Losing arrows.

[Morgan]

I’ll bet my yard has ate a dozen arrows. I keep my bras pretty darn short and it’s amazing how well an arrow shaft can bury itself in it. I thought I was shooting well enough that all that was behind me, but I guess not. Shooting at styrofoam blocks at varying unknown yardage’s and angles. Made what would have been a quartering away shot. Arrow passed through a corner and is gone forever. Walked circles barefoot for half an hour to no avail. I need a metal dectector, may be able to find them by their points.

[joachimM]

I know the feeling... And halve year later they turn up, crooked and with rusty heads.
My experience is that an arrow is typically buried a meter or so before where I thought I had seen it hit the ground.

[Morgan]

I didn’t even know this one passed all the way through the block till I went to pull arrows. I’ll look again in the morning. Hate losing them things.

[Pat B]

Get a pole and add a hook to the end and drag it across the path of the arrow beyond your target. Sometimes an arrow hook will find them. Sometimes they are returned to Mother Nature.

[loon]

I lost ~3 arrows last time I went shooting, that I didn't even recall having missed. Really don't like shooting at ranges with grass ..

blunts, judo points and the like get buried a lot less

[BowEd]

Get a pole and add a hook to the end and drag it across the path of the arrow beyond your target. Sometimes an arrow hook will find them. Sometimes they are returned to Mother Nature.

I lost ~3 arrows last time I went shooting, that I didn't even recall having missed. Really don't like shooting at ranges with grass ..

blunts, judo points and the like get buried a lot less

What can help too to a degree is brightly colored fletching.Mow the range area short you are using if it's your own too.Stump shooting is an option too for practice with a woods/leaf litter type floor.Putting over an hour into making arrows 1 at a time I usually try pretty hard to take them all back home.

[osage outlaw]

Make a good backstop for your target.  I made one from conveyor belt material and a rubber horse stall mat.  Arrows bounce off of it. 

[Pat B]

An old piece of carper will also work for a back stop. Even if the arrow passes through it slows it down.

[mullet]

I haven't had any trouble losing arrows just because my bras were short. My wife said you can let the straps out a little and get more support.

I’ll bet my yard has ate a dozen arrows. I keep my bras pretty darn short and it’s amazing how well an arrow shaft can bury itself in it. I thought I was shooting well enough that all that was behind me, but I guess not. Shooting at styrofoam blocks at varying unknown yardage’s and angles. Made what would have been a quartering away shot. Arrow passed through a corner and is gone forever. Walked circles barefoot for half an hour to no avail. I need a metal dectector, may be able to find them by their points.

[selfbow joe]

I have use a garden rake before. It works pretty good.

[Pat B]

I've found POC arrows that were under the leaves long enough for feathers to rut off and field points almost rusted through. I bring them in the house and lay them flat to dry.  Because POC is very rot resistant some of these arrows can be reused. Once they are dry I inspect them visually and flex them to be sure there are no hidden surprises. Some have made good practice arrows, some fluflus and some tomato stakes.

[Knoll]

I tried the metal detector. Didn't work at all, for me. YRMD.
Made arrow rake as Pat described. Some success with it.
Am getting better at estimating where they ended up. Have had too much experience honing this skill.   
Yeah, it's frustrating to lose an arrow. Particularly one that ya made or were gifted.

[BowEd]

In the beginning making these bows and arrows and learning how to shoot these bows evaluating the right arrow for a certain bow and just being a plain crazy poor shot with piss poor form I planted many arrows into na na land that I'll never see.Did'nt even try to look for it.They never grow into a tree though....lol which disappointed me some too.
Now for some time now I made back stop too like Pat and Clint.2 layers of carpet.I'm going to put a horse stall rubber pad on there someday too like Clints.A little frost on the pumbkin this morning....lol.

Size is 6' tall by about 8' wide.4 steel posts with a 4" by 4" on top of them with a scrap piece of carpet draped over it.The edges of the carpet are sewed with a glovers needle and artificial sinew so wind cannot affect the carpet any.Otherwise shooting at round bales is about my favorite target.Finding a place that is dead still for wind to not affect the arrow usually determines what target I shoot at.

[Morgan]

I probably ought to make a backstop. I usually scatter half a dozen blocks across my yard, put 4 arrows in one and when I pull them, pick another to shoot at and so on. It’s really helped my accuracy at unknown and varying distances. Can’t backstop them shooting that way.

[Pat B]

Leave your protected target in one place and you move around at different distances and angles. Forget about the distances and let your brain handle that part of it. Just concentrate of the spot, draw, anchor and release.