arrow into it. However shooting an arrow into another arrow without completely splitting the first arrow in half is possible. This can be done on a regular basis by most professional archers. The reason why you do not see a lot of them is because of the way the targets are designed. At most indoor tournaments people shoot either a 3 spot or a 5 spot. The difference between a regular target and a 3 spot or 5 spot is that on a 3 spot you have 3 individual targets that you shoot only one arrow into. This is the same with a 5 spot only you shoot one arrow into each of the 5 individual targets. The reason for this is to prevent arrows from hitting each other.
When arrows hit each other they can damage one or both of the arrows that are involved. So when a professional is shooting very consistently in the center of the target they don’t want to have to get new arrows all of the time so they shoot each arrow into its own individual target. Another reason why professionals shoot their arrows into individual targets is because if the they “robin hood” an arrow one of the arrow is ruined, and that one arrow could cost up to $25.
Another thing that is very hard to do but still possible is to shoot three arrows that all end up end to end. Though this sounds impossible I know it can happen because I have actually seen it done. The archer at the time was not trying to do this it just happened. One thing about “robin hooding” an arrow is that the harder you try to do it the likeliness of it happening decreases. If you just practice a lot and concentrate on shooting in the center of the target instead of worrying about hitting another arrow you will probably “robin hood” an arrow much sooner. In all the instances that I have “robin hooded” an arrow I have been very surprised.

2 comments:

Bloger said...

for someone who just plain sucks at archery i was more than willing to belive mythbusters conclusion that "robin hooding" was imposible. The fact that you have done it i must say is quite impressive.

Cute-lil'-Yaris said...

If you "robin hood" an arrow, does it count when you don't use a wooden bow. I believe many instances today are done with composite bows.

In the mythbusters episode, they rigged it too. Thought it was pretty funny, but like you said, I guess the harder you try to do it, it just won't happen. I'd like to say if you get really lucky, you can truly "robin hood" and arrow.