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excited new guy!

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Catnapper:
Hi all,
      I've been lurking on this site as a guest trying to learn as much as I can and I finally decided to become a member. I'm very new to bow making but I have managed to turn out a couple hickory bows and a Osage flat bow. I'm very interested in primitive archery and am excited to learn from all you experienced guys! I live in Northeastern Wyoming which is a bow wood desert but thankfully I can order osage online! I also hunt, fish, and trap so I'm interested in primitive tools and techniques for those hobbies as well. I am a fairly young guy (early twenties) so I'm hoping if I plant some osage trees in our field I will be able to turn them into a bow one day!

Cameroo:
Welcome to the club! :)

Wolf Watcher:
Welcome to the family!  Not many of us from the Cowboy state.  I live in the mountains out of Meeteetse.  Hawk Huston lives in the breaks out of Clark.  JW Halverson lives in Rapid City, SD. and he is a great builder of bows.  One thing we do have is a place to hunt with the bows we make.  If you like to trade, staves are no problem as many of the members are willing to offer up most any kind of wood you may need!  A/Ho Joe

Catnapper:
Thanks for the welcome guys. And its cool there are bowyers in my own state! I live in Gillette so I'm not to far from Rapid City either. I do however spend most of my time in the bighorn mts. Fly fishing or scouting for elk.  Joe have you tried any of the wood native to Wyoming for bow wood yet? I have heard juniper makes a functional bow but I have not tried it yet. I think when this rain quits I might go look for a good tree. If anyone has used juniper, what design works well? And should I use sapwood or heartwood? I usually try to shoot for a 50#@28in draw. Any help is much appreciated!.........Keith

Wolf Watcher:
I am not a great builder of bows, but have made some from the wood I got from the folks at the Classic and some from bamboo backed IPE that were already glued up for a couple of classes I took there.  One wood that we have lots of that makes a good bow is Russian Olive.  Most ranches want to get rid of it.  It is very hard on tools and takes some time to season unless you have a hot box.  Getting a piece straight enough to handle can also be a problem.   I hunt off a mule, so a short bow is necessary, but they are much harder to be accurate with.  There is a really talented bowyer that lives in Casper and owns Pronghorn Archery and is one of PA's advertisers.  He builds glass backed bows which are really fround upon here, but I carry one as my backup bow in cold weather.  Woke up to several inches of new snow this morning and have had a griz in the mountain pasture where I have some horses.  Lots of elk scattered around.  If you are a flint knapper the Big Horns have some of the very finest jasper.   A/Ho Joe 

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