Perhaps you have looked at the sport of bowfishing and wondered to yourself if it can be dangerous. Maybe you have even heard stories of people who died or suffered a serious injury because of bowfishing. Let’s have a look at this subject and learn what we can about the dangers and how to prevent them.
Is bowfishing dangerous? Yes, bowfishing has the potential to be dangerous without the right precautions. The biggest danger from bowfishing comes from the snap back of the arrow attached to a line. You don’t want the arrow flying back at you, and it does happen.
How to Stay Safe
We have covered how it has the potential to be dangerous when the arrow attached to the line snaps back and come flying back at you. People have died because of this when the arrow snapped back and pierced their skull.
With that said, you can prevent this from happening through buying an AMS safety slide. When I go bowfishing, I don’t consider a safety slide a want. I consider it a must. You don’t want to take unnecessary risks that could lead to you getting hurt or killed. It only takes one time for the arrow to come flying back at you. You may have shot the bow successfully hundreds of times, but it only takes one time. Especially since you can prevent it, why take unncessary risks?
What is Snapback?
Snapback happens when you use the wrong kind of reel. You have different types of snapback, but perhaps the most dangerous form of snapback happens when the lines get tangled. You don’t want to experience this kind of thing, not even once.
Beginners at bowfishing have especially become vulnerable to it because they haven’t learned the proper ways of bowfishing. This happens when the arrow line gets wrapped up and tangled in the bowstring. It has a reputation for causing injury, and it can even cause death in the extreme cases.
How a Bowfishing Safety Slide Protects You
You install the bowfishing safety slide over the shaft of the arrow. It works as a safety feature as you do bowfishing. You tie the fishing line to the safety slide. As you draw back the bow, the slide and the line will remain forward. When you release the arrow, the line moves through the slide. During the process, the slide will move back to its original position, and this will be done without having an impact on the flight of the arrow.
The slide protects you, and at the same time, it ensures that the arrow doesn’t blow straight through the fish. You never have to worry that the line will tangle with the bowstring in this way and cause an awful snapback that has even proven deadly in some cases. Stories exist where people died because of the snapback.
The Features of a Safety Slide
You have a few key features that your safety slide should have included with it for you to get the most out of it. First and foremost, it should prevent arrow snapback, which can be deadly. In addition, it should hold the fishing line in place and away from the bowstrings because this will prevent dangerous entanglements.
Next, the safety slide should never interfere with the flight of the arrow. You want it to fly as unaffected by the safety slide as possible. Lastly, you want the safety slide to be able to handle fish over 100 pounds especially if you will be targeting some of the bigger fish like catfish or alligator gar.
You never want the fishing line tied directly to the arrow because of how this is especially how snapback occurs, and it can be dangerous. You don’t want to deal with it. The safety slide also helps to make the arrow fly better.
Other Dangers of Bowfishing
The snapback poses the greatest danger, but you do have other dangers that you should be aware of. With everything said, bowfishing can be a relatively safe sport. You do have some dangers to be aware of, but for the most part, you don’t have to worry too much. Do you stay out of the tree stand during deer hunting season because you’re afraid that you will fall? Very few people would find that logical. They simply take precautions.
If you don’t take precautions, then anything has the potential to be dangerous. a safety slide prevents this danger from happening. Some people have the belief that bowfishing is dangerous, but the slide eliminates a great deal of the danger. I don’t bowfish without mine.
The other danger is that you might get your finger or other body part caught in the line as you shoot it if you allow too much slack. With the right knowledge and preparation, you don’t have to worry too much, but it can and has happened to people. Don’t let there be any slack.
You should also be aware of where you leave the carp or other fish as you bring it into the boat. The slime from the scales can make the boat slippery, and this can cause you to slip and hit your head. Sounds almost laughable, but it’s true. Keeping these things in mind can protect you from the dangers.
How to Prevent Snapback
Most experienced bowfisherman will tell you not to even shoot without a slider on the bow. A lot of them won’t even shoot without a slider because of how it makes bowfishing a lot more dangerous. With that said, you have a few things to keep in mind to prevent snapback. When you go to shoot the bow, you should make sure that you have no slack on the line whatsoever. It can’t exist anywhere.
Slack can get tangled and send the arrow shooting back at you. Some bowfishermen have even had close calls with it, and they were traumatized so badly that they refused to do bowfishing again. Don’t let that become you. A slider doesn’t cost that much in comparison to getting hurt or killed because you didn’t have one.
Bowfishing with Children
Bowfishing regulations differ from state to state, but you have some fathers who have taken their nine-year-old son bowfishing. There’s nothing wrong with this, but you should understand the dangers as well and make sure that he understands the dangers.
Without a question, you should have a slider on the bow when bowfishing with children because you want to have a fun time while out on the water. The most important thing at the end of the day is not how many carp you shot but that everyone in your bowfishing party had fun and came home safe.
Let your child see how you bowfish a few times before you let them shoot. In addition, don’t let them shoot without a slider. Archery can be a great sport for children, but bowfishing adds another element of danger to it because of how the line on the arrow can get tangled with the bowstring and become a real threat to the archer. Especially for a child, you want to make sure that this never happens.
Getting started with bowfishing can be a lot of fun, but I’d first recommend that you buy yourself a safety slide. It’s not worth the trouble of not having one because you never want to have to make a phone call to that wife or family that their husband or father was injured in a bowfishing accident. You eliminate so much of the dangers with a safety slide and you only see benefits from having one.
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