Archery Instructor-Master Fletcher-Boyer-Ask Me Anything

[Eledhwen]

Hi Rhonin, and welcome.

I used to routinely draw, without effort, a 75# bow. But I was younger then and my shoulder was intact. After having it shattered, and being a year shy of 60, I am down to a 45# bow. I hunt with it every year. Began making my own bows a couple of years ago. I make my own arrows. I use boiled linseed oil and beeswax on my things and have never had a problem with them. I do not use any kind of oil on the laminate or composite bows I have. I make my own strings and beeswax them..since they are flax.

I've been shooting bows since I was 10...serious bows since I was 15. Long time. Over bowing, as it were, exacts its own penalty for those who insist on doing so. Safety is key...yes, but as has been stated, it is subjective to a lot of folk...and some folk just have to do things the hard way.

I enjoy period hunting....St. Huberts' Rangers is the outfit I most closely identify with and hunt as. I would prefer hunting with a 55# bow, but the wreckage that is my left shoulder blade does not allow that....but I can take any big game animal here in New England with a 45# bow. I get very close, and I never shoot unless I am certain...and a lot of practice in a wide variety of positions, including prone, helps.

Not everyone here is vastly experienced, but all are trying and learning. We share our knowledge and hash things out in our discussions. The Bowyers' Bible has been mentioned here many times, as have a plethora of other sources of information.

All of that said, I think you'll do well here, once you've settled in.

Be welcome at the fire.

Eledhwen

[RikJohnson]

I'v read the reports of the skeletal deformities for professional athletes who started young from female gymnists to martial artists to medieval archers and those reports scare me.
My daughter was an athlete and insisted on training and before she left high school, she had blown her kneecap and lost most of her cartelidge.
One Sifu had crippled hands at 25 for Kung-Fu and my knees are not the best from weapons-systems.

So although I HAVE drawn bows in excess of 60#, frankly, why should I? I'm never going to have to punch a hole in some guy wearing armor at 300 yards. Most of the animals people hunt can be taken with a 45# bow at close range and really, will I ever need to drop a charging rhino or elephant or crazed grizzly bear?

So I decided long ago to focus on the mid-range bows and save my body any further damage.
I take a 45# to the Range and ignore the comments of the compound-crowd.

I get to play on the range, make my gear, enjoy the sport and cos-play and still go home without chugging pain-killers.

So I traded in all of my heavier bows for a touring kayak and made a waterproof case for may 42" longbow which draws 45# and keep going and going and going.