would you do it?

hellsfinest · would you do it?

i was telling a good friend that i'd just discoverd archery & how much i enjoyed yesterday, when out of nowhere he presented me with what seemed at first to be an odd question, . . . . . . however, bearing in mind the history of archery & not forgetting what a bow, any bow, realy is i s'pose his question was'nt that odd at all. we're all drawn to this ancient activity for our own reasons, i'm new to it & i do it because it just feels good, in time that might change & i may want to compete, you do it for your own reasons but at the end of the day, we're all archers, . . . . hence the question. :- It's 2am, your in bed, your kids lie sleeping in the next room, your wife/huspand is snoring away, but your awake . . your awake because you can hear something, your awake because you know theres someone in your home! you dont know who or what their intent is! could be thieves or serial killers, you just dont know!!! instinct tells you to pick up your bow, arm yourself & protect your family! you stealthily make your way to your living room, enter the darkend room & at the other end of the room is a large masked man facing you, he makes to attempt to escape or talk. but very slowly moves toward you! a million archers over thousands of years have felt as you do now! . . . . . . . question is . . . what would you do??? thats just how he asked me the question, . . i tried to say it depends on . . . but he stopped me & said forget all the variables, if's & but's,- you're in the situation right now make your decision! . . . what would you do?? I'm genuinely interested in how you's would answer so please be honest

Liam

Well I certainly would not shoot the fella, I aint doing a 15 stretch for no one.

Firstly I wouldn't touch the bow even if I could (I'd have to get past the 'masked warrior' first)

Is he armed?

If so he can take what he wants - if he heads for the stairs then the protection instinct would kick in. My favoured option would be to disable at the knees.

Having said all that I would in no way promote violence in a public forum.

Of course the other alternative would be to phone the police as soon as I woke.

I'll be keeping an eye on this one just in case any replies are OTT

Road Runner · what would you do

Call the Police ....... its what they are paid for
Taking a bow from its case stringing it and going searching shows clear intent and could be successfully argued as such by the CPS. A totally different kettle of fish to picking up what is to hand to defend the person.

ruthmc

I'd get my AK47 out and... just kidding!

I would call the police, if they don't show up in 5 mins, I'd wake up the rest of the household and we'd all start yelling and screaming and put all the lights on and preferably wake the whole street too.

That's a pretty good deterrent

Berniethebolt

By the time I'd get My bow together the house would be cleaned out lol

I would have to say Id call the police and hope the one robbing me gets what he wants and leaves.
If he was about to hurts any of my family I don't know what I'd do but I would give my life for my husband and my sons.

Hope I never wil be it that situtions to have to do that lol

Bernie

Dawn

I wouldn't attempt to shoot them using my bow, anyway by the time I had put it together and strung it

maybe better just to hit them with the riser

But hopefully our dog will have got some DNA before then

Seriously though I would phone the police, I take my phone with me when I go to bed, you never know

Chedawan

I have to say he sounds a jolly decent fellow, even if he does know my alarm code as it doesn't seem to have gone off (maybe it's my dad, he knows it... wonder why he's got a mask on?), after all he's let me get out of bed, put the light on so I can find my bow case on top of the wardrobe. Step two, is to unzip the case, then I need to get the riser out... put the limbs in... good job the light's on so I can tell which one's which (not that I think the masked superhuman in the lounge will pull me up on having illegal sight markings on the top limb... but if I'm building my bow, as Road Runner suggests, I'm planning on shooting something so, best get tiller right.) Time to string it, middle of the night, best put some clothes on, don't want to twang or trap anything in the string by mistake

Twang string to settle limbs into pockets... hope he's still waiting down there for me. Probably forego checking the bracing height, just this once, can even leave the sight off I suppose, the living room's only twenty five foot long... should be able to manage that. Need to go quicker... shun the stabilisers... won't shoot the same but at short distance shouldn't matter... need that pressure button though! Perhaps I ought to fall back on plan B and club him with the riser?

I'm thinking this isn't that feasible for me to contemplate really... One has to suggest I would be either robbed or brutally 'done in' by this point... or informed by the policeman in the hazard suit and gas mask (the one I was wondering about shooting) that I need to leave the house as there's a suspected terrorist with a dirty bomb on the street. Maybe I ought to keep my flatbow upstairs with me; give myself more options.

I'm with the others on this one, I'm going for the call to the police, and then waking the neighbourhood.
I also think that saying 'forget all the variables, the ifs and buts you're in that situation now' makes the whole discussion pointless... a life and death situation is ENTIRELY dependent upon the variables, one thing that is wholely important, has he got anything in his hands? it's a variable I'm told to forget, but in the actual situation is a piece of information I would have instantly to hand to aid my decision. The situation is different if he's carrying my TV, to if he's carrying a machette, and again different if he's carrying a large bunch of flowers. Is the mask a ski mask, or a Zorro style eye mask above a friendly smiling face? I would contend that the details and the variables are the only way to know what you would do in such a situation, I would further contend that 'a million archers have found themselves feeling as I do now' is untrue, millions of archers have been in similar situations, but none of them have my particular quirks or outlook on life... they haven't been where I have.

My answer therefore is... I do not know, and I hope I don't have to find out. I could do it, thousands of arrows over years have proved that. Would I do it? is a completely seperate matter.

jaselpool

I shoot longbow so I'd probably miss him if he was in front of me anyway lol (only kidding!)

Well my mrs works for Cheshire police as a forensics photographer and is considered "a police officer" as far as giving them a call I'd let her do it they'd be round in seconds

Plus I'd throw the cat at his face and see if he can shake her loose while I was waiting!

J

fred

1-Forget the bow a baseball bat or spade under the bed is better
2-If you have a big dog send him down first
3-Get a spade whack the rat bag then bury him in the garden
4-Wake the wife send her down and go back to sleep,Mrs Fred is equal to any three rat bags.
5- Dont ring the police they are as about much use as a t*ts on a bull unless you are doing 32 in a 30 zone the there are about 20 about.
Rant over as haveing been on the reseaving end of a sitution like this and me ended up with a caution next time number 3 sounds good
Fred

Bushy

sunmouse

Probably do nothing until he/she goes upstairs, then follow he/she upstairs, knock 'em down and sit on them. They can't do much with 13+ stone of woman on top of them. Shout for the other half who will then ring the police. Given that our police station is down the road, it shyould take them several minutes plus a round trip for some doughnuts and then they'll be there.

But, seriously, its not worth tackling a burglar or intruder and by the time I've put the limbs on the bow and strung it, they'll have robbed the place.

hellsfinest

thanks all, pretty consistent lot then! realistically though has anybody ever heard a noise downstairs in the past & actually rang the police before going down to check?

English Bowman

The bow would be the last thing that I'd pick up. When I was living at mums she woke me saying that there was someone downstairs, I told her to wait where she was and get ready to phone the police. I got up, put my dressing gown on and picked up my Roman short sword. I went downstairs, and saw that the living room light was on. I went to the door, and it started to open, so I drew the sword hard and fast aiming to hit the intruder under the chin with the pommel. The idea being that it would knock him back and either scare him off, or knock him down where I could threaten him with the point and tell him to stay there until the police arrived. Fortunately I had good control of the weapon because as the door opened further I saw that it was my Mum who had ignored me and gone to investigate the noise herself. I don't know who was more scared, me or her. As it was no intruder and fortunately no harm done.

Daniel

Berniethebolt