String tracking mechanism for a bow and arrow

#The present invention relates generally to bow hunting equipment and more particularly to an attachment to a string tracking apparatus for a hunting bow and arrow.

#When hunting wild game with a bow and arrow and a fatal hit is made upon such game, more often than not, the game retreat out of the sight of the bow hunter before it expires. Under such circumstances, a bow hunter typically follows a blood trail left by the fatally hit game until the animal is found. From time to time, however, there will be little or no blood trail to follow. This can be caused by an arrow plugging up a wound, or for many other reasons. Another problem can be that rain will wash away a blood trail or snow will cover it. This problem is a major one especially when hunting wild turkeys because they very rarely leave a good blood trail. This is due in part to the fact that the feathers stop the blood flow; and, secondarily, to the fact that turkeys do not contain as much blood as do larger animals, such as deer.

#For the aforementioned reasons, string tracking devices have been devised for attachment to a bow and arrow whereby a large quantity of string in some kind of a container is attached to the bow handle. One end of the string is attached to the arrow so that when the arrow is shot from the bow, the string will follow the arrow. Then as the animal retreats, the string will unwind from the container and the bow hunter merely needs to follow the string to find the game shot by the arrow.

#FIG. 1 shows a side elevational view of a bow and arrow having a string tracking apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention attached thereto;

#FIG. 2 is an enlarged side elevational view of the string tracking apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention with a portion of the bow, arrow and string tracking apparatus broken away to show the essential parts only thereof;

#FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of an attachment for a string tracking apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention and having the string attached thereto in a preferred position;

#Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, FIG. 1 shows a compound bow (10) having the string tracking apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention (11) attached thereto. The bow (10) is of a conventional compound type, but it is to be understood that any type of a bow could have a string tracking apparatus (11) attached thereto. This particular bow (10), has a handle (12) which has limbs (13) attached thereto, and the limbs (13) have eccentrically mounted wheels (14) rotatably disposed on each end thereof. Conventional cables (15) extend over the wheels (14) and the ends of the cable are attached to a string (16), having a nocking point (17) thereon. An arrow (18) is nocked onto the nocking point (17) of the string (16) and the arrow is held in the position shown in FIG. 1 by an arrow rest (not shown) disposed on the other side of the handle from the side shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

#A majority of commercially produced bows today have a threaded opening on the back side of the handle, just below the hand grip (19) thereof for threadably attaching a threaded stabilizer shaft thereto. A housing (20) and spindle (21) have a threaded shaft threadably connected to the bow handle (12) at the aforementioned position. A large quantity of string (33) is wound around the outside of a spool on the spindle (21), and an end portion (22) thereof extends upwardly through a slot (34) extending from the surface (35) to the end (36) of the slot (34) to a clip attachment (23), as can best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. This clip attachment (23) includes a conventional paper clip-type of structure, constructed of one piece of wire and having an outer loop (24) and an inner loop (25).

#The string (22) is passed behind the outer loop (24) and between the outer loop (24) and the inner loop (25) as is shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. The extreme outer end (26) of the clip structure (23) is bent outwardly as can best be seen in FIG. 6, to facilitate easy positioning of the string (22) to the position shown in FIGS. 1-3 and 6. This clip (23) can be attached directly to the handle (12) in many ways. For example a threaded fastener (27) can be utilized to attach the clip (24) having a washer (28) between the fastener (27) and the clip (23) directly to a bow handle. But since a large percentage of commercially available bows today have a pressure button attached thereto by a threaded member (29) on one side of the handle, it is convenient to attach the clip (23) to such a structure by a bracket (30) having an opening (31) in one end thereof and a threaded opening in the other end thereof. A threaded fastener (27) can be tightly, threadably engaged in such opening in the other end of bracket (30).