About two years ago I shot a stray arrow and ended up hitting my (thankfully cheaper) camera. Recently I discovered this trick which will give the illusion of shooting at your camera while protecting your money.

Step 1: Set Up.... Then TAKE PICTURES

The set up is fairly simple. All you need is a mirror, a camera with decent zoom, and whatever dangerous object you intend to use (a bow in my case). You will need a marker so you can focus your camera correctly, I found wood to be helpful, then you set up your camera so you can only see the wood, not the edges of the mirror. Next you take a couple of timed photos letting you time to walk over to the wood and see if you need to adjust the camera up or down or manual focus it some more. Once you have completed that step, you are set to turn your camera on self timer, and walk over to your determined placement. Finally, enjoy showing your friends and having them freak out about the expensive mistake you could have made :).