Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: WhistlingBadger on November 30, 2019, 06:41:59 pm
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Evening, everybody. Anybody ever back a board bow (or other bow) with pronghorn skin? Just thinking about future possibilities...
Thomas
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I've never used it but I bet it's great. Thin, tough rawhide is the ticket. deer, goat and kangaroo all work great for bows. seems like pronghorn would fit in. Curious to hear from someone who's actually used it.
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(https://media1.giphy.com/media/8FhXc8w45aN32/source.gif)
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What Weylin said. I've never seen an antelope but I would guess it would be good rawhide. If you don't want it, I'll take it. ;)
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According to my tanning book, pronghorn buckskin is thin and surprisingly strong, and similar to goat at Weylin mentioned. I imagine the rawhide would be the same. Sorry I don't have any personal experience with it...I would love to do some pronghorn hunting, but it won't be in the cards for a while.
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If its like goat it should be fine
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Well, I'm thinking about putting up a waterhole blind at a buddy's ranch next summer and trying to down the mighty speedgoat with the longbow. It will have to be a very tall blind.
So it will be a while before I have any to work with. But I'll keep you posted.
Cheers~
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I will have to check my cache of salted hides! There should be a bunch of pronghorn (antelope, prairie goats, or whatever) still needing something done to them! Rawhide is probably easier than tanning, anyway!
Hawkdancer
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Jerry, rawhide is one of the first steps in tanning so it would be easier.
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I used it once years ago. Great stuff and wish I had more.
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Jerry, rawhide is one of the first steps in tanning so it would be easier.
pat, I'm at the age where even thinking about work makes me tired! Either that, or I got bit by a "lazy bug", or lost my round tuit again! :BB :-K :KN )W( (f) >:D (lol) (lol). I'll get after it next week, maybe!
Jerry
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Manana, Jerry! :OK
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yes i thought I was tired today,, but realized I was lazy,, :)
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Remember: Hard often pays off in the long run. But laziness always pays off right now. 8)
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Antelope rawhide is the premium choice for backing. I have backed a few dozen with it and have had nothing but the best of luck. I even backed some poor grade hickory with a lot of run outs and had them hold up!
I used to get them from a guy that advertised in P.A. but he has kinda gone dark in the last few years.
Years back I was laying out the rawhide on a hickory board bow when a friend dropped by with some rando nit-wit. Said nit-wit was full of advice on how I really should be doing this (having never made a bow in his life, he was incredibly confident of his unequaled genius). He was fingering a scrap of dry antelope rawhide that was even thinner than a playing card. He proceeded to tell me that I should back my bows with buffalo rawhide, that's what the Injuns did. I countered him by explaining that the rawhide would be too thick, would add far too much weight and ruin the cast of a good bow. He snorted in contempt and proceeded to tell me that antelope rawhide has no strength. I told him to break the quarter-inch wide strip in his hands and he proceeded to tug on the foot-long strip. When it did not tear like tissue paper he wrapped it tightly around his fingers and before I could stop him he proceeded to give a manly grunt and JERKED hands apart. It bit deep into both pinkies. On one hand, it cut through the skin and meat to the bone, and on the other hand it sawed deep into the first joint. Numbskull proceeds to start shouting and bleeding all over my shop. My buddy refuses to allow him in his new pickup and get blood all over the seats, so I HAD TO DRIVE THE UNINVITED AND UNWELCOME IDIOT TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM! Needless to say, I left him at the door and went home to scrape off the incorrectly set and now half-dried rawhide backing on the limb I was working on.
So, is it tough? I dunno, maybe.
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(lol) (lol) (lol)
Thanks for the info and the story, JW. Bloody messes aside, it's always rather satisfying when those self-assessed geniuses get what's coming to them.
OK, I'm definitely putting in for an antelope permit next year. It's an almost guaranteed draw (I don't know why they don't just sell them OTC), and it's about as close to a 100% success rate as they come. (I read somewhere that 90% of the world's population of pronghorns live within 300 miles of Casper, Wyoming, and yes, I am within that circle. Some days it looks like the Serengeti out there) Not premium eating, though good enough when treated well in the field. But between the rawhide, a pretty skull on the wall, a two-week extension of bow hunting season, some extra jerky and sausage in the freezer, and the chance to possibly get Mrs. Badger her first kill...Yep, I think it's time.
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We are in that circle, but the challenge is navigating the draw process! Got to be smarter than the draw! And hope you hit the right area!
Hawkdancer
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You're in New Mexico, Jerry?
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Nope, northern Colorado, Loveland to be exact. Just a hop, skip, and jump and an hour from Cheyenne! (lol)
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Oh, OK. I'm guessing less public land on the front range to chase goats, but they are down there.
Hey, Are you by chance going to the shoot in Cheyenne January 5? If so, look for the tall guy with the fedora and the self-bow, and introduce yourself. ;D
T
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Didn't know there was a shoot! What is the location? I may be able to get up there! At least to watch!
Hawkdancer
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Oops, it isn't in Cheyenne; it's in Thermop. That's a bit more of a drive for you, I guess.
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Don't think that is quite doable, and still get home for dinner! May have to just shoot down here somewhere! Got an Indoor range close by, just have to find out if it is open to non members! Might be a bit chilly outdoors!
Jerry
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You are up around Riverton, more or less?
Hawkdancer
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Don't think that is quite doable, and still get home for dinner! May have to just shoot down here somewhere! Got an Indoor range close by, just have to find out if it is open to non members! Might be a bit chilly outdoors!
Jerry
You can always go to the hot springs for a soak after the shoot.
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Well, curses and begorra! You didn't mention a hot springs for the turkey hunt! On the other hand, that might be why the Lakota didn't winter in the Black Hills! Or was it the other way around! (lol) (lol).
Hawkdancer