The following image demonstrates the effects of light refraction. It shows a target sunk into a pool and a pipe is used to point to the centre of the target at a typical shot angle through the water surface. The effects of refraction give the pipe the appearance of a dramatic bend as it passes throught the water surface.

Of course in reality the pipe extends straight in the direction seen above the waterline. This proves that the target is in fact much deeper in the water than it appears to be. Also a related effect is that the target appears vertically much small than it really is, as can be seen from the following image of the same target. These effects mean that if a shot is taken directly at the refracted image of the target the archer would clearly miss by a considerable margin.

This demonstrates why bowfishing can be a very frustrating sport even though it is hugely popular. For many if often limits them to shots near the water surface or to very large targets. For each shot taken the archer would have to reel the arrow back in using the trailing line to prepare for the next shot. With an extremely high miss rate any archer not having the patience of an oyster is likely to experience a significant level of frustration. Even with experienced bowfishermen the miss rate tends to be high. The archery scope provides a solution that is expected to change the sport by enabling high level of accuracy when bowfishing for targets that are both small and relatively deep in the water.

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