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- Jan 17, 2019
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I guess I'm feeling sentimental this morning and was thinking of my old range.
I used to live in Syracuse, NY for school and was lucky to have a really nice public range nearby at a large public park.
I was there all the time and a public range near a large city has some odd things happen. Here's 3 I remember.
1. Guy bends an arrow and gets mad. To dispose of the arrow, he points the bow at a 45 degree angle and lets it rip, not knowing that we were surrounded by people (dog park to one side, parking lot over there, walking trail over yonder). We all yell at him. No ambulances came, so I guess no one got hurt.
2. A mom and dad that aren't bow shooters take their son with his first walmart bow. They stand right next to the target to get action shots for facebook. I tell them "hey, that 20 lbs bow can still really hurt you. you should always stand behind the archer". They glare at me like I'm the biggest idiot that has ever lived and keep cheering him on while taking pictures and video.
3. There was this older white guy that thought he was a ninja or something. He had the full Japanese robe get up and a long bamboo bow and huge arrows with huge fletchings. He would do this whole pre shot procession and ritualistic shooting,,,,prancing around and waving the bow around. He was there pretty regularly. He was an absolutely horrible shot with that thing. And it was so slow the arrows were like javelins. Anyways, there were like 10 or so targets and he's smack dab in the middle. People start shooting and I don't see the Zen master. I look and he is in the lotus position downrange behind his target meditating. I don't shoot and when the coast is clear I go tell him "hey, it isn't safe to sit on the ground down range while people are shooting". Again, dirty look like I'm a fool.
Anything to add? Not limited to archery either, as gun ranges are more common.
EDIT: I chock this up to city folk getting started in a hobby without any continuity of older generations taking them out and teaching them basic safety. The funny thing is that a lot of people up there treated me like I was "slow" because I had a slight WV accent.
I used to live in Syracuse, NY for school and was lucky to have a really nice public range nearby at a large public park.
I was there all the time and a public range near a large city has some odd things happen. Here's 3 I remember.
1. Guy bends an arrow and gets mad. To dispose of the arrow, he points the bow at a 45 degree angle and lets it rip, not knowing that we were surrounded by people (dog park to one side, parking lot over there, walking trail over yonder). We all yell at him. No ambulances came, so I guess no one got hurt.
2. A mom and dad that aren't bow shooters take their son with his first walmart bow. They stand right next to the target to get action shots for facebook. I tell them "hey, that 20 lbs bow can still really hurt you. you should always stand behind the archer". They glare at me like I'm the biggest idiot that has ever lived and keep cheering him on while taking pictures and video.
3. There was this older white guy that thought he was a ninja or something. He had the full Japanese robe get up and a long bamboo bow and huge arrows with huge fletchings. He would do this whole pre shot procession and ritualistic shooting,,,,prancing around and waving the bow around. He was there pretty regularly. He was an absolutely horrible shot with that thing. And it was so slow the arrows were like javelins. Anyways, there were like 10 or so targets and he's smack dab in the middle. People start shooting and I don't see the Zen master. I look and he is in the lotus position downrange behind his target meditating. I don't shoot and when the coast is clear I go tell him "hey, it isn't safe to sit on the ground down range while people are shooting". Again, dirty look like I'm a fool.
Anything to add? Not limited to archery either, as gun ranges are more common.
EDIT: I chock this up to city folk getting started in a hobby without any continuity of older generations taking them out and teaching them basic safety. The funny thing is that a lot of people up there treated me like I was "slow" because I had a slight WV accent.
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