Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Shooting and Hunting => Topic started by: swampshooter on March 29, 2007, 12:52:44 pm
-
Anyone out there trying to bowfish with a selfbow and primitive arrows/line? I have been doing a fair amount of bowfishing in Louisiana, using my compound and commercial fiberglass arrrows. It is really a great time, you do alot of shooting and fill the freezer with redfish. I think it would be interesting to up the challenge and begin using my homemade selfbows and arrows. Has anyone else tried this?
-
I do it every year. Just be sure you got a good finish on your bow. If your like I am, its pretty hard on the finish. I use a tape on reel unless I'm looking for aligator gar. Then I use a float. have fun... Chris
-
agbowyer, you don't happen to have pics of your gear? also, what kind of licences are required for bowfishing? is there a season?
-
Can't wait to do some carp shooting this summer, I haven't done it years. ;D
DanaM
-
Thanks for the reply grom Agbower and Dustybaer. A tape on reel makes good sense. I agree with the finish on the bow being important, my compound bow is basically rotting away from exposure to salt and sun, I would not want my handmade bow to rot. In answer to the license question, I guess it differs in each State. In Louisiana "yes, the license plates read Sportsmans Paradise" we bowfish under our annual fishing license. The season is year long and the limits are by species and size. You can bowfish at night with lights on the boat. We use a tunnel-hull flats boat and a pole to get in the shallows. I've added a blurry 2AM night cameraphone picture of a grandaddy black drum I took bowfishing in Port Sulfer last fall. (good eats!) Thanks for the posts.
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
I do it every year. Just be sure you got a good finish on your bow. If your like I am, its pretty hard on the finish. I use a tape on reel unless I'm looking for aligator gar. Then I use a float. have fun... Chris
How about arrows and tips, these have been really important to me for successful fishing so far. I have been using commercial Muzzy carp and sting-a-ree tips, but would like to craft a primitive tip for the arrow that is effective. Any ideas on a good bowfinshing arrow design?
-
Dustybaer, You have to have a fishing license here. You can only shoot nongame species + catfish (blue, channel, and flathead). We go anytime. Walk the banks especially during spawn, boat daytime, or boat with lights at night. If I have time and camera, I'll take some picks tonight, but I use fiberglass arrows and Bear tape on reel. For floats I use old ketsup or mustard sqeeze bottles. You run the line through the tip and make a knot that won't pull back through. I like to silicone it shut after that.
Swampshooter, like I said above I use fiberglass arrows. For tips I use muzzy for soft skinned fish, carp, buffalo, and catfish (snakes too)., but if I'm in an area with gator gar I like warheads best. They don't have to penetrate as deep to lock up. If you made your own, I'd make osage arrows or some other very heavy wood, and then make a barbed steel point out of saw blades or something. It sure wouldn't be quick release though.
-
I'll be bowfishing for Gar and Tilapia in the river after all the turkey season's I can hit are over.I use a fibreglass bow,sinew and watwr don't really go together plus that bow takes a beating.Swampshooter,nice drum.Can't say I miss Port Sulfur.I was working there by the big blue water tank from June till the end of Jan.
-
How deep does an arrow go when you miss? Just wondering if I could practice in the cement pond in the back yard. ;) I saw a float to suspend and practice the other day. Justin
-
I've done it before in ours, but the wife saw the point hitting the bottom and felt it was too hard. I never saw more than a little bitty divot. Seriously I don't think it hurt anything. She's just picky about her wading hole ;D
-
I've done it before in ours, but the wife saw the point hitting the bottom and felt it was too hard. I never saw more than a little bitty divot. Seriously I don't think it hurt anything. She's just picky about her wading hole ;D
I did the work, Im kind of protective too. Justin
-
not to get off the subject but you all talking about swimming pools made me think of my postman. he got back into archery this year cause he sees me doing it all the time. unfortunatley its a compound. so he gets his tags for deer season and goes out many times without success. one day in his back yard he sees deer grazing so grabs his bow and sneaks around the house. draws back takes aim and hits the trigger. perfect hit. right in the 3 month old above ground swimming pool he had installed. couldnt believe he told me never mind took the shot. lol
-
Justin................Practice shooting into the pool. See how that goes over with the better half :D :D....................................................Eddie...fiberglass bow :o...shame on you dude ! :D :D.................bob
-
Jamie, that's too funny. I'd love to see him explaining that one to the wife ;D
-
Was it an actual deer he shot at or the one painted on the side of the pool?
-
I use a milk jug on a rope to practice, just fill it with water and toss it in. I shoot mostly from the bank and at that low angle the arrow seldom goes deeper than a foot. thinkin bout modifyin a tip that would make it dive more and hopefully slow up the porpasing effect. Dang i wish i still had my boat! ;D
Brian
-
I use a homemade osage selfbow with a tape on, shoot through reel. The only finish it HAD was a rubbing of beeswax/olive oil. I leave it in the boat year round and it pretty much looks like an osage fence post now, but still works fine.
I'm using solid fiberglass arrows now with muzzy heads. I made my own arrows at first, which worked fairly well, but had a high breakage rate with bigger fish. One can drill through the primer pocket on a .38 case with a drill the same size as the shank of one of those long gutter nails. Insert the nail through that hole so the nail head stops against the base of the inside of the case head, then hammer the point of the nail out flat enough to hacksaw a good, long cut near the point to bend up a barb. File the point and barb to shape, solder the nail head inside the case and that's it. The heads can be mounted on any shaft but I never found any that a big fish couldn't tear up. I gave up on trying to save the shafts and started tying my line around the head on the nail shank, then running the line up the shaft and half hitching it tight just ahead of the nock. I was using cane arrow shafts there at the last, just plugged in to the head and tied off with a half hitch at the back. They would almost always come out of the socket when a fish was hit and float free. The cane won't shoot very deeply. Most of the time the fish I'd shoot at were almost at the surface and that was a non factor but the inability to hit deeper fish made me switch to the solid fiberglass. Also, with those home made heads, you've got to cut and re-tie, then re-rig after every shot, which is kind of frustrating when a 30 pound fish swims up and moons you while you are trying to get ready for another shot.
Even with the solid fiberglass arrows, deeper fish often just leave me with a scale on my point which hasn't penetrated up to the barb. I don't know how deep you can actually shoot effectively but the arrow slows down really fast with the water resistance and line drag combined, and I have had sharp muzzys bounce off of deep fish without any penetration. Those are always monsters, too, big targets that I can hit farther away. Those times allow me to exercise my vocabulary.
Steve
-
I have been bow fishing with my 45# bow and 44" long bamboo arrows. needs no fletches. I have caught around 10 northern pikes with the biggest one weighing around 16 lbs.
-
Carp season starts May 1 in Illinois. Never shot at them before, but I think I am just just going to pin them into the ground with my arrow in the shallows. No lines or reals, what do you think?
-
make arrows that are long enough, then it should work.
-
I'd be afraid that any carp worth shooting wouldn't stay pinned for long. I've shot lots and lots of fish and, except for the rare spine shot where they don't even quiver, they pretty much explode when you hit one. Heck, it might work, but I'd be surprised if you have a 25% recovery rate on hit fish. Give it a try and let us know. It would sure be easier if it worked than wrasslin' with all that line and stuff.
Steve
-
A good tip for a bowfisher who doesn't use a string: use arrows like the ones on the right here. http://www.perinnejousi.fi/keskustelu/files/nuolenk_rki_1_200.jpg
aim for the spine of the fish and so it will snap and the fish will die instantly.
one could also make knda x shaped points so that it will snap the spine, and stay in the fish.
-
Just got back from a great tilapia hunt this weekend.For those folks who stalk the thickets back up the creek banks after these super spooky fish know why I use the word "hunt".We shoot self bows and self reels,(I make the reels on my lathe).It is tough on your bows,but I would'nt hunt with anything else.My daughter took some pictures with her digital camera,so I'll try to get em up here in the next few days.We got 54 fish despite the storm.That's about 6 serious size fish fries. If your asking me,Yes!, use your self equipment. God Bless, PeteC
-
pete, can't wait to see those pics. especially of the reel and the arrows/tips.