Yankeemongiat please pass this on to you your friend John Riggs,
So John, you dropped out of the Primitive Archer board? Not interested enough in Primitive Archer to stay connected with what is going on? Odd that you feel well enough informed and connected to insult people who are motivated enough to keep in contact with Primitive Archery. Still I expect you asked your friend to post just because you were to afraid to do so yourself and wanted to wind people up behind the protection of your "friend"?
Well, I am not wound up but I am interested in the window that you have given us all into your suprisingly narrow little soul.
You start you comment with an insult. Am I a "douche bag"? What is this thing? If you want to insult me can you not think of something that is a little clever, insulting or funny? What is it that you know about me that gives you the right to decide that I am a douche bag, whatever that is? I had a friend whose surname was Douche but he was a failry nice person so maybe this is a compliment?
So, what do you feel is a John Riggs approved weight for a bow, and exactly what test is needed to decide if we are worthy to have an interest in Primitive Archery? Personally I don't give a "douche bag" what you think. As someone who is interested in many different areas of Primitive Archery and as I beleive in my and your right to free expression and free speech your bigotry is interesting as an insight into your personality and there it ends.
I have seen some truly wonderful war bows. Some of those bows were thousands of years old. The craftsmanship that went into them leaves me speechless. There is spirit in everything for those who are not blinded by a closed mind. Have you ever in your life seen or handled a strong bow? have you seen an archer use one and send an arrow out of sight? Have you seen the same archer in a woodland setting send his arrow thudding into a 3D target 50 yards away? The bow I saw used in this way was a much loved yew selfbow, impefect but used all the same because this archer knew it and trusted it.
You appear to think that the target is as important as the bow or archer. Warbows are not all about armour. and they are not all laminated. If you are going to insult others on the PA board you might have the decency to make sense and get your facts straight.
I make and shoot bows that could be called warbows, just as I make simple primitive bows. I make bows and arrows because I enjoy making them from the materials available to me, and because I enjoy shooting them. I do enjoy using as heavy a bow as I can manage and sending an arrow soaring high into the sky for the simple joy of seeing an arrow fly. There is art, spirit, freedom within an arrow arcing across the sky and I couldn't care less whether your narrow little black-and-white vision of how life should be can recognise that or not.
Apparently you cannot share the thrill of shooting an arrow from a heavy bow. That is your loss. I can and I will enjoy myself with warbows and any other bow I can lay my hands on whether you approve or not.
I do not care about ego. I do not care about what you or any other think of my archery. I shoot because I like archery and I enjoy the company of others who share that. Perhaps if you were to shoot a warbow you may catch the same thrill, or maybe your view of archery is just too limited to see byond your self imposed bigatry?
I feel sorry for you John. I think that somehow you settled for a sadly limited view of what the "true spirit of the bow" really is.
With real sincerity,
Mark in England (Limey and proud of it!)