www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005230426,00.html

Driver shot with arrow

By JOHN TROUP

A MAN was shot in the back with an ARROW early yesterday after his car was stopped on a country lane.

The builder got out of his Ford Transit because a red van with its passenger door open was blocking the single-track road.

As he walked towards the vehicle he saw a woman crouching by the driver’s door talking on a mobile.

He took a step back then felt a searing pain in his back. The 46-year-old realised he had been hit and turned to see a man standing 20ft away holding a LONGBOW.

Fearing he would be shot again he pulled the arrow from his back, jumped into his van and raced away.

He was treated in hospital and luckily the arrow missed his major organs.

Police were last night hunting the bowman and the woman after the 6.15am attack at Great Bromley, Essex. Officers think the pair sped off in their Ford Escort van.

Police said: “The victim was shot just below his left shoulder blade and fortunately his rib cage protected his vital organs. He is now recovering at home but is very sore and groggy.

“This was a very rural location. It appears to have been a completely unprovoked attack.”

WTF?

I read "he pulled out the arrow" and a visual image of a spear-tip came to mind and I cringed.. yeeesh..

Quoted: WTF? I read "he pulled out the arrow" and a visual image of a spear-tip came to mind and I cringed.. yeeesh..

+1 on that.

I don't think it was a longbow.  It may have been a "longer" bow, perhaps 10-20 lbs. (i.e., a kid's bow) with a target arrow (just speculation).  Anyone with a basic idea of modern bows (me) knows that you could do much more damage than that with almost any compound bow.  Crossbows are even more nasty.

Two notes:

-There's a man serving a 25 year term here in Mass for killing another motorist during a "road rage" incident with a crossbow.

-I have no idea how stringent bow purchases may be scrutinized in England.  It may also be that they are sold only in specialty stores or by re-enactor suppliers, and that the demand is so low that any purchase may be scrutinized or remembered; hence, a homemade bow?

I don't think it was a longbow.  It may have been a "longer" bow, perhaps 10-20 lbs. (i.e., a kid's bow) with a target arrow (just speculation).  Anyone with a basic idea of modern bows (me) knows that you could do much more damage than that with almost any compound bow.

I will agree with you on the first point...I doubt it was a longbow but rather more of a target type recurve bow or something lighter in the poundage.

However, I completely disagree with your "compound bows could do much more damage."  Compound bows are simply bows for sissies (no offense) who can't hold the total weight of the bow for longer periods of time.  The compound bow let's off 80% of the bow poundage so that the archer can hold it longer before releasing...whereas long bow archers have to pull ALL the weight and hold it until time to release.  Long bows are FAR superior for hitting targets that are moving as well because you can release the arrow at any point in the draw whereas a compound bow has the jerky let-off and usually destroys your aim in the process.

Long bows are actually QUITE capable of killing everything that walks this earth, and there are guys out there who've downed elephants with them.  They're shooting 120+ lb. long bows and are STUDS no doubt...believe me on this.  Try pulling and holding *only* a 81 lb. long bow and you'll be lucky if you can pull it, much less hold it long enough to hit the bullseye.  Let us also not forget that Long Bows were extremely feared in history due to the fact that their arrows would pierce armor due to the incredible power generated by their strength.

There are two reasons this person got off lucky.  One was that the arrow wasn't travelling that fast, evidenced by the fact that it stayed in him (whereas a true long bow's arrows from 65 lb. bow and up would go right through you like butter).  Secondly, while the article didn't say, the odds are it was a target point and not a broadhead tipped arrow.  If it had been a broadhead of almost any type, this dude would likely have bled to death.  The amount of internal trauma and hemmoraging caused by broadhead arrows is scary beyond belief.

OK...school is over for now.

Bows don't kill people.Arrows do.
 At least it wasn't dynamite-tipped, ala Duke  of Hazzard!

After reading Bernard Cromwell's Grail Quest series of books, I obviously want a longbow, too.  

Sounds like it's time to ban Assault bows in England.

Or you could coin a new term like Seige Bow to make them seem scarier and easier to ban.

It sounds like this is a part of a land dispute. A BUILDER gets assaulted on a back country road in rural England.


In it's day, the longbow was a devastating weapon. In the hands of an able archer, it was a damned scarey thing to be down-range of. The best bows were made of Yew, and fire hardened hardwood arrows were used.
The English archers at Agincourt, and other battles of the era layed waste to many many lightly armored frogs, err, Frenchmen.

Equaly as devestating is the Japanese longbow, capable of penetrating the Edo period lacquered leather armour from significant ranges.

Oh yeah
"Pluck Yew"!!! (holding up middle fingers of right hand)

DaddyDett

Quoted: I don't think it was a longbow.  It may have been a "longer" bow, perhaps 10-20 lbs. (i.e., a kid's bow) with a target arrow (just speculation).  Anyone with a basic idea of modern bows (me) knows that you could do much more damage than that with almost any compound bow.   I will agree with you on the first point...I doubt it was a longbow but rather more of a target type recurve bow or something lighter in the poundage. However, I completely disagree with your "compound bows could do much more damage."  Compound bows are simply bows for sissies (no offense) who can't hold the total weight of the bow for longer periods of time.  The compound bow let's off 80% of the bow poundage so that the archer can hold it longer before releasing...whereas long bow archers have to pull ALL the weight and hold it until time to release.  Long bows are FAR superior for hitting targets that are moving as well because you can release the arrow at any point in the draw whereas a compound bow has the jerky let-off and usually destroys your aim in the process. Long bows are actually QUITE capable of killing everything that walks this earth, and there are guys out there who've downed elephants with them.  They're shooting 120+ lb. long bows and are STUDS no doubt...believe me on this.  Try pulling and holding *only* a 81 lb. long bow and you'll be lucky if you can pull it, much less hold it long enough to hit the bullseye.  Let us also not forget that Long Bows were extremely feared in history due to the fact that their arrows would pierce armor due to the incredible power generated by their strength. There are two reasons this person got off lucky.  One was that the arrow wasn't travelling that fast, evidenced by the fact that it stayed in him (whereas a true long bow's arrows from 65 lb. bow and up would go right through you like butter).  Secondly, while the article didn't say, the odds are it was a target point and not a broadhead tipped arrow.  If it had been a broadhead of almost any type, this dude would likely have bled to death.  The amount of internal trauma and hemmoraging caused by broadhead arrows is scary beyond belief. OK...school is over for now.

Interesting... I want one

Quoted: Let us also not forget that Long Bows were extremely feared in history due to the fact that their arrows would pierce armor due to the incredible power generated by their strength.

That whole pierce the armor thing was shown as bunk by the history channel when they did a thing on the battle of Agincourt

Sounds like Robin Hood has been re-incarnated and Maid Marion is now using a cell phone............... just has to get a little more practice in with the bow and he'll be back in truely good form

AKASL
LIVE FREE OR DIE
NEW HAMPSHIRE

The average foot solddier of the era wore only a sort of padded vest, and possibly a rusimentary helmet. They were very vulnerable. I seriously doubt the wisdom of wrapping yourself in a couple quilts and taking longbow fire, oh just OWWW!
Chain mail of certain types was effective against arrow penetration, but you could still take a thumping bruising. There were unprotected areas depending on the type of chain mail used.
Full metal plate armor was for "officers" and rich kids playing soldier, since personal weapons and kit were bought on your own dime in those days.
DaddyDett

Compound bows are also shorter, allowing you to use them in a treestand easier.  I figure they're also easier to carry through the woods.
My neighbor has a recurve that he hunts with.  I can tell you that when shooting at a target, I outshoot him with my compound.

Quoted: However, I completely disagree with your "compound bows could do much more damage."  Compound bows are simply bows for sissies (no offense) who can't hold the total weight of the bow for longer periods of time.  The compound bow let's off 80% of the bow poundage so that the archer can hold it longer before releasing...whereas long bow archers have to pull ALL the weight and hold it until time to release.  Long bows are FAR superior for hitting targets that are moving as well because you can release the arrow at any point in the draw whereas a compound bow has the jerky let-off and usually destroys your aim in the process.

Did the shooter use "cop killer" arrows?

Maybe they'll place a $200 tax on string silencers.

My Bear Kodiak Hunter has a threaded insert for attaching a stabilizer or a reel. Does that make it an assualt bow? Probably does once you couple that with the string silencers and high capacity quiver.

May be time for another boating trip (accident.)

Black Talon Broadheads,   I hear some people actually put razorblades on the end of their arrows, scary......

+1 on the compound bow. I am a sissy so I like taking the easier way, work smarter not harder I'm glad I had a compound last year, had to hold my draw for almost a minute due to being slightly out of position and the deer starring straight at me when I drew back. I literally had sweat running down my neck and started shaking then it turned its head, aim, one heart shot at about 15 yards. Anyway the point of my story is that I don't the draw weight set very high and the arrow went straight through rib cage, broke one rib in half and then stuck almost all the way in the ground. Those guys most have been using something from pretty weak.