In February I broke my bow. I carelessly shot it without an arrow in it. When you dry shoot a compound bow, the force that usually goes to push the arrow forward ends up reverberating up the strings and the cams get the full brunt of the force. It sounds like a gunshot as the string gets stretched to great tension and breaks. I know this sound well because yesterday I heard it (and felt it) again.

Two days ago I planned to shoot after work. I had a dental cleaning then went back to shoot in my empty gym. But when I got back to work I kept working until almost 7pm and got too hungry to stay and shoot. At my dental cleaning I found out I had lost a small filling and was able to book another appointment yesterday.

So yesterday before my late appointment, I got my ‘to do’ list done at work and raced to squeeze in some archery before the appointment. I was going to have to rush to get a scoring round in. Rushing was a bad idea. I didn’t do my ritual setup when I took the bow out of the case. So I got to the shooting line and realized that I had not adjusted my sight scope, something usual done well before this point.

Instead of stepping away from the shooting line, to do my setup, I stood there and made the adjustment. At this point my usual shooting procedure was completely broken. I made the adjustment, then fired my bow, in the rush I was in, to get a scoring round in.

Bang, ow. I instantly knew my mistake.

I’ll go to the archery store this weekend to see if my bow cams are salvageable or not. If they aren’t, I know the lower cam is not available to be replaced… it’s the same brand and model as my old bow, not made anymore. If I have to buy a new bow, I’ll be sure to buy one that has been dry shot tested, some of the newer bows don’t explode when you make this mistake.

Both times I did this, I was in a rush and careless. Both times I have reminded myself that I’m still a rookie. But most archers don’t make this mistake, and even less make it twice. It’s an expensive lesson that I hope I have finally learned.

On Thursday after work I was shooting my compound bow and stopped for the day. I decided to wax my bow strings, then on a whim thought I’d shoot one more round. With a quick mental lapse, I stood up and put my trigger onto the bow loop, drew back my string and dry shot my bow… I shot the bow without an arrow in it.

When you do that, all the energy intended to push the arrow forward gets returned to the bow. I heard a whip sound that was the volume of a firecracker at close range. Then I felt the sting on my hand. My broken bow string whipped my thumb.

I got ice on it right away, and it’s really just a surface wound, so honestly my ego hurts more. And as it turns out, my bow got hurt even more than that. I took it to the pro shop yesterday and it turns out that I damaged both cams. And unfortunately, it’s an older bow and the bottom cams are no longer available. So I need a new bow.

I’m all for learning from my mistakes, but damn this was an expensive mistake! The only saving grace is that they have a used model upgrade of my bow on sale and, while still expensive, it’s far cheaper than a new replacement of this quality. I’m told it’s a bow that’s been to the world championships, and since I know of only one left-handed shooter of that caliber around here, I think I know the previous owner, who would have treated the bow very well. Today I’m going in to try this new-to-me bow out.

I’m trying to see the silver lining and appreciate that I’m getting a bow upgrade that I probably would not have gotten for a couple more years. Something good has come from this… even if it’s a bit of a financial expense. My goal this year was to shoot at least 100 days this year and I’m way ahead of schedule, so I know I’ll be getting great use out of my new toy… and I’ll be a lot more careful about putting an arrow in it before shooting!