Primitive Archer

Quote from: pierce_schmeichel on October 29, 2025, 02:11:26 pm

This is the bow I got my deer with this October. I shot it from 25 yards. Its 43" ntn and draws 45lbs at 20". It zips an arrow 145 fps. It has a tooooon of string follow but still has a bunch of power obviously. Haha it sent my 400 grain arrow with a trade point all the way through a white tail deer. Its a sinew backed elm bow. I love how compact it is. It definitely gives me an advantage when hunting because I can get through tight spaces and stay small when stalking.

That is outrageously cool!  I'm not extremely accurate with short bows like that or I would use them more.  What kind of release technique do you use to avoid string pinch? 

I love the natural bowstring and the natural back camo, too.

I have no idea haha. I kinda just snap shoot. I just let it happen and pretend I am just throwing it like a ball. I also have a pretty short full draw. My full draw is 24" so that 4" loss is definitely something but I can totally shoot fine. I can do a full draw with that bow i just dont like to because it stacks so much and doesn't really make it shoot faster. At 24" draw the bow is like 60lbs which i dont really like shooting that heavy of a draw weight. But its a very reliable little how and I have no doubt it would take deer down even with stone points. Oh yeah the arrow shafts the I use are also made out of Willow. Willow actually works pretty darn good for the bows that I make. They shoot like a laser from it. Also thank you to you and Pappy! I really enjoy that little bow. Its super durable haha I couldn't break it if I tried.

I took 4 cedar shafts cut to 24 inches with barrel tapers that were 220 to 230 grs. Tried to get the taper as close as I could to even from the middle. Took a long time to make the arrows.Bone tips, and small fletching. I took a  35lb sinew backed Osage bow 50 inches long to test the arrows. Not knowing what I was doing I shot the first arrow bow combo at my target bag at 10 yds. The arrow hit the bag side ways, and broke. It showed really weak. I cut the same length type of arrow to 21 inches from both ends , and tried again with the same results. I quit right there. I have 2 arrows left. and would sure like to shoot them for distance. To you flight shooters how do I do that?

Nice looking staves. Never used either wood, but very interested in seeing what you do with them.

Here is a few pictures of some of mine. Some without final smoke because i wanted the white color, some with smoke, I smoke most because I plane on clothing and such and will be used outside. The smoke makes them easy to soften if they do get wet. Some scrolls of rawhide ready to tan when I get around to it, usually do 12 or 15 a year  to use for tanning/other projects and trade or give away. First one in the rack for this year, got one more I will probably rack up this weekend, I dry scrape all mine. You are right about waste, I can get all I want most years but limit it to ones I can skin myself, most people make a mess out of skinning so rather do it for them if I am to get the hide.
 Pappy

Thanks guys!
The nock inserts are little plates from cowhorn. First mske the slots with a flat file, then match thickness of the horn. A little lip on the horn towards the back of the bow covers the glueline.