it occures to me a lot that dragons just circle up in the sky but don't go down to attack me. is there a way to lure them down without helplessly trying to shoot arrows at them? (besides dragonred)

Not all random dragons are hostile. I don't know if attacking them without provocation will change their disposition, it's really hard to tell since the ones who aren't hostile tend to be so far up and away that you can't really do something that you *know* was an effective enough attack to get their attention.

I've had several that circled over me for five minutes or more and never registered as hostile to me, even when I sent numerous arrows and shouts in their direction. But then they dropped down to attack something or someone else that was only a couple stone's throws away from my own position. At that point I could join in the fun, or as in the case of the Thalmor death squad that suffered that fate, just say "That'll do, pig" to my Dovahbro and go about my business.

lol sounds like you had some exciting dragon battles....
my most exciting one was actually seeing a SABRE CAT beating a dragon lol....
but still, i know that if they'll come down at some point and see me they will attack, but i just need a way to lure them or hurt them, cause shooting arrows and shouting is just a waste of time

Maybe they'll attack and maybe not. Again, not every dragon you see is hostile. I've also had dragons come in and circle over the road outside Whiterun for several minutes, with myself and numerous guards running around shooting at them, and even with all that provocation they didn't attack. Eventually they just flew away, no harm no foul no blood no ambulance.

These days I usually don't bother going after a dragon until it either registers as hostile on my own radar, or I can clearly see it attacking someone or something else. I may stand and watch it or follow it for a while to see if it's going to do that, but I don't waste any arrows/shouts/spells on it until I know what its intentions are.

I often hit 'em with arrows yet they still don't come down to fight.

The ones that do not come down are scripted to just fly around and leave.