Primitive Archer

I'm in.
RH
45-65
28"

I measure from the back of the bow to the string at full draw.  What I do is take an old arrow and mark it with increments of 1/2” out to 30”.  Then draw to your full draw length and either have someone take note of the marking it touches the back of the bow and that’s your draw or have a piece of masking tape ready to place on the arrow at the back of bow.  I find this works well if by myself to determine the draw of a specific bow build and calculate draw weight at a specific draw length.  Good grip position, solid Anchor point, back tension and good form all being considered of course.  Once all that is figured on a proper draw length for traditional bow can be measured.  There are many schools of thought on snap shooting and short draws out there too when we talk about primitive bows, With or without arrow shelves.  So many factors come into play on the various type of bows as well that determine how they are drawn back and shot that have a bearing of draw length.  When I was practicing my short draw a little while ago I tend to draw that bow more horizontal orientation.  Obviously this type of draw will be shorter but one can be fairly accurate with it.  Anyway for me the back of the bow to the drawn string where the arrow nocks.  Measurements from the inside of the nock of arrow to the back of bow more specifically. 

Very nice looking bow. Well done.

Hey y'all, this is the 2nd successful bow that I've made, and the first one that looks any good aesthetically. 65" NTN, 60#@28", fire hardened hickory, antler overlays, copperhead skins, and sinew wrappings.  I've recently narrowed the limb tips to bring the performance up a bit. In this photo, they are 5/8" at the nock, and I narrowed them to 3/8".  Before narrowing the tips, it was shooting a 618 gn arrow at 134 fps, and after narrowing it is shooting at 155 fps.
IMG_7799 by Samuel Hartline, on Flickr
IMG_7802 by Samuel Hartline, on Flickr
IMG_7801 by Samuel Hartline, on Flickr
IMG_7421 by Samuel Hartline, on Flickr

How people are meassuring draw length in that bow trades? From the string till the first touch of the hand on the handle?
If draw length counts from the string till the back of the handle, then depending on the deep the handle is, the same person would have very different draw lengths; I guess.