Best metal detector for archery – how to find lost arrows

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One of the common issues that archers face is losing their arrows. You aim at a target, you shoot an arrow, you miss (I’m sure it’s not your fault, just a bow malfunction…) then the arrow is lost inside the grass.

You go where it fell trying to recover it. But it is lost inside the grass. Loosing many arrows is expensive. So you need an easy and quick solution to find them, which is a metal detector.

The best metal detector for finding lost arrows is the bounty hunter tracker 4. It is affordable and easy to use.

There are other detectors that perform better. However, they are more expensive and they have way more feature than what is needed for archery.

You will be overwhelmed by all the setting that you need to adjust. And it takes time to learn how to use them.

They are suitable for metal detectorists (who hunt relics, coins, gold nuggets…) but not for archers. What you need is an affordable and easy to use device that can locate arrows.

When used only to recover arrows, cheap and expensive metal detectors will perform the same. For these reasons, the bounty hunter TK4 is the right fit.

Bounty hunter TK4

The bounty hunter has a simplistic interface: A couple of knobs, a switch, a low battery indicator, and target strength indicator.

To keep things simple, you can forget about the target indicator and focus only on the audio signals.

You will hear a beep emitted by its onboard speaker if an arrow (or another metal object) is detected.

You can also use headphones if you don’t want to annoy those around you with the beeps.

This device needs two 9 volts batteries to run. The red light on the screen will tell you when it’s time to replace them.

The armrest is padded and below it, there is a stand so that you lay down the metal detector when practicing with your bow.

This device can detect metal objects up to a few inches underground. This is more than enough to look for arrows that are usually on the surface or slightly below it.

Will a metal detector find carbon arrows?

Absolutely, detectors can find carbon arrows without a problem.

These devices, obviously, detect metals only. Carbon is invisible to them because it’s not an electrical conductor. However, the tip of the arrow is metallic.

This means that metal detectors can find carbon arrows by detecting the signal coming from the tip.

How to use the detector to find the arrows

You come from the archery world, you know how to use bows but you’re new to metal detecting.

So I’ll give you some tips to get started. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below.

Metal detectors are motion detectors. This means that you need to swing the coil (the circular part at the detector’s lower end) from side to side in order to detect anything. If you leave it motionless, it will not work.

Place the search coil as close as possible to the ground (a half an inch is good) and make sure it is parallel to it. Then swing it and walk slowly in such a way that the sweeps overlap.

If you get a signal, use a screwdriver to scarp the dirt on top of the arrow until you find the shaft. Then pull it from the ground carefully.

The bounty hunter is easy to use and it is a popular choice for beginners. You only have two knobs and a switch to adjust.

Select the all-metal mode by toggling the switch to the central position and keep it like that, you don’t have to readjust it whenever you turn ON the machine.

You don’t have to care about the two other modes, they are for detectorists. You can also forget about the DISC/NOTCH knob when you are just getting started. Simply turn the sensitivity knob (the one on the left) and recover your arrows.

When you learn more about the metal detector you can adjust the settings the way want. I just gave the basics to keep things simple.

It is time to stop losing your arrows

Knowing that you will find your arrows if you miss the target at the practice range will make you feel more comfortable, enjoy your time better and you won’t be afraid to practice.

You will save a lot of time that you can take advantage of to practice more and improve your skills.

Instead of wasting countless minutes looking for your lost projectiles, use your metal detector to find it after a couple of swings.

You will also save a ton of money. Arrows are not cheap, and you don’t want to lose them (and you’ll certainly lose at least one or two whenever you practice). A detector will pay for its price after you recover a dozen of arrows.