The best way to avoid this scenario is to ONLY draw your bow with an arrow loaded and pointed safely at a target. And if your friends want to see what it's like to draw your new bow, put them 5 yds in front of a target and have them shoot an arrow.
But if you're reading this a bit too late and you're holding a bunch of bow bits that no longer look like a bow, we can help. We are the NZ distributors for Mathews, Mission, Bowtech, Diamond, Hoyt bows and can replace any damaged parts if they are available and put your bow back together. We also deal with PSE and Bear bows and if you purchased the bow from another store that is an authorised dealer in New Zealand, no worries, we'll be happy to take care of the repairs and any warranty issues for you.
Just don't do it again, alright?
Dry Fired Your Bow? Don't Panic!
To fire a bow without an arrow is called a Dry Fire. The energy you have stored in the bow by drawing it would normally be transferred to the arrow, sending it on it's way to the target. If there is no arrow, that energy has nowhere to go. Bad things can happen, usually the string will derail, cams can break, limbs can break, peeps fly off. It's a bad deal!