My grandmother was Lakota, born on the rosebud reservation. She taught us to make similar bows as kids. Traditionally they were powerful enough to hunt buffalo with
Modern hunters strive for a quick kill to minimize suffering, ideally 1 or 2 arrows. This also increases the chance of recovery. A bow like this would not be suitable for buffalo for modern ethical hunting.
Someone finally covered this topic. I lived in the bush of Alaska for many years. I had a firearm for protection and carrying the weight of ammo sucked, therefore like the mountain men of old I used a short selfbow. The bows average about 32 inches with 24" ammo, It was drawn to about 20 inches. I built a new bow on average of once a month, many failed in the cold. Most bows pulled about 40#s, my arrows were about 3/8" in diameter and only had 2 feathers tied opposite of each other. The sting was from thin chainsaw pull cord, near zero stretch. Thanks so much for the vid, reminded me of days gone by a lifetime ago.
you built a new bow every year? I guess the regular "training" in bow building made you quite fast, still I though building a bow is quite time consuming and you need to dry wood before? Which tools did you use to build, which tips for arrows? What did you hunt with it? Sorry for the many questions
@@tterexx426 Once a month not year. Always had the next one under construction. All were from green wood and slowly hardened over a fire and continuously rubbed down with fat until they would take no more. Tools, hatchet, small draw knife made for bow making, sharpened side of planer blade and 4 way wood file rasp. Tips were mostly bone and nails with the had for flat blunt tip or glass. Rabbits. fish, stupid chickens (grouse), ducks, geese and birds. Lived on mostly small game.
@@luckylarry5112 yeah meant to write "month" instead of year 🙈 That's so cool. I just shot my first grouse a few months ago (in Finland) and was soooooo happy - but with rifle instead of bow. Bow hunting grouse would be a dream - but my bow skills are yet far from that. And I will have to go to another country again because they are rare and protected here and can't be hunted. The lifestyle you tell of kinda sounds like a dream to me. But one dream after another next goal will be bow hunting (also not allowed where I live, but in Finland it is - so I will be going there again once my bow skills are enough to pass the bow test there). And then probably build my own bow. You say, cold destroys bows?
Carrying the weight of ammo sucked so you made a bow? You can't tell me an arrow is lighter than a bullet. Plus, a gun can shoot way faster, is easier to use, and bullets are less likely to miss, when they hit a branch or something. So EVEN IF arrows were lighter, they would have to be much lighter, for a bow to be a reasonable option for self defense.
Aragorn actually brings down a deer with his bow as well while traveling with the hobbits to Rivendell. Not sure if that is in the regular version of the movie or if it's in the extended edition only. You dont see him take down the deer but you do see him carry it back to the campfire where the hobbits are waiting. Always good to see a new video from you and as always, I love your content!
For that exact reason with the deer is why Aragorn was given a bow in the first place as originally he wasn't going to have one. But then Viggo Mortensen came to Peter Jackson and said to give him and/or asked for Aragorn to have a bow as "How would he get any food when traveling?" Or something along those lines. And thus Aragorns short bow and quiver of arrows were added to his bedroll kit.
OP cheats though, most of his kit is mass produced Chinese LARP costume. And our boy PT is an Aussie. He'll be lobbing beer bottles at him long before he comes into bow range.
I’m not saying I’m not content with this but I’m sure all of us would love a tutorial/ how to vid for this bow. But do whatever you want you vids are amazing.
My grandfather taught me to shoot a handmade native american bow. It was short and he had me tilt it and short draw it. The arrows were 8mm with long turkey feathers. .32 long shell casings were pitch glued to the tip of some. My unckl took the bow and completed arrows, but my grandma gave me the ragged leather, beaded tube with shafts, feathers, pitch and some sinew thread. They taught me how to build them.I used them for many months.good memories!
Thank you for explaining that "pinch grip". I have seen pictures of people shooting with that type of grip, and I could always tell that something seemed "off", but I didn't know what it was. Now I know!
Well a little tidbit from somewhere I heard that the English Longbow isn't really from England, but borrowed from somewhere else. Admittedly they are the first to us it in war that they. Don't know how true it is but the person used facts to back it up just don't remember where I heard it from. Might make an interesting look at.
It has pretty much always been illegal to bow hunt on the island of great britain given how the forests belonged to the king and you could get in trouble for shooting his deer
Self bows, lord of the rings, and running about the woods, it's like I've died and gone to heaven. 😉 Very nicely done my man I'll have to give that a whirl!
The historical shortbow over here in Scandinavia had one metal end so it could be used as a small spear in case the bowstring broke or you had to engage in ccq. Along with the spear, handaxe and the small seax it was standard equipment for ordinary folks. Nice video! Traditionaly here when you shoot the bow you draw it straight up over your head and then lower the bow to fire directly. That's how I was taught anyway.
@@quartzteeth8429 Well as further information the longer bow also often had a metall end up in the north of Scandinavia to be able to be used as a staff while skiing. This is well documentet if you just google. As an example of this is page 76 of this long document: www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1226157/FULLTEXT01.pdf unfortunately in swedish but I'll quote one passage: "I nedre änden sitter en järnsko där en skidstavskringla varit fäst; bågen har alltså fungerat som skidstav vid jakten vintertid"/"at the lower end is an iron shoe to which a ski pole pretzel has been attached; the arc has thus functioned as ski pole when hunting in winter." Drammensfjord area in south-eastern Norway has still living tradition of these bows and I have in my own family and others heard the same stories. I don't know if there are any english documents about this but much of these special details about old things aren't common knowledge nowadays - even among scholars. They tend to make one find and generalize out of that. I just happened to like sitting with the old people and listen to them sharing their knowledge ever since I was a child. I believe them but ofc people always believe documents someone not familiar to them has written more. Such is the way of our age.
Very beautiful and well made bow. I made short bows like that all the time when I was a kid, and I have to say learning how to snap-shoot a a young age helped out a lot with having a rapid and accurate shot cycle with the longbows I shoot nowadays. The Traditional Bowyer’s Bible is probably the best source out there for building bows of any kind, John Strunk is widely considered to be the “world’s greatest bowyer”. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to you next video. God Bless. 👍🏹
I'm Navajo Greetings from the Navajo Nation USA my ancestors used to make bows similar to what you have for Warfare and hunting and our cousin the Apaches did the same too
Hey Fandabi, I believe the Masai arrow head is suppose to be able to detach itself from the shaft. Some arrows were built that way, so when you retrieve the arrow from game the arrow head and shaft detaches that way it’s easier to pull out and the shaft isn’t damaged. Just a tip!
@@joshlower1 these kind of arrows is/was not made to haunt other humans. I know no animal able to pull out an arrow by itself. I guess there is no such animal.
Martial knowledge and traditions from the West to the East are extremely important to teach to generations, your channel is perfect👏👏👏👏 and shows us the Martial and Immortal traditions of Scotland, warrior greetings from Brazil and much success and blessings always!
Great video! My first bow was a Comanche style short bow, about 30 pounds out of bois d'arc. They made these to use from horseback and were strong enough to go completly through their bison prey. I've made lot's of cheap arrows from bamboo garden stakes from the garden centre. They are strong and light weight and easy to straighten. They were (and still are) traditional arrow material for archers in China and Japan
here in the United States of America in my state of north Carolina our minimum draw weigh for long bows and recurve bows is 40 pounds pull.the biggest and best buck I have ever taken after many years of compound bows was my first self bow,longbow 41-43 pound pull.papa wishing you well
I loved hearing about your research and thought process in the beginning! This is something that I could get into, it's so practical. I love your channel and videos. Maybe it's the Primal Celt genes in me. I'd definitely be interested in seeing more about the fishing arrow, and how you make your teaspoon arrowhead.
It would be great to see more of this short bow, it's really interesting. I definitely want to see you try bow fishing, and adding sinew to the bow. As someone who has only re-taken up archery during the lock down after away from it 16 years, It was very interesting to see your short bow system. I really appreciated it, thanks.
@@timbayliss7720 not going well for B&H.....we DO NOT COMPLY WITH TYRANNY! As a 13th generation American with ancestors from Isles of Mann & Skye, I stand for my rights to live free.
My friend, the last bow I made was when I was 14 and on my father's acreage. It was crude and I could barely draw it. yet I sent a wooden tipped arrow up to a half inch into a poplar at 15 feet. This video make me want to revisit bow making at 56. Love your videos. You are very entertaining.
it gets better 52 went to doctor 1st time in 40 years dr sez i'm in perfect health;;;receptionist asks me next appt...when I'm 104? ruclips.net/video/WhVn4fKTVDQ/видео.html
Im on my way to the caledonian forest this week and my short yew bow is coming, its 40 inch 70lb at 20inch draw, rewatching this video has upped the excitement thanks 😊
Howdy! Name is Bella, I'm from Australia but am a quarter Scottish (more Greek haha). Gaining some interest in Scottish highlander stuff, I eventually came across your channel a few hours ago and have been absolutely captivated. I knew very little about Scottish highlanders, but in my watching have learnt about the versatility of quilts as well as a number of survival skills. What educational, relaxing and all-around enjoyable content you make! Thanks for doing what you do and showing us. It's crazy to think that we live in so different a world today, and that it's still the same one that stuff like what you show us occured in. It's so crazy, and it wasn't even that long ago relatively speaking. Like, 300-400 years? Man. Thanks again for your content. Really appreciate and enjoy it!
Here's what I think is the neatest thing about the bow: In terms of range, accuracy, and rate-of-fire, firearms didn't start outperforming the bow until the mid 19th century.
Nice build! I find the simplest arrow to make are just bare shafted without fletching. Many African tribes used such arrows including the bushmen of Southern Africa. Shooting bare arrows also improves your archery skills since you have to have perfect form to make them fly straight.
If I remember correctly, the book 'Mystic Warriors of the Plains' by Thomas Mails talks about the plains Indian short bow, often made of ram horn, as short as 33 inches. Horses were trained to run along the right side of running bison so the hunter could pump several arrows into the beast at a full run. I made a short bow (38") from yew wood and sinew backed it, pulls 60 lbs at 18 inches.
Nice, I normally have a very low boredom threshold, but you explaining the process to the 'big reveal' was useful, quick and non repetitive! Great video and a short powerful bow is probably more use in non-combat' situations as you want to bring it into action asap to snag that furry lunch making a run for it
I know that this video was recorded over a year ago, but I just came across it today. Very interesting and informative. Thank you. I have been putting together some compact emergency kits, for my brothers and myself for some years now. Always adds or changes things when I find something useful. One thing that I have always kept in the kit was several small copper coins. These are old pennies of pure copper that could be pounded into a small cutting tool or arrow point if needed. You mentioned losing arrows. The shaft and fetching are easy enough to make, but point could be a challenge. Using the copper coin could simplify that challenge.
Just discovered your channel. I actually have a similar bows made from black thorn and another made from Osage orange. 80 pound draw. They are great hunting bows. I took a twelve point buck a few weeks ago with one. Many in my tribe still uses traditional bows for hunting. Granted we have updated to using modern arrow heads and some even use a modern trigger release system. We do mostly put our arrows on the right of the bow because it is a little faster also using 3 arrows in the bow hand for rapid rate of fire. Of Course we start practicing at age 5 so no problem with building up calluses and muscles. Love your video. Can't wait to go back and look at other stuff you have done.
Looks great. Very obvious how hard it is to draw compared with a bow of more common size. Ideal for a bit of fun and for small game if we were allowed to. I wonder if bowfishing at sea is permitted..... ? Greatly relieved to see the advert was for "The Great Courses Plus" and not "Raid Shadow Legends"!
Oh buddy, I've been unsuccessfully searching ways to make traditional longbow style archery miniature-ised. This has given me hope. This is how I started off, with a lot of simple designs from whatever was around me, but got sucked into the world of strictly long-bows (for poundage). I've got some Osage coming to me, I think I'll try and make a short yet powerfulbite with that. I've been waiting to put out any content until I'm successful consistently enough. Many thanks from the states!
Aww yess, a bow!!!😍 I want to learn archery and medicine one day when I saved enough money and gain knowledge by training and self study until then. You made the arrows so great, I doubt I'll be able to do them like you (the spinning feather looks complicated but I won't know until I try)😯💧 Thanks a lot for this very informative and helpful Video 😀🌻 When you mentioned some of your old videos I realized that I watch you since years now! That's awesome and I hope there will come many more years in future!✌🌷
Hey again! Its a great thing to learn! Very satisfying! The arrows arn't too hard, but a bit fiddly. Feathers often have a natural twist in them anyway. Thanks so much for supporting me over the years and always leaving a supportive comment! Have a great day!
Your Highness, practice and trial/error is valid way to go, having experienced instructor cuts time though. few pointers below. Making a bow require you to pay attention to the growth rings, try avoiding cutting them on side away from you, it weakens the bow A LOT for this reason splitting is better than saw. arrows are also best made from split wood straightened by heat and/or steam. Putting feathers is fiddly, try few times with just beeeswax (as "glue") and thread to get technique right. Good luck Örjan
Forgot to mention, many archery ranges/clubs have days you can go there and try archety for free with a volonteer instructor, just few arrows downrange but...
Great system! Im in British Columbia Canada we have many a steep hill covered in thick brush so short and light is the way to go for trekking. I have loads of yew thats dried nicely and know the fist thing ill make! Thanks for your wonderful content !
Good stuff. But you don’t need a 70 pounds short bow with the type of arrows you use. For a 50 pounds bow, we usually have arrows weighing between 35 to 40 grams ( I won’t use grain for simplicity’s sake). You could build a lighter bow, and since your arrows are so light, it won’t make a big difference. For reference, a lot of people hunt deers with 40 pound bows, even 35. High poundage bow with heavy projectiles were a thing because of armor. So for survival purpose a 40 pounds bow is more than adequate. It will also be A LOT more durable, and you could use a thumb draw instead of the Mediterranean way to shoot faster.
With his short bow the arrow is being pushed by the string for a much shorter time and distance before it leaves the string hence the need for the high poundage. Hope that makes sense.
Just a suggestion, when making metal arrowheads, get some metal spoons, flatten them and cut them to the size you need. Also, you can use forks for using for frog gigs and for bow fishing, of course you need to shape them for use
Being a small portable system why not make the arrows 'baby' sized like the ones fired in the 'tongah' arrow guide for the Korean Pyeonjeon/Turkish Majra. Get greater velocities with the stubby arrows and you could have a shorter thigh friendly quiver. Stow the arrow guide with the bow.
Longer arrows have more forward weight so they are more accurate the First Nations who used these bows would us arrows up to 30 inches because they were more accurate super short arrows would need really big fletching to make em fly straight and they would slow the arrow down it could work but it would be a lot of work
@@avidanglerorobsession6127 some first nations used long arrows with short bows, but a lot of the arrows collected from plains tribes used short arrows around the 20"-24" mark
@@avidanglerorobsession6127 To add, longer arrows are more aerodynamically efficient, as they carry more mass for a given frontal cross section area. Not really a concern at short range hunting distances, but definitely an advantage in military archery.
dylan holderman yes arrows of 20 to 24 inches were used and I have had some very accurate arrows as short as 18 inches but arrows the the guy who commented was referring to seem that they would be around 10 inches witch is much shorter
It may be possible to get more arrow speed by using an arrow overdraw device like the Korean Tong-Ah. It would allow you to shoot half sized and therefore much lighter arrows. Shorter arrows are easier to make in the field and easier to carry. Just a thought.
I like the concept of the short bow as a survivalist tool but nowadays if one gets hungry it's a simple case of popping down to the shop, but very nice job on that bow and good skill's.
I've seen short bows made with separate 2ft lengths that get bound at the center - allowing for sizing slightly longer or shorter - to accommodate for organic string braid...
Its how I started shooting as I was self taught as a kid. Then someone told me it was wrong so I learned to shoot on the left. I know know many cultures shot right side! so felt a bit cheated! haha
Archery is something that have interested me my whole life, and I've been especially interested in bows here in scandinavia, and a while back I found a document regarding sami bows, they have found several examples ranging from 3' 6" to 5' 10" One of the most complete finds was a 5 foot long bow made of laminated wood 1/3 of the thickness birch or hardwood for the back and 2/3 compression wood from fir or pine for the belly glued together with steamed perch skins and wrapped in birch bark over the whole leangth exept for the grip, and in the lower end had been fastened and ironshoe to be used when skiing this has been dated to the early 1000 AD. They have also found a shorter bow (around 3-4 feet) made from birch or other hardwood that is dated from the mid 1400 that looks alo like the one you have made when looking at reconstructions, it is fascinating to see that bows of similar designs has been used around the world for centuries if not millenia even☺️
Would love to have a bow like this for times when a takedown recurve would take too long to set up, but with my disability I would need a lighter draw weight. Great job making the bow and the arrows.
bow hunting... the thing humans have been doing for 70,000+ years is illegal in a country that famously produced the most fearsome archers in Europe and gave us such legends as Robin Hood and William Tell. I simply have no words for how asinine that is.
Hehehe that tender thumb life. I was too stubborn when I started to learn mounted archery to tape my thumb and have some dense calluses built up now. I use a thumb ring now, but it has come in handy when I forget it when I hit the range.
Your videos are great and educational. As someone in the U.K. I do understand why bow hunting is illegal, your video is a great demonstration and love your content
It's very interesting to see how totally different cultures came up with similar solutions. The "pinch grip" is also known as the Mongolian Grip. Mongol and Tatar horse archers would also commonly use a special thumb ring to make it easier to draw the bow, kinda like how European archers used gloves or small leather pads to protect their draw fingers. Pinch grip is the more optimal grip for shorter bows where volume of fire is important- the horse archers would get a lot closer to the enemy than foot archers bc they could pepper the enemy with shots and run away on their horses so accuracy wasn't as big of a factor as volume of shots taken. Same went for hunting- on horseback getting close isn't an issue bc a horse (especially a Mongolian horse) will keep up with basically any game so it's more important to hit as many shots as possible in as short a time so the prey won't run away somewhere you can't follow.
Hi all. For years I used a small recurve composed of early fiberglass. It pulled 42 pds at 28.5 inches. I used 2 blade bear resharpenable broadheads. I always had a (thru and thru) on deer harvested usually at 30 feet or less while still hunting. And I always shot from one knee on the ground to keep from showing a human silhouette when I knew deer were approaching.
Kevin Costner had a good bow set up in Robin Hood. The bow was hidden in a staff towards the end of the movie, when he infiltrated the castle of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Thanks for a Great video.
Birch pitch is the best glue, pine pitch is brittle due to temperature changes, and birch pitch is not . Birch tar is an antiseptic, too. The simplest birch pitch is evaporating tar and mixing in ashes, if desired - wood shavings too.
For some reason l have had a bunch of bow making videos pop up in my feed today. Watched a couple of videos by a gentleman from Bulgaria. No voice over. No music. Just him working. One was a North American Horn Bow. All made from the horns of Big Horn Sheep or their equivilant, glues from natural products and all stone tools. The other was a Korean Horn Backed Bow. Mulberry and Rams Horn. About 1 hour long or so. The Korean took a year.
Great stuff! And love the upside down shot :) Yew wood is a pleasure to shoot. I also made a few longbows of it, and one 42 inch bow. The short one was super dope to shoot while it lasted the two years. Of note, I think you’d really like the Plains style quiver for its portability. You can wear it with any pack system since it carry’s on the side Horizontal while walking, ready to deploy at any moment.
This is an excellent video and made more excellent by mentioning the Bowyers Bible series which I totally recommend for beginning and advanced makers of primitive bows . Thanks again for the information .
I know where there is a few wonderfully straight yew limbs in my neck of the woods that I stumbled upon on my ramblings, the trouble is im afraid of getting them because I've since learnt that part of the Forrest is frequented by some of the not so savoury woodland users and I avoid the area now lol
MOST of the Indigenous People of the Western Hemisphere use/used short, powerful bows. Those of us whose people are eastern woodlands couldn't have used a long bow simply because the terrain was too rough and too full of trees. Since the bow was both hunting and war weapon, you had to have one that you could use while running, up a tree, or fire from behind rocks and fallen trees without exposing your self in order to get full draw. My great-uncle, a traditional Cherokee bowyer, sized the bow to reach from ground to the waist or a couple of inches above of the person he was making it for. All of us kids were gifted bows with sheaths and quivers of arrows at around age 5 and he took the time to teach us proper care and use. Considering that even in his 70s he could run full tilt through the woods and pull off accurate shots at game was awesome.
Great video. You might be interested in a couple of other 'short bows'; the first, maybe one of the very earlier bows we know are still being used - the bows of the San or African Bushman, which are quite short and used for not only small game but for very large game up to the size of the large antelope, the oryx. Now, it does use arrows that are poisonous and that's one of the major mechanisms of taking the large game, along with basically running the animal to exhaustion, and then more to the point, another Native American bow, the bow of what was called the 'Sheepeater tribe' of the Yellowstone area among other areas in the Rocky Mountains, was a short bow made with wood along with horn, a very powerful bow and was able to achieve quite a cast, with heavy arrows. Reportedly, the Native Americans (some Shoshone, some other tribes and nations) in this particular area preferred to hunt and take the various wild sheep of the area, rather than the bison and elk which moved in and out of the area based upon seasons. (This may or may not be based upon some of the stories told by other tribes ad nations, and misinterpretations by explorers) Interestingly, even though common knowledge seems to believe that the Native Americans used only self bow, the SheepEater bow was a composite bow, faced with sheep horn. The inclusion of the sheep horn has shown to provide considerable power to the bow.
The Comanche archery method seems ideal for a bow like this, very similar to your 3 finder below arrow grip but with an added pinch to help with knocking. They also had their thumb upwards when grasping the bow, now sure what effect that has though.
Excellent presentation. Nifty project. You had a picture of Ishi with his short bow. Here in California/Nevada, short bows were the norm, for at least two reasons. As you said, finding long bow material is more difficult. Second, the short bow is way more efficient in the brushy habitats where our deer hang out. Stalking or tree stand, better with shorter bow. Nice aim, by the way. ;).
My grandmother was Lakota, born on the rosebud reservation. She taught us to make similar bows as kids. Traditionally they were powerful enough to hunt buffalo with
Damn
Modern hunters strive for a quick kill to minimize suffering, ideally 1 or 2 arrows. This also increases the chance of recovery. A bow like this would not be suitable for buffalo for modern ethical hunting.
@@Lost_Hwasal I think the serious buffalo hunting bows where bigger or used at closer range
@@Lost_Hwasal Quite right but when it is your dinner and there are no grocery stores you don't care about that kind of things.
@@ReasonAboveEverything Of course, we live in the age of grocery stores though. So youre talking about something that doesnt exist anymore.
It would be nice to watch a "how to make" video on this! Will we see one in the future?
There are lots of videos on how to make them on utube on how to make bows
@@Theresalove34 No kidding Mr Bill Jarvis, but the comment is referring to this!
Yes please
I would love a how to so I can make one too.
I'd watch it I love primitive crafting videos
There aren't many sounds more satisfying than the sound of an arrow releasing and hitting on a target.
Aye that, Laddie, but the sound of hard flesh slapping against the soft is quite pleasing as well !!!
@Grim Peeper aye, you're not wrong. We each have our weaknesses for the sound of glory
@@DonMorganSeawolf 😄😄
Someone finally covered this topic. I lived in the bush of Alaska for many years. I had a firearm for protection and carrying the weight of ammo sucked, therefore like the mountain men of old I used a short selfbow. The bows average about 32 inches with 24" ammo, It was drawn to about 20 inches. I built a new bow on average of once a month, many failed in the cold. Most bows pulled about 40#s, my arrows were about 3/8" in diameter and only had 2 feathers tied opposite of each other. The sting was from thin chainsaw pull cord, near zero stretch. Thanks so much for the vid, reminded me of days gone by a lifetime ago.
you built a new bow every year? I guess the regular "training" in bow building made you quite fast, still I though building a bow is quite time consuming and you need to dry wood before? Which tools did you use to build, which tips for arrows? What did you hunt with it? Sorry for the many questions
@@tterexx426
Once a month not year. Always had the next one under construction. All were from green wood and slowly hardened over a fire and continuously rubbed down with fat until they would take no more.
Tools, hatchet, small draw knife made for bow making, sharpened side of planer blade and 4 way wood file rasp.
Tips were mostly bone and nails with the had for flat blunt tip or glass.
Rabbits. fish, stupid chickens (grouse), ducks, geese and birds. Lived on mostly small game.
@@luckylarry5112 yeah meant to write "month" instead of year 🙈
That's so cool. I just shot my first grouse a few months ago (in Finland) and was soooooo happy - but with rifle instead of bow. Bow hunting grouse would be a dream - but my bow skills are yet far from that. And I will have to go to another country again because they are rare and protected here and can't be hunted.
The lifestyle you tell of kinda sounds like a dream to me. But one dream after another next goal will be bow hunting (also not allowed where I live, but in Finland it is - so I will be going there again once my bow skills are enough to pass the bow test there). And then probably build my own bow.
You say, cold destroys bows?
@@luckylarry5112 and thanks for the fast response by the way
Carrying the weight of ammo sucked so you made a bow? You can't tell me an arrow is lighter than a bullet.
Plus, a gun can shoot way faster, is easier to use, and bullets are less likely to miss, when they hit a branch or something. So EVEN IF arrows were lighter, they would have to be much lighter, for a bow to be a reasonable option for self defense.
Aragorn actually brings down a deer with his bow as well while traveling with the hobbits to Rivendell. Not sure if that is in the regular version of the movie or if it's in the extended edition only. You dont see him take down the deer but you do see him carry it back to the campfire where the hobbits are waiting. Always good to see a new video from you and as always, I love your content!
Oh interesting! Thanks for the info and for watching!
For that exact reason with the deer is why Aragorn was given a bow in the first place as originally he wasn't going to have one. But then Viggo Mortensen came to Peter Jackson and said to give him and/or asked for Aragorn to have a bow as "How would he get any food when traveling?" Or something along those lines. And thus Aragorns short bow and quiver of arrows were added to his bedroll kit.
Found the scene on YT - ruclips.net/video/e4er8Edq2Go/видео.html&ab_channel=Gollum
here my dad bought me a bow, then ax, then knife all before I 11...then I took up fencing ruclips.net/video/WhVn4fKTVDQ/видео.html
ROFL-- great educational movie, I'm sure.
Do you think you would be able to successfully raid primitive technology's hut complex?
Hahahahahah
Yes
“Do you want to explode?”
Just wait until he discovers primitive brick throwing techniques
OP cheats though, most of his kit is mass produced Chinese LARP costume. And our boy PT is an Aussie. He'll be lobbing beer bottles at him long before he comes into bow range.
I’m not saying I’m not content with this but I’m sure all of us would love a tutorial/ how to vid for this bow. But do whatever you want you vids are amazing.
My grandfather taught me to shoot a handmade native american bow. It was short and he had me tilt it and short draw it. The arrows were 8mm with long turkey feathers. .32 long shell casings were pitch glued to the tip of some. My unckl took the bow and completed arrows, but my grandma gave me the ragged leather, beaded tube with shafts, feathers, pitch and some sinew thread. They taught me how to build them.I used them for many months.good memories!
Thank you for explaining that "pinch grip". I have seen pictures of people shooting with that type of grip, and I could always tell that something seemed "off", but I didn't know what it was. Now I know!
Great little bow. I still can’t fathom how in the home of the longbow, you can’t bow hunt
@The Head Reacher Bwaaahaaa. 😂😂😂 Ribbit.
Well a little tidbit from somewhere I heard that the English Longbow isn't really from England, but borrowed from somewhere else. Admittedly they are the first to us it in war that they. Don't know how true it is but the person used facts to back it up just don't remember where I heard it from. Might make an interesting look at.
@@johnree6106 here's a link that presents the history well:
www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Longbow/
@@BeetleBuns Thanks it was the Welsh that they where mentioning but I was surprised that a Longbow was found in other areas also.
It has pretty much always been illegal to bow hunt on the island of great britain given how the forests belonged to the king and you could get in trouble for shooting his deer
Self bows, lord of the rings, and running about the woods, it's like I've died and gone to heaven. 😉
Very nicely done my man I'll have to give that a whirl!
Glad you enjoyed it buddy! I'll bring it along when we finally get round to meeting 😊
@@FandabiDozi if u shoot it like a cross bow it will be way more accurate
The historical shortbow over here in Scandinavia had one metal end so it could be used as a small spear in case the bowstring broke or you had to engage in ccq. Along with the spear, handaxe and the small seax it was standard equipment for ordinary folks. Nice video! Traditionaly here when you shoot the bow you draw it straight up over your head and then lower the bow to fire directly.
That's how I was taught anyway.
Awesome! Something to add to the next bow then I think! Thanks for the info!
can i please get a source on this?
@@quartzteeth8429 Well as further information the longer bow also often had a metall end up in the north of Scandinavia to be able to be used as a staff while skiing. This is well documentet if you just google. As an example of this is page 76 of this long document: www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1226157/FULLTEXT01.pdf unfortunately in swedish but I'll quote one passage: "I
nedre änden sitter en järnsko där en skidstavskringla varit fäst; bågen har alltså fungerat som
skidstav vid jakten vintertid"/"at the lower end is an iron shoe to which a ski pole pretzel has been attached; the arc has thus functioned as
ski pole when hunting in winter." Drammensfjord area in south-eastern Norway has still living tradition of these bows and I have in my own family and others heard the same stories. I don't know if there are any english documents about this but much of these special details about old things aren't common knowledge nowadays - even among scholars. They tend to make one find and generalize out of that. I just happened to like sitting with the old people and listen to them sharing their knowledge ever since I was a child. I believe them but ofc people always believe documents someone not familiar to them has written more. Such is the way of our age.
@@afternoobtea914 Really cool idea; thank you for sharing it!
Very beautiful and well made bow. I made short bows like that all the time when I was a kid, and I have to say learning how to snap-shoot a a young age helped out a lot with having a rapid and accurate shot cycle with the longbows I shoot nowadays. The Traditional Bowyer’s Bible is probably the best source out there for building bows of any kind, John Strunk is widely considered to be the “world’s greatest bowyer”. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to you next video. God Bless. 👍🏹
I'm Navajo
Greetings from the Navajo Nation USA my ancestors used to make bows similar to what you have for Warfare and hunting and our cousin the Apaches did the same too
Absolutely love everything, the shoes, bag, quiver, arrow and of course that little powerful bow! Great vid man!
Hey Fandabi, I believe the Masai arrow head is suppose to be able to detach itself from the shaft. Some arrows were built that way, so when you retrieve the arrow from game the arrow head and shaft detaches that way it’s easier to pull out and the shaft isn’t damaged. Just a tip!
No it's made that way so tht when you shoot your enemies the can't pull it out
@@joshlower1 these kind of arrows is/was not made to haunt other humans. I know no animal able to pull out an arrow by itself. I guess there is no such animal.
@@stormnr2 That's a bold statement considering humans have been warring against each other since inception.
Martial knowledge and traditions from the West to the East are extremely important to teach to generations, your channel is perfect👏👏👏👏 and shows us the Martial and Immortal traditions of Scotland, warrior greetings from Brazil and much success and blessings always!
To save room in the quiver with fletched arrows you could try a double instead of a triple fletched arrow.
Great video! My first bow was a Comanche style short bow, about 30 pounds out of bois d'arc. They made these to use from horseback and were strong enough to go completly through their bison prey. I've made lot's of cheap arrows from bamboo garden stakes from the garden centre. They are strong and light weight and easy to straighten. They were (and still are) traditional arrow material for archers in China and Japan
Another video from you is always a surprise, but a welcome one.
Neat little bow and zippy. You are pretty accurate with it too. I like how you made the bow, the quiver, the bow case, and those deer hide shoes.
2am... I knew i wanted to stay awake for something. Good night from across the pond.
here in the United States of America in my state of north Carolina our minimum draw weigh for long bows and recurve bows is 40 pounds pull.the biggest and best buck I have ever taken after many years of compound bows was my first self bow,longbow 41-43 pound pull.papa wishing you well
I loved hearing about your research and thought process in the beginning! This is something that I could get into, it's so practical. I love your channel and videos. Maybe it's the Primal Celt genes in me. I'd definitely be interested in seeing more about the fishing arrow, and how you make your teaspoon arrowhead.
I recognized that old photo of Ishi, showing Kroeber how he survived in the wild! THANKS for including it!
It would be great to see more of this short bow, it's really interesting. I definitely want to see you try bow fishing, and adding sinew to the bow. As someone who has only re-taken up archery during the lock down after away from it 16 years, It was very interesting to see your short bow system. I really appreciated it, thanks.
Bowhunting (inc bow fishing) is unfortunately illegal in the UK, so he might not be able to. I'd love to see it too though
@@tomhannigan2234 What is legal in the UK? 🤓🍻
@@alsaunders7805 Only what the monarch and government say is legal. Exactly like it'll be in USA when Biden/Harris get in.
@@timbayliss7720 Yeah that's what I'm worried about. My only consolation is that my vote didn't do it.😪🍻
@@timbayliss7720 not going well for B&H.....we DO NOT COMPLY WITH TYRANNY! As a 13th generation American with ancestors from Isles of Mann & Skye, I stand for my rights to live free.
I absolutely love this channel. Wish I could go spend a few weeks in the Scottish bush with this guy...
“In theory” Every thing is illegal in the UK
It's a shame from a bow nation to ban hunting with bows.
@@Bergerons_Review ridiculous isn't it?
They have a system that if its not authorized it's illegal. Since there is no law authorizing you to make a bow than its illegal.
More in germany
If its an offensive weapon,.. yes
I’m always amazed at how committed you are to this life. Very inspiring.
Nice! I have had a bow idea as a project for ages and never got around to it.
Maybe a good lockdown project!
Its a very rewarding thing! Good luck with it!
Hello bro glad you are resurrecting the ancient past. Thank you for these gem of videos. You came a long way.
I hope that's traditional paracord and electrical tape, mate.
😂
550 cord
Good idea 💡 though. I never thought of that.
My friend, the last bow I made was when I was 14 and on my father's acreage. It was crude and I could barely draw it. yet I sent a wooden tipped arrow up to a half inch into a poplar at 15 feet. This video make me want to revisit bow making at 56. Love your videos. You are very entertaining.
it gets better 52 went to doctor 1st time in 40 years dr sez i'm in perfect health;;;receptionist asks me next appt...when I'm 104? ruclips.net/video/WhVn4fKTVDQ/видео.html
Im on my way to the caledonian forest this week and my short yew bow is coming, its 40 inch 70lb at 20inch draw, rewatching this video has upped the excitement thanks 😊
SInew and recurve were exactly my thoughts. With the sinew, you could potentially go thinner before breaking, getting more lbs with less effort.
Howdy! Name is Bella, I'm from Australia but am a quarter Scottish (more Greek haha).
Gaining some interest in Scottish highlander stuff, I eventually came across your channel a few hours ago and have been absolutely captivated. I knew very little about Scottish highlanders, but in my watching have learnt about the versatility of quilts as well as a number of survival skills.
What educational, relaxing and all-around enjoyable content you make! Thanks for doing what you do and showing us. It's crazy to think that we live in so different a world today, and that it's still the same one that stuff like what you show us occured in. It's so crazy, and it wasn't even that long ago relatively speaking. Like, 300-400 years? Man.
Thanks again for your content. Really appreciate and enjoy it!
Here's what I think is the neatest thing about the bow: In terms of range, accuracy, and rate-of-fire, firearms didn't start outperforming the bow until the mid 19th century.
Lol
Nice build! I find the simplest arrow to make are just bare shafted without fletching. Many African tribes used such arrows including the bushmen of Southern Africa. Shooting bare arrows also improves your archery skills since you have to have perfect form to make them fly straight.
Looks like a super useful, quick handling bow! I'd love to learn that technique you use for the short bow.
For a 15 inch draw thats an incredible group! Native Americans used shootibg methods like that. You appear to have a real knack for it
I really enjoyed that video. Its interesting to see how people getting into archery develope their style after time.
If I remember correctly, the book 'Mystic Warriors of the Plains' by Thomas Mails talks about the plains Indian short bow, often made of ram horn, as short as 33 inches. Horses were trained to run along the right side of running bison so the hunter could pump several arrows into the beast at a full run. I made a short bow (38") from yew wood and sinew backed it, pulls 60 lbs at 18 inches.
Nice, I normally have a very low boredom threshold, but you explaining the process to the 'big reveal' was useful, quick and non repetitive! Great video and a short powerful bow is probably more use in non-combat' situations as you want to bring it into action asap to snag that furry lunch making a run for it
Gotta love this man’s thoroughness. I really feel the passion in your videos, keep up the good work man, love ya approach to life.
I bet you’d enjoy making and shooting a Penobscot style double-bow
I know that this video was recorded over a year ago, but I just came across it today. Very interesting and informative. Thank you. I have been putting together some compact emergency kits, for my brothers and myself for some years now. Always adds or changes things when I find something useful. One thing that I have always kept in the kit was several small copper coins. These are old pennies of pure copper that could be pounded into a small cutting tool or arrow point if needed. You mentioned losing arrows. The shaft and fetching are easy enough to make, but point could be a challenge. Using the copper coin could simplify that challenge.
I've been looking for a video like this for years. Absolutely fantastic video, thank you
That is phenomenal craftsmanship and pretty good Bowman ship!
Your video quality just sky rocketed.
Just discovered your channel. I actually have a similar bows made from black thorn and another made from Osage orange. 80 pound draw. They are great hunting bows. I took a twelve point buck a few weeks ago with one. Many in my tribe still uses traditional bows for hunting. Granted we have updated to using modern arrow heads and some even use a modern trigger release system. We do mostly put our arrows on the right of the bow because it is a little faster also using 3 arrows in the bow hand for rapid rate of fire. Of Course we start practicing at age 5 so no problem with building up calluses and muscles. Love your video. Can't wait to go back and look at other stuff you have done.
Looks great. Very obvious how hard it is to draw compared with a bow of more common size. Ideal for a bit of fun and for small game if we were allowed to. I wonder if bowfishing at sea is permitted..... ?
Greatly relieved to see the advert was for "The Great Courses Plus" and not "Raid Shadow Legends"!
Oh buddy, I've been unsuccessfully searching ways to make traditional longbow style archery miniature-ised. This has given me hope. This is how I started off, with a lot of simple designs from whatever was around me, but got sucked into the world of strictly long-bows (for poundage). I've got some Osage coming to me, I think I'll try and make a short yet powerfulbite with that. I've been waiting to put out any content until I'm successful consistently enough. Many thanks from the states!
Aww yess, a bow!!!😍 I want to learn archery and medicine one day when I saved enough money and gain knowledge by training and self study until then.
You made the arrows so great, I doubt I'll be able to do them like you (the spinning feather looks complicated but I won't know until I try)😯💧
Thanks a lot for this very informative and helpful Video 😀🌻
When you mentioned some of your old videos I realized that I watch you since years now!
That's awesome and I hope there will come many more years in future!✌🌷
Hey again! Its a great thing to learn! Very satisfying! The arrows arn't too hard, but a bit fiddly. Feathers often have a natural twist in them anyway. Thanks so much for supporting me over the years and always leaving a supportive comment! Have a great day!
Your Highness, practice and trial/error is valid way to go, having experienced instructor cuts time though.
few pointers below.
Making a bow require you to pay attention to the growth rings, try avoiding cutting them on side away from you, it weakens the bow A LOT for this reason splitting is better than saw. arrows are also best made from split wood straightened by heat and/or steam. Putting feathers is fiddly, try few times with just beeeswax (as "glue") and thread to get technique right.
Good luck
Örjan
Forgot to mention, many archery ranges/clubs have days you can go there and try archety for free with a volonteer instructor, just few arrows downrange but...
Making a bow and archery can be completely free! :)
Great system! Im in British Columbia Canada we have many a steep hill covered in thick brush so short and light is the way to go for trekking. I have loads of yew thats dried nicely and know the fist thing ill make! Thanks for your wonderful content !
Been watching you forever glad to see you’re coming up on 100k!
Thanks for the support over the years buddy!
Nice bow and even nicer bow casing! The outdoors you are walking about are beautiful!
Good stuff. But you don’t need a 70 pounds short bow with the type of arrows you use. For a 50 pounds bow, we usually have arrows weighing between 35 to 40 grams ( I won’t use grain for simplicity’s sake). You could build a lighter bow, and since your arrows are so light, it won’t make a big difference. For reference, a lot of people hunt deers with 40 pound bows, even 35. High poundage bow with heavy projectiles were a thing because of armor. So for survival purpose a 40 pounds bow is more than adequate. It will also be A LOT more durable, and you could use a thumb draw instead of the Mediterranean way to shoot faster.
With his short bow the arrow is being pushed by the string for a much shorter time and distance before it leaves the string hence the need for the high poundage. Hope that makes sense.
Woah!!! That little thing shoots a lot better than I thought it would.
The archery fishing set would be great to see you develop!
Not allowed in UK, target shooting only permissible with a bow and arrow.
@@timbayliss7720 really? Sheesh...
Just a suggestion, when making metal arrowheads, get some metal spoons, flatten them and cut them to the size you need. Also, you can use forks for using for frog gigs and for bow fishing, of course you need to shape them for use
Being a small portable system why not make the arrows 'baby' sized like the ones fired in the 'tongah' arrow guide for the Korean Pyeonjeon/Turkish Majra. Get greater velocities with the stubby arrows and you could have a shorter thigh friendly quiver. Stow the arrow guide with the bow.
Longer arrows have more forward weight so they are more accurate the First Nations who used these bows would us arrows up to 30 inches because they were more accurate super short arrows would need really big fletching to make em fly straight and they would slow the arrow down it could work but it would be a lot of work
@@avidanglerorobsession6127 thanks for those little tidbits!! i have always wondered why those arrow guides weren't more prevalent!
@@avidanglerorobsession6127 some first nations used long arrows with short bows, but a lot of the arrows collected from plains tribes used short arrows around the 20"-24" mark
@@avidanglerorobsession6127 To add, longer arrows are more aerodynamically efficient, as they carry more mass for a given frontal cross section area. Not really a concern at short range hunting distances, but definitely an advantage in military archery.
dylan holderman yes arrows of 20 to 24 inches were used and I have had some very accurate arrows as short as 18 inches but arrows the the guy who commented was referring to seem that they would be around 10 inches witch is much shorter
You might like to try 'The Traditional Archer's Handbook' by Hilary Greenland. It's also small but full of really useful stuff on making bows.
I'll look it up! Thank you!
It may be possible to get more arrow speed by using an arrow overdraw device like the Korean Tong-Ah. It would allow you to shoot half sized and therefore much lighter arrows. Shorter arrows are easier to make in the field and easier to carry. Just a thought.
Never knew how much pheasant feathers look like turkey feathers
This is a very worthy project, the teaspoon arrow is an especially nice touch, looking forward to more of it.
When your custom knife gonna be for sale the derk /ski n do
I like the concept of the short bow as a survivalist tool but nowadays if one gets hungry it's a simple case of popping down to the shop, but very nice job on that bow and good skill's.
Cool short bow is so much more practical as you described great vid 👍 ATB trev
As a former rookie (emphasis on the rookie) primitive Bowyer in my youth...I'd like to say well done!...atvb...woods
I didn’t know that bow hunting was illegal in the UK. I’m just curious, how long has that been the law there?
according to google "Hunting with the bow and arrow was prohibited in the UK in 1965"
I've seen short bows made with separate 2ft lengths that get bound at the center - allowing for sizing slightly longer or shorter - to accommodate for organic string braid...
I shoot much better from the right side as it is naturally inline with my dominate eye.
Its how I started shooting as I was self taught as a kid. Then someone told me it was wrong so I learned to shoot on the left. I know know many cultures shot right side! so felt a bit cheated! haha
Thanks it always best to line up on your dominate eye. However it is easier is best. I really enjoyed your video.
Would like to see a bushcraft bow fishing setup. Love ingenuity with limited resources. Keep up the good work.
Three words for you, duct tape fletchings
I've seen that done before. Good suggestion.
I've used that for blowgun darts and even after thousands of shots they're still going.
Archery is something that have interested me my whole life, and I've been especially interested in bows here in scandinavia, and a while back I found a document regarding sami bows, they have found several examples ranging from 3' 6" to 5' 10"
One of the most complete finds was a 5 foot long bow made of laminated wood 1/3 of the thickness birch or hardwood for the back and 2/3 compression wood from fir or pine for the belly glued together with steamed perch skins and wrapped in birch bark over the whole leangth exept for the grip, and in the lower end had been fastened and ironshoe to be used when skiing this has been dated to the early 1000 AD. They have also found a shorter bow (around 3-4 feet) made from birch or other hardwood that is dated from the mid 1400 that looks alo like the one you have made when looking at reconstructions, it is fascinating to see that bows of similar designs has been used around the world for centuries if not millenia even☺️
Have you ever lived for say a week or two in the wild,with nothing but a knife and your knowlede?
3 days is only the longest I've done. Would be interested to try for longer for sure
@@FandabiDozi thanks for replying!
Would love to have a bow like this for times when a takedown recurve would take too long to set up, but with my disability I would need a lighter draw weight. Great job making the bow and the arrows.
bow hunting... the thing humans have been doing for 70,000+ years is illegal in a country that famously produced the most fearsome archers in Europe and gave us such legends as Robin Hood and William Tell. I simply have no words for how asinine that is.
Hehehe that tender thumb life. I was too stubborn when I started to learn mounted archery to tape my thumb and have some dense calluses built up now. I use a thumb ring now, but it has come in handy when I forget it when I hit the range.
Your videos are great and educational. As someone in the U.K. I do understand why bow hunting is illegal, your video is a great demonstration and love your content
This is Great! I’m crafting a 50inch selfbow right now myself!
My granddad used to make traditional weapons, he’s no longer here but I still have his bow and staff to this day
It's very interesting to see how totally different cultures came up with similar solutions. The "pinch grip" is also known as the Mongolian Grip. Mongol and Tatar horse archers would also commonly use a special thumb ring to make it easier to draw the bow, kinda like how European archers used gloves or small leather pads to protect their draw fingers.
Pinch grip is the more optimal grip for shorter bows where volume of fire is important- the horse archers would get a lot closer to the enemy than foot archers bc they could pepper the enemy with shots and run away on their horses so accuracy wasn't as big of a factor as volume of shots taken. Same went for hunting- on horseback getting close isn't an issue bc a horse (especially a Mongolian horse) will keep up with basically any game so it's more important to hit as many shots as possible in as short a time so the prey won't run away somewhere you can't follow.
Hi all.
For years I used a small recurve composed of early fiberglass.
It pulled 42 pds at 28.5 inches.
I used 2 blade bear resharpenable broadheads.
I always had a
(thru and thru) on deer harvested usually at 30 feet or less while still hunting.
And I always shot from one knee on the ground to keep from showing
a human silhouette when I knew deer were approaching.
The " kit" is on point! Let's see a " how to" on all of your kit!? Please? Very handy size for hunting/ fishing in Florida..
GWW...Ooouuuttt!!!
Really good, you can see it from the clean flight of the arrows! Great for hunting. Congratulations!
Kevin Costner had a good bow set up in Robin Hood. The bow was hidden in a staff towards the end of the movie, when he infiltrated the castle of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Thanks for a Great video.
Birch pitch is the best glue, pine pitch is brittle due to temperature changes, and birch pitch is not . Birch tar is an antiseptic, too. The simplest birch pitch is evaporating tar and mixing in ashes, if desired - wood shavings too.
For some reason l have had a bunch of bow making videos pop up in my feed today. Watched a couple of videos by a gentleman from Bulgaria. No voice over. No music. Just him working. One was a North American Horn Bow. All made from the horns of Big Horn Sheep or their equivilant, glues from natural products and all stone tools. The other was a Korean Horn Backed Bow. Mulberry and Rams Horn. About 1 hour long or so. The Korean took a year.
Great stuff! And love the upside down shot :) Yew wood is a pleasure to shoot. I also made a few longbows of it, and one 42 inch bow. The short one was super dope to shoot while it lasted the two years. Of note, I think you’d really like the Plains style quiver for its portability. You can wear it with any pack system since it carry’s on the side Horizontal while walking, ready to deploy at any moment.
This is an excellent video and made more excellent by mentioning the Bowyers Bible series which I totally recommend for beginning and advanced makers of primitive bows . Thanks again for the information .
Keep being you, I love this type of content. Good knowledge to have under your belt, never know
I know where there is a few wonderfully straight yew limbs in my neck of the woods that I stumbled upon on my ramblings, the trouble is im afraid of getting them because I've since learnt that part of the Forrest is frequented by some of the not so savoury woodland users and I avoid the area now lol
MOST of the Indigenous People of the Western Hemisphere use/used short, powerful bows. Those of us whose people are eastern woodlands couldn't have used a long bow simply because the terrain was too rough and too full of trees. Since the bow was both hunting and war weapon, you had to have one that you could use while running, up a tree, or fire from behind rocks and fallen trees without exposing your self in order to get full draw. My great-uncle, a traditional Cherokee bowyer, sized the bow to reach from ground to the waist or a couple of inches above of the person he was making it for. All of us kids were gifted bows with sheaths and quivers of arrows at around age 5 and he took the time to teach us proper care and use. Considering that even in his 70s he could run full tilt through the woods and pull off accurate shots at game was awesome.
Great bow Tom. You are totally right, there is something primal about archery.
Nate
Great video. You might be interested in a couple of other 'short bows'; the first, maybe one of the very earlier bows we know are still being used - the bows of the San or African Bushman, which are quite short and used for not only small game but for very large game up to the size of the large antelope, the oryx. Now, it does use arrows that are poisonous and that's one of the major mechanisms of taking the large game, along with basically running the animal to exhaustion, and then more to the point, another Native American bow, the bow of what was called the 'Sheepeater tribe' of the Yellowstone area among other areas in the Rocky Mountains, was a short bow made with wood along with horn, a very powerful bow and was able to achieve quite a cast, with heavy arrows. Reportedly, the Native Americans (some Shoshone, some other tribes and nations) in this particular area preferred to hunt and take the various wild sheep of the area, rather than the bison and elk which moved in and out of the area based upon seasons. (This may or may not be based upon some of the stories told by other tribes ad nations, and misinterpretations by explorers) Interestingly, even though common knowledge seems to believe that the Native Americans used only self bow, the SheepEater bow was a composite bow, faced with sheep horn. The inclusion of the sheep horn has shown to provide considerable power to the bow.
The Comanche archery method seems ideal for a bow like this, very similar to your 3 finder below arrow grip but with an added pinch to help with knocking. They also had their thumb upwards when grasping the bow, now sure what effect that has though.
Very cool. I’ve done a few pvc bows but never wood. I need to give yours a go. Thank you.
5:24 your explanations are already succinct, well-paced, and packed full of useful information. No need to rush yourself lad! XD
Excellent presentation. Nifty project. You had a picture of Ishi with his short bow. Here in California/Nevada, short bows were the norm, for at least two reasons. As you said, finding long bow material is more difficult. Second, the short bow is way more efficient in the brushy habitats where our deer hang out. Stalking or tree stand, better with shorter bow.
Nice aim, by the way. ;).