Middle Earth Ranger Forum

So there is next to our hay pasture a certain angry old stump. Old Man Biter he is.. and I'd lost more arrows than I care to think of to his gnarly old hide. I'd given him a wide berth for a time... but this summer I'd had such success stumpshooting with my medieval roving head I thought I could get away with just one go at him...
Drat! One of my nice Rangery arrows gone!
For weeks, that poor shaft sat up on the shelf alone. Eventually, another joined it. Both broken just behind the head, as I've heard wooden arrows from heavier bows are wont to do.

And then it occured to me. Historic Enterprises carried a bodkin point I'd always passed over because it was just so.. long.



So now I've got two new bodkin arrows, nicely matched in overall length to my regular arrows. While I was at it, I tied a bit of extra cordage near the nock so I can make them out in my quiver, just as Manv suggested:

Hah! Brilliant solution! Those bodkins look DEADLY. Very cool. Bummer about the broken arrows in general, but as the local SCA folks are always telling me, one should never become too attached to one's ammunition.

Glad the thread-index idea is working for you! Mine are done somewhat differently, but the effect is largely the same. It seemed a simple-yet-elegant solution to an ongoing problem, and I've been quite satisfied with it.

Beautiful arrows, Elleth

Yeah wow those are really nice arrows! Cool!

Oof. That first picture physically pained me, but the new bodkins look great!

Aaron wrote:Oof. That first picture physically pained me, but the new bodkins look great!

Inorite? Every time I shoot one that breaks, there’s an instant moment of “Why in the Sam-hill did you do that, you doofus?” Target selection when roving is always tricky, and there’s always a risk.

Oh it does hurt!

I've been thinking on this on and off over the last couple weeks as it relates to Ranger personas and impressions generally. One of the lessons I learned working at an Alaskan lodge one summer was how expendable even quite good equipment was regarded. It's not that they were wasteful by any means - rather, there was just an understanding that even with due care, constant use in challenging environments wore out gear much much faster than those of us accustomed to recreational use in the '48 might expect. This also led to a more unsentimental utilitarian approach to gear in general: once I saw a .22 rifle go to the bottom of a river: the owner wasn't especially bothered, which surprised me.

But given that -
- the rifle was maybe worth a couple hundred dollars - a cost dwarfed by fuel, food, and other costs. Getting the crew to the site cost more than the rifle did.
- it would have been insanely weathered in a few years anyway

.. the comparative nonchalance was more understandable.

In our own impressions, I suspect that similar thinking might be in play, at least for some items. Certainly not for relics like Narsil.. but I could certainly imagine a Ranger shrugging at a lost arrow. Not good... but for him, I rather rather suspect it may have been a raggedy-feathered, weather-warped stick by the end of the season anyhow.

That's a good point. IMO it's a lot like fishing lures. It sucks to lose one, but they're expendable to a point and you have to come to terms with the fact that of you use 'em enough, you're going to lose a few.