How many here hunting with primative bows?

[Felix40]

I have been building and hunting with selfbows for over 20 years. Some of the Critters taken using selfbows include mule deer, whitetail deer, mountain lion, bear, bison, and moose.

Care to describe your setup and how it performed on big critters?

 

[LostArra]

I've already told this sad story to Felix but I will share with other primitive bow fans.

There is a city park (trail, fish pond, dog park) across from my office. The trees bordering the street are almost all osage. I've been in the same office for 40 years and watched these trees survive and grow from saplings as the neighborhood around them "developed".

In October we had a terrible ice storm before any trees had dropped their leaves so there were damaged limbs everywhere. Mainly oaks, It sounded like a .22 rifle being fired around my house when those big limbs would snap.

At the park they decided to clean up the damaged limbs but yesterday as I drove home I noticed they CUT DOWN all of the osage trees and reduced the straight 6-8' trunks to 12" logs. I was sick seeing those little yellow logs stacked next to the oaks and hackberry. I almost wrecked my truck and I still don't understand it. The osage were not damaged to any noticeable extent due to their infamous strength in tension. If we still had a newspaper I would be all in with a scathing letter to the editor.

 

[SliverShooter]

The bow I used for the last 15 years was Osage, 60 inches nock to nock, 58#’s @28 1/2 inches, and named Pigger. Big horn sheep tip overlays and a bison leather grip over a simil-bulbous handle.

Penetration:
Bison, thru near side rib, heart, and stuck in the off-side shoulder. 15 yards shot, 15 mph side wind, bison went 15 yards before laying down and dying. 190 grain Grizzly broadhead, hex-pine wood shaft.

Mountain Lion, 15 yards, broadside in a tree, pass through the chest, second arrow pass through high chest as he’s was bailing out of the tree. 190 grain Grizzly broadhead, hex-pine wood shaft.

Alaskan Moose, 4 yard shot thru near side rib, both lungs, and stuck in the off-side rib ( broadhead was 2/3 thru the The rib). He went 80 yards. Eclipse 155 grain broadheads and Sherwood shafts.

Whitetails & mule deer, Didn’t keep records, but it is around 50 (+/- 2 or 3) with this bow, with more complete pass throughs than not. All these deer, except one, were shot from 2-18 yards. The other deer was shot at 23 yards with a complete pass thru.

My thoughts: Being able to put the arrow in the correct spot will put more critters down than any other factor. Get a good shooting coach, I have Rod Jenkins on speed dial. It is amazing the help you can get when buy a guy a bison steak dinner.

 

[smoke]

I've been making and hunting with primitive bows for about 15 years now - great hobby. This photo is from a few years back - sinew backed hackberry bow.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

This was actually my first bow. A hickory and ipe selfbow. I killed one whitetail with it (that was a gimmie) then moved on to more “modern” bows.