I was wondering if any of you have used metal detectors to find lost arrows at shoots. If so which type works best

I have a Whites Classic and after about 20 years it is still going strong but any should work .

I did in the yard with a cheap one I got off craigslist. I've since sold it. Picked up the field tip.

For aluminum's works great, others not so much.

We have a old one at the club, works great. Little more time to find carbons, but it works

My little English cocker sniff them out, as long there is a feather she will find it. Same with game birds, they can run but can’t hide.

I bought the 9 function detector from harbor frieght, didn't find MY arrows yet, but found others.Aluminum arrows are easiest, carbons your just looking for the metal point.

Any cheap metal detector can easily find arrows. If it has a discriminator setting, keep it on all metals. Arrows are not deep and the steel or aluminum parts set off the detector well.

Any cheap metal detector can easily find arrows. If it has a discriminator setting, keep it on all metals. Arrows are not deep and the steel or aluminum parts set off the detector well.

Dad and I bought a mid level detector. Works fairly well if you have a good idea of where to look. My property was pasture field and still find farm post insulator nails and old barb wire. It or me isn't very good at finding arrows in high weeds/grass.

I detect a lot and own 4 of them. Aluminum will be real easy to find. The problem with carbon and wood as you have very little metal for the detector to pick up but I have done it a lot at my club. If you are going to just look for arrows by a cheap Bounty Hunter. Like I said, aluminum comes up real easy.

I detect a lot as well , more than I shoot arrows. If you use brass inserts or weights the carbons will sound off easily. Buy a decent detector and you may discover a very rewarding new hobby but , like archery , there's a code of ethics to bone up on before doing it.

I bought one at Harbor Freight for around 40$. It paid for itself in the first ten minutes I had it home. No problem at all finding carbons or any other arrows.

If you shoot in your yard or anywhere thick grass is you will save a ton of time and money with a detector. Mine hangs on the wall in my bow room. Finding arrows is all I use it for. One of the best investments I have made. Good Day

Yes.

I picked up an antique model at a tag sale and used it for years, worked great.

I'll be looking to upgrade at Harbor Freight, thank you D31.

I used the detector one time to find an arrow in an open field. The target I shot at was in the woods on the edge of the field and the shot was from the woods, towards the field. I looked, without the detector at first and was very thorough. The shot angle was down towards the field and it had to be within fifteen feet of the field edge. OK, I have a detector so I returned a couple of days later and about where it should have been I heard the blip of a contact. I set about to scratching and digging, but couldn't uncover the arrow, and then it was gone. No more tone/blip. Strange. I set about to sweeping the area again and about two feet to the side of the first blip is sounds again. I again moved a fallen branch and began to scratch and dig. No arrow, again, and the blip stopped. As I began sweeping again the blip sounded, this time I recognized the branch, and remarkably, the arrow had entered a knot hole in a four inch diameter limb and was inside. I'll admit, it sounds like a "believe it or not".

Got an FC/AFC Lab that will find anything with a feather on it.

I would say money saved, but the average expense to campaign a dog to FC/AFC Field Trial titles is $40-$45K.

He will find arrows though and that's a plus.

one thing i found while looking for arrows with a detector is you tend to pay more attention to the arc you are sweeping the head in and a lot of times that will cause you to see the arrow just before the buzzing starts

Yes I’ve had two metal detectors, both are mid range detectors and easy to find arrows. Aluminum is easy , but any shaft can be found with not much trouble. If arrows are the only thing you’re interested in finding then any cheaper detector will work as they will be shallow. Funny story, but not at the time. I had a Detector paid over $600 for it. Was at the hunt club passing time and looking for stuff with it. Had it in the gun holders which were mounted on the rear rack of the 4 wheeler Anyway, going thru some thick pines and the detector slipped to one side. When I stopped it was in 4 pieces. I patched it back together and it worked for quite a few years afterward. Moral of this story// don’t put your dang gun holder on the back rack where you can’t see it.

I have used one at one of the 3D shoots practice targets. It took a while because it was a carbon arrow, but it worked.

I use one a lot...great sport. It will pick up the point on a wood arrow, although my golden retriever Jake can actually find them faster. I had a Whites Spectrum for years... now I use a Garrett AT Pro. Lotsa coins, rings, medals, toys, keys. Richard

I bought one for $45 and it’s paid for its self at least 2 times!

I have done this. Not worth buying a detector to do it . . . but they are fun for other reasons. I have a Fisher F-75 LTD that is an amazing detector.

David, that is quite an accomplishment for a lab and owner. Mine was an AKC Master Hunter, not quite the same level as the field trial dogs but he made a fantastic hunting dog all his life.

Started using one 30 plus yrs ago.

I thought they would only register over the steel field point, but the aluminum shaft also "beeped".

About 15 years ago I got a buddy at work interested in archery and had him come ove to shoot after work one evening . He proceeded to shoot an arrow in the grass and bury it out of sight. We couldn't find it so the next evening he came over with his metal detector. He immediately got the signal and I started digging . After about 20 minutes we realized he had on his steel toe boots. We still laugh about that one.

I have a Harbor Freight detector as well and have found some tin arrows I lost at my hunt camp.

I took it to my club's range and found a couple of my arrows AFTER I found a small sample of the accumulated metal detritis of 25 years of human occupancy!

Bottle caps, tin foil, wire etc...you get the picture.

Be nice to have an " arrow" setting! LOL!

They work great to find arrows if you can narrow the search area.

I had a friend that used to go out to the county fish and game club after they had a shoot back in the '80's and early 90's and find scads of arrows.

I've used one to find arrows that have missed deer but are still in the farmers field. The farmer appreciates it!

Wow, lookie ...StumpKiller dug up a bench!

Cheap one here. Kids minesweep the yard and collect a buck for each one they find.

You guys ever use the two copper based wires and a holder for each? Hold them horizontal in something that will allow them to rotate...and walk over the area. When the rods cross each other, your arrow is under the leaves. Will just find even field tips!

It uses the same idea that plumbers use to find metal pipes in your yard. I made one for about $5.00 many years ago.

Works better than you would think...

Stringwacker that's called a Diving or Dowsing Rod.

I guess. I have often thought of dowsing rods as folklore about how some people claim to find water. This works on metal.

I was at a 3-D range once and I told people to hide some field points in the walk trail. I found all f them quite easily. I haven't used it in a while, but if I miss my backyard target, I will usually go inside and find the arrow in short order...aluminum arrows are the easiest...but as long as a cedar or carbon arrow has a metal tip, it will still work. The more you use it, the easier it becomes.

I purchased an inexpensive metal detector designed for kids. It really does the job well and for less than $50. Since I use a large field point and a spin insert that adds additional metal to my my carbon arrows, I can always find the odd arrow that gets under the grass carpet in my yard. Arekay

I dowse for wells and pipes. I never tried it for arrows. I will have to try it. I use what ever grows at the site but prefer apple. I can get to within a foot as far as water depth. Dowsing runs in my family. My uncle could tell you how deep to dig and estimate flow rate. My son’s father-in-law does the same thing. He has an excavator and does it for a living.

I dowse for wells and pipes. I never tried it for arrows. I will have to try it. I use what ever grows at the site but prefer apple. I can get to within a foot as far as water depth. Dowsing runs in my family. My uncle could tell you how deep to dig and estimate flow rate. My son’s father-in-law does the same thing. He has an excavator and does it for a living.

lawdy there was a man in the little town I grew up sloe to in Texas that could dowse water like that. I saw him do it many times.

I did it once to find a water line for a pipe crew. One of the guys was a Jehovah Witness. He claimed I was acting for Satan. He wouldn’t come near me. It’s just our body’s electricity according to a Botany prof I had in college.

I always though the idea would make someone a million dollars if they could market it in a small case with expandable rods that would fit in a quiver. I still have no clue how it works (hopefully not Satan!) but for my own use, the rod had to have a high degree of copper in it...these were some sort of welding rod bent to fit my needs.

I have a metal detector and have never found a single arrow.,but I shoot carbon. But on the other hand my buddy has a dog that finds all of his.,

I have a nice 200 gr. metal head and I find my carbon arrows with no problem at all.

Yeah I am back on site .Haven't posted in a long time but a while ago I got a entry level Minelab go 20 detector and it works great. Finds arrows easily and much more.It paid for itself in the first month of owning it.Apart from all the rubbish ( bottle caps etc)$700 in gold jewellery on the beach. Gold rings chains pendents.Considering my handmade footed arrows take 3 1/2 to 4 hrs to make it's a great investment.Mine lab 20 or 40 models fold up to about 18 "nice and compact 0sr 144

Being home all the time gives our minds time to wander so I decided to shoot some arrows at 11:30 pm last night at the 3D deer target I have leaning against a tree in the front yard.

From where I was it was about a twenty five yard shot. I thought I could make out the top of its back and the right side of the trunk of the tree and I new the direction the target was facing so I estimated where the vitals were and let loose.

The first arrow made a satisfying thump and I new I had hit foam. I let loose another arrow and complete silence, being a little impatient I immediately nocked another arrow and let fly again and again total silence.

I almost let another one go when I decided this was past low light conditions and was more like blank baling in total darkness. I was glad I had not heard the sound of the arrows striking the tree or anything else, that meant the arrows were in the yard.

I headed out with the flashlight and the first arrow was in the deer but barely in the brisket, I had went to far to the right. I looked around and immediately found one of the arrows but couldn't find the other. I wandered in the darkness for about twenty minutes looking for the arrow until this thread popped into my head.

It took me about three minutes to locate the arrow with my metal detector in the daylight this morning. I am going to try a little test today. I am going to take some some Aluminum tape and put a small strip between the nock and the fletching and see if the detector will pick it up.

Currently I only get a beep when I am over the tip of the arrow. If I can get it to sound off on the nock end also I will be able to eliminate digging up bottle caps and other junk. Two beeps approximately 28 inches away from each other and a pull through the grass with my arrow hook should making finding arrows even faster. Good Day

Given: "I am going to take some some Aluminum tape and put a small strip between the nock and the fletching and see if the detector will pick it up. Currently I only get a beep when I am over the tip of the arrow. If I can get it to sound off on the nock end also I will be able to eliminate digging up bottle caps and other junk. Two beeps approximately 28 inches away from each other and a pull through the grass with my arrow hook should making finding arrows even faster."

Sounds like a plan! I look forward to your results!

Whites Metal Detectors are awesome. Got my first one in 1992. During the 80's my neighbor would come over with his Whites to find arrows for me. Once you start using a metal detector you might find that hunting coins and relics is every bit as fun as hunting game.

Last summer my best find was an 1842 Liberty One Cent coin.

I use a metal detector and have had good luck. Most were wood arrows with metal points.

Had an incident yesterday. Noticed the dog was missing his tags (license, rabies, ID).

Fudge! We have 20 acres and he is an active guy, and I have Wednesdays off so we had done a walk and brought some split firewood up from the back woods.

So I pulled out the detector. Ground balanced it but kept the coil high over the ground (as I figured the tags would be on the surface) and moved much, much faster than normal for detecting.

Found all three in less than a half hour! Spread out between the house, garden (THE ADMIRAL had planted potatoes with dog help) and the pasture I toss tennis balls for him to chase. I was astonished it actually worked so well. The key-ring type holder on his collar had opened up in a spiral instead of a tight coil.

I added Aluminum tape that is 2 inches long x 9/16 wide between the nock and feathers on my arrows. It weighs 3 grains, I also added tape in front of the feathers that is 2 inches long x 5/16 and weighs 1.75 grains.

Testing my harbor freight metal detector it would not consistently detect a 3/16 piece of tape that weighted 1 grain but it would occasionally. Moving up to 5/16 tape worked consistently and 9/16 increased the range of detection considerably.

I added tape in front of the fletch to work as a home made turbulator of sorts and also to try and keep the leading edge of the feathers from getting lifted up and as another place to pick up a signal when hunting for the occasional misplaced arrow with my detector.

I don't think that 4.75 grains added to my arrows will make a noticeable difference in performance or flight but I will verify that tomorrow.

If you are using a detector I think this is as cheap and easy way to cut down on time looking for arrows as you can get. I like having the freedom to take any shot I want and the confidence that if I pay attention to where the arrow went and mark the spot I can come back with my detector and find the arrow later and continue my shooting. Good Day.

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