Bows and Arrows 09 Drunks

[KitterCat]

This all happened a few months back, in May and June for the VA Renaissance festival 09 season. Please bear in mind that the pictures show are of my Boss/friend. She backs us up in every aspect of running the shooting gallery because we’re following the rules she’s placed and she has a spine. My husband and I have lots of fun running the archery shooting gallery there. I posted last year about the 08 season here. We’ve been doing it for the past 3 years and never really had many problems with customers. A few idiots here and there but for some reason this season they seamed to have come out in force. So let the SC’s commence.

Drunks
I don’t know what happened but I dealt with more drunks this year than any other. Given that we deal with weapons - bows and arrows- we do not allow you on the range if your drunk. The amount of times I’ve had to tell people that these are weapons they can kill you if not treated correctly boggles the mind, so pretty much the range is treated like a firing/gun range.

Drunks #1, 2, 3
This was a group of three guys around there mid 30’s. All dressed in black T-shirts, baggie shirts, sandals and drinking a beer or the darker variety. And truth be told while they were in line just standing there I couldn’t tell there was a problem until I over hear this

Man1 to Man 2&3: “Man I wonder what this would be like if we were sober”
Man2; “yah this is going to be great”
Me: “You three gentlemen must leave my line”
All three have Oh blast she heard that expressions
Man2: But we’re Ok
Me: “You three gentlemen must leave my line”
Man1: But, but
Me: “You three gentlemen must leave my line”
Man1: But, but, but
Me: “You three gentlemen must leave my line. NOW”

Yes I know your arguments of persuasion are truly astounding. I’m sure the Mr. Squirrel up that tree was wondering why in the world I wouldn’t let you on the range. Maybe if you’d thrown in another “But” I would have been convinced but I obviously was just having a bad day and didn’t care at all about the safety of others.

Drunks 4,5, and not so sure 6
Group of 2 girls and one guy around there 20’s. They were your spoiled rotten, pretty, pretty princesses mentality for the girls and Mr. I can do no wrong because daddy can always bail me out of jail. At first Hubbie was dealing with them and we thought that they were just dumb. Now please understand, we can deal with dumb, just follow the directions that we give you and things go well. With this group it took us 30 seconds to start thinking they weren’t just dumb.

Girl #1 didn’t actually want to shoot. Which would have been fine if she hadn’t kept trying to go onto the firing line to “show” Girl2 and Boy1 how to shoot correctly. Hubbie kicked Girl 1 her off the range because she wouldn’t listen to directions, and had no idea what she was doing. I corrected Girl 2’s leg/body stance, right sided the bow, fixed arms hands and arrow placement for Girl 1 had royally screwed her up.

Preceded to help Boy 1. Boy1 is unable to tell his right hand from his left. He will not stop chatting to Girl 1 who is telling him that we (hubbie and I) are mean since we wont let her past the firing line. While I’m standing right there. Boy 1 gets told to start listening to directions. Boy 1 proceeds to ignore me.
Me; “sorry your obviously drunk give me back the materials.” To Mr. KitterCat “Dear give him back his money”
Boy 1: Gives me cat butt face “But I haven’t been drinking”
Me: “Sorry I cant have you on the range” Hands over money while thinking *sure and fish don’t need water to breath*
Boy 1: Gives me bow and arrows, takes money. Proceeds to guzzle glass of wine Girl 1 had just brought back.

Suddenly Girl 2 actually starts following directions. She stops listening to her friends and actually shooting. She still sucks at it but she’s off the range in less than 5 minutes. Hubbie and I really couldn’t tell if we had just shocked her by throwing off her 2 friends but she was still dumb, or if we’d shocked her and she was drunk. Either way that group wasn’t allowed back.

Drunk #7

This was our last one of the season. Another guy who came with his girlfriend. Girlfriend was perfectly sober. Now as for the guy, he was very polite, but couldn’t tell his right from his left hand. So he wasn’t so much suckie as just out of it. Please bear in mind that while shooting and English Long Bow the hand holding the bow needs to have a glove on it. This is to prevent the feathers on the arrow cutting into your hand since there is no rest for the arrow. Conversation went along theses lines.

Husband: “Are you right or left handed”
Guy: “Right handed”
Husband: “Ok, so your going to need a left handed glove.” Hands over glove
Guy; Procides to try to put left handed glove onto Right hand. Girlfriend lets him know he’s putting it on the wrong hand. Guy then trys to put glove on right hand backwards. With the pinkie finger in the thumb and wonders why his thumb wont fit. I come over to try and help and figure out what the problem is.
Me: Ok sir what’s the hand you write with.
Guy: My Right, but I shoot with my left.
Me; “Oh, ok. Easy to fix. We just generally ask people their dominant hand since we don’t get many bow shooters. I’ll just get you the other glove.”
Guy: “Oh I’ve never shot before.” Proceeds to try on Left handed glove - yes the glove he still has in his hand, back on to his right hand. Girlfriend looks like she’s watching a losing battle.
Me to Girlfriend: “Dear, has he been drinking?”
Guy: “Yes I have partaken much at your fair pub this day.”
Me and Girlfriend trying hard not to start laughing. I’ve got to give him kudos for at least trying to speak the lingo at a fair.
Me: “Dear I cant let you on the range, your drunk. You’ve just told me your drunk. Come back next year when your sober and then I can let you shot, but I cant today.” Gives him back money.
Guy looks sad faced, but cheers up when Girlfriend gives him a hug. She thanks me getting him off the range and assures me she’s driving.


I’ll write about the other SC’s later.

[Crossbow]

Ugh. Clueless with a bow is bad enough. Drunk with a bow is truly scary. (I was on my college archery team and student coached for a while.)

[Sheldonrs]

I used to take my nephew to his archery classes for Scouting. I had a lot of fun too but I was amazed how stupid some of the sober dads were there.
One guy would even stand IN FRONT of his son, who had his arrow drawn back, just to make sure he was doing it correctly.

Maybe your boss could set up a "Ye Olde Dunk-the-Drunk Tank". Fill it with cold water and let other people pay to "sober them up".

[Mnemjian]

I wonder if a lot of people realize that bow & arrows ARE weapons and can really hurt you bad! Barring the silly drunks, it must be a lot of fun to work at an archery range. I've never arched (archered? bowed and arrowed?) IRL but I do have Wii Resort and their archery is pretty sweet

[KitterCat]

"Maybe your boss could set up a "Ye Olde Dunk-the-Drunk Tank". Fill it with cold water and let other people pay to "sober them up". "

For the past 3 years we’ve had a stall that did “Throw the Rock” Yep you threw a rock/small bolder. I just direct them there. I’d love to set up a Dunk the Drunk Tank, but we’re operating below costs as it is. So much below cost that last year we were able to make enough to pay for Insurance, replacement arrows and replacement adult bows. YEAH!! We don’t get paid except for gas money to get there because there just isn’t enough coming in to cover all the ballistic archery grade Kevlar, equipment, sheds ect. Boss Lady pretty much does this because she’s eccentric and has the money to get the eqipment to do it.

[Crossbow]

I wonder if a lot of people realize that bow & arrows ARE weapons and can really hurt you bad! Barring the silly drunks, it must be a lot of fun to work at an archery range. I've never arched (archered? bowed and arrowed?) IRL but I do have Wii Resort and their archery is pretty sweet

It is a lot of fun, and thankfully the places I've worked (aka "run the line") were for the most part visited by people with some experience. Even with the newcomers in the college class, they understood fairly quickly that screwing around could easily get them (or someone else) badly injured. I have shot at ren fairs before, but haven't worked them. I give you a lot of credit, KitterKat, for dealing with SC's around weapons...

[Soulstealer]

I give you a lot of credit, KitterKat, for dealing with SC's around weapons...

Seconded, mostly because I have a short temper and someone would have become my new target fairly quickly had it been me.

[Midorikawa]

holy crap. No kidding. I have seen people walk onto gun ranges with their finger on the trigger, gun on shoulder pointing at innocents before. (Yet another reason to move back to Texas where nigh on everyone knows how to handle a firearm). these sort of people drunk at a bow range at a ren fair make me tremble in my boots.

[StanFlouride]

I wonder if a lot of people realize that bow & arrows ARE weapons and can really hurt you bad!

When I was a Scout we went to an event where a member of the local Bow Club took one of those cheap fiberglas bows they sell at toy stores and used it to put an arrow THROUGH a 5-gal steel bucket filled with sand.
It was quite an eye-opener.

[Crossbow]

When I was a Scout we went to an event where a member of the local Bow Club took one of those cheap fiberglas bows they sell at toy stores and used it to put an arrow THROUGH a 5-gal steel bucket filled with sand.
It was quite an eye-opener.

Sounds familiar. Friends of ours are community actors, and their theater was putting on a production of "Death Trap." My wife and I were called because we both have and know how to use crossbows (I currently own 5) and they needed one for the performance. To prove that this wasn't a toy, I shot a bolt across the parking lot and about 5 inches into a tree. We got to coach the two actors that were going to be on stage exactly how to use one safely and make it look good. We had to figure out w a way of firing a live bolt across the stage, at another actor, and make it safe. We ended up leaving it to stage magic and had the target well out of the line of fire. Looked fantastic on stage, though.

[Andara Bledin]

We ended up leaving it to stage magic and had the target well out of the line of fire. Looked fantastic on stage, though.

Gotta love perspective tricks.

I actually want to have a crossbow for home defense.

You shoot someone, it hurts, they bleed, and if they're (really) tough, they can work through it.

You shoot someone with a crossbow, and they've got a bolt sticking out of them. That should make them a bit more wary. Plus, no ricochets or going through walls.

^-.-^

[KitterCat]

Andara Bledin
You shoot someone with a crossbow, and they've got a bolt sticking out of them. That should make them a bit more wary. Plus, no ricochets or going through walls.

Andara, hate to tell you and I’m sure Crossbow will back me on this but a crossbow bolt can still ricochet or go through a wall if it’s a high enough poundage and depending on the bolt head. During our free time we’ve been training to put bow arrows through steal plate armor, since that’s what archers use to be employed to do. We cant do that with the public around for shows for insurance reasons. Crossbows can do that much more easily since the poundage is usually greater. You might actually want to give another thought to repeat firearms. Try glazer safety rounds or hollow points. They wont go through the walls and into your neighbors.

Just remember no weapon is compleatly foolproof. Get the training and treat it as a weapon.

[Crossbow]

Gotta love perspective tricks.

I actually want to have a crossbow for home defense.

You shoot someone, it hurts, they bleed, and if they're (really) tough, they can work through it.

You shoot someone with a crossbow, and they've got a bolt sticking out of them. That should make them a bit more wary. Plus, no ricochets or going through walls.

^-.-^

Wasn't so much a perspective trick as creative stage building. The shooter was onstage in a doorway, and his target was supposed to be at the top of the stairs behind a stage wall. So the shot came from one side of the stage to backstage, upwards. We had hay bales at the top of the stairs to catch the bolt. The target was actually UNDER the stairs, which had solid risers. Immediately after the shot went off, he would jump out and onto the stairs, and tumble down onto the stage with a fake bolt in his chest.

I don't recommend using a crossbow for home defense, though. If you miss (or the shot doesn't stop the intruder), you're going to have to reload. I can reload and shoot again in about 5 seconds if I'm pushing it, and I've been shooting for 20 years. That's if I'm not running on adrenaline from having someone breaking into my house. It doesn't take me 5 seconds to run from one end of my house to the other. Chances are they'll be on top of you before you can get another shot off. Not worth it. You're much better off calling 911 and letting the cops handle it.

[Andara Bledin]

Andara, hate to tell you and I’m sure Crossbow will back me on this but a crossbow bolt can still ricochet or go through a wall if it’s a high enough poundage and depending on the bolt head.

Oh, sure it will. Lapsed rennie for a live steel fighting group here, I know about how dangerous those things can be.

It doesn't take me 5 seconds to run from one end of my house to the other. Chances are they'll be on top of you before you can get another shot off. Not worth it. You're much better off calling 911 and letting the cops handle it.

I'm in a postcard-sized apartment right now. If I missed with the first shot, it'd be too late even with something that didn't require reloading. Plus, if it's to the point where I'd have an opportunity to shoot anything, it's way beyond time to be calling anyone except perhaps other neighbors.

I don't hesitate to call security or the cops if there's something suspicious going on outside. I have a very strong interest in never having to confront anyone.

It's all moot anyway, however, as I don't have any weapons to hand other than odd decorations right now, and the closest thing to a weapon any of them gets is the plastic replica bat-a-rang. I think my computer keyboard is more useful for defense than that thing.

^-.-^

[Crossbow]

Andara, hate to tell you and I’m sure Crossbow will back me on this but a crossbow bolt can still ricochet or go through a wall if it’s a high enough poundage and depending on the bolt head. During our free time we’ve been training to put bow arrows through steal plate armor, since that’s what archers use to be employed to do. We cant do that with the public around for shows for insurance reasons. Crossbows can do that much more easily since the poundage is usually greater. You might actually want to give another thought to repeat firearms. Try glazer safety rounds or hollow points. They wont go through the walls and into your neighbors.

Just remember no weapon is compleatly foolproof. Get the training and treat it as a weapon.

Ricochets with an arrow or bolt are common, more so than with a bullet. Since bullets have far more kinetic energy (offset by the smaller mass, I admit), a glancing blow to pretty much anything you'd find in an apartment would still likely go through or at least cause enough damage to only change the trajectory slightly. An arrow that hits something not dead on (or even dead on, if the surface is hard enough) will bounce.
Scariest moment I've ever had was at a tournament where someone missed the backstop and hit the cinderblock wall behind it. He must have caught it just right because the second I heard the sound (I can't describe it, but if you hear it, you'll know) of it hitting the wall, I turned and ducked. The arrow came back between myself and the judge at about 5 feet above the floor.