Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Announcements => Topic started by: bisho034 on January 17, 2014, 05:45:21 pm
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Hey Everyone,
My name is Andrew, and I am extremely interested in primitive archery. I am so interested, in fact, that I am working on a Ph.D. in Anthropology at ASU, and my research focuses on the understanding the productivity of hunting with traditional technology. I study this to help archaeologists and anthropologists better understand hunter gatherer economies in ancient history. To do this research, I need to collect survey data from people who hunt a variety of animals using traditional technology. If possible, I would love to post a link to the survey, but before I do that, I want to check with the moderators and make sure that I am not violating any rules about "soliciting".
Can someone please let me know if it is okay to promote this survey on this forum?
Thanks!
Andrew Bishop
Graduate Student
Arizona State University
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You could post link to the survey, just don't make it a direct link. I usually post the link with three dashes in front of it so it's not clickable. Example:
---www.somebodyswebsite.com
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Thanks!
Here is the link to the survey: https://asuclas.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1zXvhWzzOZYk3n7
The survey takes about 20 minutes, and participation is completely anonymous and voluntary. Participants will be entered into a raffle for a $200 gift card to Woods and Water, Cabelas, or Bass Pro Shops, which will be held May 1st, 2014.
Please participate and help enhance our understanding of paleo-hunting.
Thanks!
Andrew Bishop
Graduate Student
Arizona State University
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I took the survey. Very simple and straightforward. :)
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I don't see a problem with a direct link, you're not selling archery gear.
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Well, I tried and couldn't get past the last question on the first page. No matter what I put in the kill slot, it wouldn't accept it.
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Thank you for those of you that replied! Mullet - I am going to see if I can figure out the problem that you are having. Thanks for attempting!
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I gave you two rounds of research yesterday. I'll go in and give you another here soon. getting hard to remember every encounter after that tho, I only remember kills prior to this year and the end of last year
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Thanks for the responses Twistedlimbs! Mullet - Unfortunately I can't figure out why the survey didn't work for you, but thank you again for trying.
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I'll try again. I had trouble with the, " five hunts/pursuits how many ended in a kill" I put in three to start with and that didn't work and then made up numbers and that didn't work also. Probably misunderstood what the response was. I've tried 1 thru 5 and it keeps saying respond with a valid number. ???
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I'm having the same problem Eddie. I'll get out the laptop later this week and see if that works. Josh
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Took it,pretty straight forward. :) even for a simple mind like mine. ;)
Pappy
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I took it. Pretty simple.
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I started the survey then quit when I got to the persuit part.
Our game laws have changed to the point that, where I hunt , one would be lucky to kill a legal deer once every ten years.
I encounter all manner of edible animals during my hunting that I dont even consider for food or supplies. Unlike primative people, I have canned soup and bologna at home, I can order buckskin and supplies online and have them delivered to my door. I survive on the mighty dollarthat I earn by working.
Most people now a days hunt as a past time and can live without hunting and not starve. The overwhelming majority of hunters I encounter are more worried about how much beer is in the cooler than actually killing animals and have never ever ventured more than a half mile from the truck or four wheeler. Most consider two hours in a comfy padded chair in a over size heated deer blind as a long hard hunt.
The amount of dollars a person has and is willing to spend to gain access to certain places to hunt has more bearing on overall success than skill at persuit of game does these days.
Modern hunters have differant goals and motivaters than primative people and are not dependent upon a successful hunt to survive, nor do modern hunters need the raw materials gained from a successful hunt. A typical hunter around here throws away everything but the backstraps and major muscles of a deer. Oh! the most prized part is the antlers and the bigger they are it seems like we regard that person as a better hunter because they killed a deer with bigger antlers. Ducks are stripped of their breast meat and the rest is tossed.
I just don't see how modern hunters success rates can shed any light what so ever on how successfull primative hunters where. Technology, money, ego, motives, access to remote areas, and our modern lifestyles are just too differant to make even a good guess at what primative success rates may have been.
Not trying to rain on your parade and I wish you the best of luck with it, I just don't get it.
I do live in SE Texas so that may have a large bearing on my veiw of it and it may work better in other places, but around here it just would not work. Too many fences, regulations, greed and laziness along with ego's built around sucess in the job market more than skill sets built upon experience gianed in the woods actually persuing game.
My two cents. Terry
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I guess your study is trying to filter out most hunters like I reffered to, by stipulating traditional equipment.
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Hi Terry,
I think that you raise a lot of valid points, and I wont try to argue against them because I think they are mostly correct. I appreciate that you raise them as well, because that gives me an opportunity to respond and tell you about my research.
There is actually a very specific set of questions that I am trying to answer, and for those specific questions I think that asking primitive archers about their hunts actually will work. Most of my work, and that of my advisers is done with people who are currently hunting and gathering, or were up until the last decade or so, and those are the people we look at when answering questions about how a person behaves when trying to feed their family. Unfortunately, there are very few hunter gatherers who still extensively use traditional technology (because lets face it, guns are easier, and if I want to feed my family I will do what is easiest), and those that do are so protected that I cannot legally get access to study them, even as a university affiliated anthropologist.
What I hope to learn from modern hunters with traditional technology is not how well they could feed their families, or really anything about them. I am actually trying to learn how the animals respond to hunters, and how/if their responses and characteristics can be used to predict which animals would be easier/harder to kill for a skilled hunter with a bow. By knowing the size of the animal and how long it takes to kill on average with a given technology and technique, we can begin to predict an average return rate for that species. We then can combine this with archaeological data on technology, techniques, and species abundances in history and try to make inferences about which animals in that environment would be most profitable. If we know which characteristics affect an animals return rate, we can then begin to infer return rates for animals which haven't been hunted in recent history.
I think you are definitely right though. There are significant limitations to what we can infer from modern hunters, but in my field we have to do the best we can with what is available.
Thanks for the insight Terry!
Best,
Andrew