OOWWWCHHH! Arrow Injures Archer

On August 24, Chris Woodruff of Lawrenceville was target shooting with his bow getting ready for archery season when a bizarre accident occurred.

“I drew, aimed and released an arrow and heard a weird ‘piiinnnng,’” said Chris. “I couldn’t see my arrow in the target, and my best friend standing there said, ‘The arrow is in your hand!’”

The carbon arrow had exploded on the string, and about 8 inches of the broken arrow entered the base of Chris’ right thumb (Chris shoots left-handed). The blunt shaft traveled nearly the length of his thumb before exiting through the front of his thumb — about where your finger print is located. Several inches of the shaft protruded from his thumb. Chris’ reaction was to grab the fletching and pull the arrow out. Yeeoowwch!

“It felt like I was getting stung by a hundred wasps,” he said.

The rest of the arrow was not located. According to the archery expert we talked to, this kind of mishap with a carbon arrow is unheard of — unless the shaft was somehow weakened, possibly by being dinged if several arrows were shot into a group in a target.