Injury update w/pics

GooseHunterJr · Apr 12, 2007

One week ago I was shooting the bow and had a arrow shatter on release. The font of the arrow continued on and the tail shafted proceeded to shoot itself into my left hand between my index finger anf thumb. I then pulled the arrow out(I know a mistake)...blood then was everywhere. Jamie rushed me to the ER where later that night I had surgey. I niched the artery and they had to tie it off. She also pulled out three big pieces of arrow along with "a ton" of small pieces. Just got back from the doctor and all looks pretty good...still really swollen....I am definetly going to have some nerve damage. But I am confident that I will regain my strength and mobility back....gonna be pinful recovery.
Here are some pics.
At the ER..not the best pic......

The arrow....

The part of the arrow that was in my hand....about 1.5" of it in my hand..

My club.......

Hand pictures..wound does look too bad...but you can see some bruising and swelling.....

All I cay to all bow shooters..is make sure those carbon arrows are great shape before shooting.....I may be switching to aluminum.

HullinPhx · Apr 12, 2007

Wow.. Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you get well soon.

thanks for the pictures.

Aaron · Apr 12, 2007

Wow i always heard of this but never have seen it up close. I know a kid that it happened to the first time he shot a brand new dozen arowws. He made a case out of it and won against gold tip and got all med pay and pain and suffering pay. I still know of a couple guys that still will not shoot carbons just because of that reason of them exploding and if it goes into your body u have major probblems with it. They have to try to remove all those carbon fibers out of u. I know its rare but that would just suck. Sorry

quakeycrazy · Apr 12, 2007

LAST EDITED ON Apr-12-07 AT 10:54AM (MST)[p]I am almost convinced to go back to aluminums now. I don't really like the way I've seen carbons shatter, I've spent a lot of time trying to whittle away those fibers off an arrow that I pulled a robin hood on. I do like their speed, but I'm not so convinced they are any better than aluminums. I have gotten tighter groups from aluminums anyways.... hope you get back in the game soon bro, good luck.

canhunter · Apr 12, 2007

Oh Man if I had seen this before I posted the found arrow question I would have gotten rid of it. Dam that is harsh but a reality. Glad to see you are getting back to it.

canhunter · Apr 12, 2007

Fill us in on the arrow type weight and your set up. Any information as to possible cause, damage, hitting each other while shooting, anything to help us look for or find the flaw before we skewer ourself.

COLO3D · Apr 12, 2007

You should really look into adding some helical to your vanes. Just kidding. That is so gross and should be a wake up call to all of us. We need to regularly inspect our arrows. It is much easier to inspect black arrow than camo arrows, as the imperfections show up easier.

Aluminim arrows are not imune to these types of problems, regardless of what type of arrow you shoot they need to be inspected often.

Outdoordan · Apr 12, 2007

In the past I have let my dog retrieve arrows, specially the hard to find stump shoot arrows. Unbeknownst to me he crunched down on an arrow, basically cracking it where yours broke. However, like you I didn't know it. It broke when I shot, and part of the arrow hit me in the left arm. It didn't go in my arm but left a baseball sized bump and some tearing of the skin. Now, I let him show me the arrow but not pick it up! I hope you have a speedy recovery.

GooseHunterJr · Apr 13, 2007

>Fill us in on the arrow
>type weight and your set
>up. Any information as
>to possible cause, damage, hitting
>each other while shooting, anything
>to help us look for
>or find the flaw before
>we skewer ourself.

The arrow was a Beman Camo Hunter 400. Shooting out of a Reflex Highlander at 67 pounds of pull....125 grain field tip. I have been asked alot about what the arrow went thru before this happened. The only thing it has been shot at was the bblock target or hay bails at the range.

slider · Apr 13, 2007

WOW thats CRAZY!!! I hope you get well soon!!! Good Luck

canhunter · Apr 13, 2007

Not bashing Beeman. Have seen a lot of guys start out with them but they break easy. A lot of hits and deflections cause the shaft to break in half immediatly. I don't know and not saying it was Beeman's fualt. Check out a Beeman wall thickness compared to just about any other carbon and it appears thinner. Man I am so glad it did not tear a finger off or worse. Nerves will actually grow back so have faith. They just seem to get much more sensitive then before being torn up. Been there, done that, still doing it every day. JMO

usa · Apr 18, 2007

I've had 2 gold tips diintigrate as they were leaving my bow, switched to eastons no more problems. My buddy had the same injury as you do except his hand was impaled to the riser by the arrow shaft, he sued the mfg and they settled for 50 K. his was a newer arrow with no visible problems and after the mfg did exaustive tests on the pieces they concluded it was arrow failure not human error.

hogliver · Apr 19, 2007

Holy crap. Last year I had one break just exactly where yours broke. For whatever reason it didn't hit my hand or arm. What it did, though, was give me a major case of the flinches. Good luck.