Rope Burn Anyone?

[TPM]

I think a lot of it has to do with how you handle your bow when you cock it. Been shooting 3D for years and it's rare you see anyone at a shoot who doesn't hang the cocker around their neck. I started draping mine over the hip quiver but that's more for convenience than safety. A couple years back I actually went through the motions of intentionally trying to get one of the hooks to catch the string after cocking and hanging it around my neck after someone questioned the safety of it. My conclusion was that it could possibly happen if you hung the rope cocker around your neck while you were still bent over after unhooking the hooks from your string. If you hang the cocker around your neck after standing straight up it's highly unlikey you'll catch it on the string. Based on this I can see how having anything else hanging around your neck can be extremely dangerous as it will be dangling when you bend over to cock the bow. We really noticed this when running the woman's crossbow clinics as the ladies all wear hanging name tags as part of the weekend event. We always make them remove them or spin them around so they hang down their back.

[robertyb]

I do not see how it happens either. After reading this I went out with my bow and cocked it and put my rope cocker around my neck and could not get it close to the cocked string while aiming. And as for the bending over and getting it caught it is being used on the bow so that might well be impossible.
I can see binoculars, whistles,etc. on long strings being a danger though.
This said, I never drape my cocker around my neck when I am shooting my bows.

[MTBighorn]

I do not see how it happens either. After reading this I went out with my bow and cocked it and put my rope cocker around my neck and could not get it close to the cocked string while aiming. And as for the bending over and getting it caught it is being used on the bow so that might well be impossible.

Well, I wasn't making this up... It DID happen to me, so it could happen again, to anyone!

This post is not directed at you Robert..I just quoted you because you were the most recent poster questioning "how this could happen".

Yes it was a non-standard activity that caused it (aka, stupid mistake!)...but we all know, "that is" just how accidents happen. Accidents seldom happen when everything is going "as plannned"

I believe that I cocked my bow after my last arrow, swung the cocker over my neck and put my bow on my bench. I then went to retrieve my arrows. When I got back to my bow, I think my rope cocker had more rope hanging from my left side, than my right.

I picked up my bow and placed my arrows on my bench...one arrow rolled off onto the ground.

I reached down to pick up the the arrow that had fallen...in doing so, I held the bow by its fore-grip and pulled it in tight to my body, and to my extreme left, to keep the limb from hitting the bench as I retrieved the fallen arrow from the ground.

I was also wearing a very large, bulky Carhart coat..... all these mistakes/actions, caused the rope cocker to somehow find its' way over my cocked bow string.!!

So please guys/gals, don't discredit my mistakes as something that won't happen to you.....Consider the results if I had not noticed the "issue" and fired my bow

I am a long distance, offhand, competition rifle shooter, and a safety officer on the range. I am not a safety Nazi...I want to see everybody have a good time. Too many stupid rules can overload new shooters, and drive people from the great shooting sports we all enjoy ...but the idea of a rope cocker coming off my neck at 380fps sounds like a very bad day to me!
I now believe that the rope around your neck..is simply a noose...not something that should be encouraged or taught as safe.

And it is my sincere hope, that this thread will open a few eyes..even if you don't think it could ever happen to you

[TenshiB]

It has never happened to me before, but it is ONLY because I've heeded the advice of others. Again, I try to keep any and everything from dangling around my neck when shooting a crossbow... An ounce of prevention..

Elitists who neigh-say on safety are the ones who get hurt, but then never say anything about it because their pride gets the worst pain. [;

[L. E. Carroll]

I have never had it happen to me. However, I usally wear a rather heavy set of 8x42 Leupold Gold Ring binoculars in the field while hunting. I have always used a harness to distribute some of the weight off of my neck. As they are made from good elastic, they also help in holding my Bino's in against my chest. I'm sure they would have no efefect on a cocking rope, But can definately see another reason to wear them that way now as I hunt and shoot the crossbow to keep the binos from becoming a safety issue.

Thank's for this post. It has opened my eyes.
Gene

[robertyb]

I have never had it happen to me. However, I usally wear a rather heavy set of 8x42 Leupold Gold Ring binoculars in the field while hunting. I have always used a harness to distribute some of the weight off of my neck. As they are made from good elastic, they also help in holding my Bino's in against my chest. I'm sure they would have no efefect on a cocking rope, But can definately see another reason to wear them that way now as I hunt and shoot the crossbow to keep the binos from becoming a safety issue.

Thank's for this post. It has opened my eyes.
Gene

I always have Swarovski 8.5 X42 ELs on my harness when deer hunting. I have never had any problems at all shooting my bows with then on. The harness keeps them pretty close to my body when not using them.