Small game with a short bow...

[Elleth]

Anyone done it?

That is, gone after rabbit to ground hog sized critters with one of those three-foot or so bows, like some of the plains Indians (or a certain Dúnadan) carried?

If so - how heavy should they be, and assuming middling competence, what's an effective range?
Any ideas on who makes such little not-particularly-warrish bows, and what the best ways of practicing with the things are?
Do you use a western style release, or the whole "chest anchor/pinch style" release I've seen some native archery guys mention?



Thank you.

[Eledhwen]

First, check your local hunting laws.

Massachusetts requires an absolute minimum draw weight of 40# for small game and it requires separate license. Big game requires a minimum 45# draw with 50# being preferable.

Once you have that out of the way it comes down to practice. Smaller bow means a shorter draw..if you are used to drawing 28 - 32 inches...a lot of those really small bows draw about 20. Small bow is easier to handle in dense brush.

You will also have to keep an eye on arrow weight via shaft thickness, size of flights, and grains of the blunts or broadheads you are using.

I have not used one of those small bows myself; but I have friends who have done.

Best of luck with it!

Elledhwen

[Greg]

My current bow is a 48"-er pulling sixty, but I'm 99% positive that a setup like that is impossible without fiberglass, which mine has. Especially with recurved limbs. That much stress on that short a piece of wood is overkill on the material itself, and bows of that length without the reinforcement of fiberglass tend to explode before they're finished. The bow I'm working on is Bamboo-backed Ipe, hoping for 55-60#, and I'm already pushing my luck by trying to get it down to 54" tip-to-tip. I'll be a very lucky ranger if it holds up.

Getting a super-short bow (ie. the one Aragorn carries in the movie trilogy) to a respectable hunting or combat weight is no easy feat. For small game I'd call it doable, but not easy. Especially, as Siani mentioned, to do legally. Most states require weights from 40-45# for legal hunting bows. It might be possible to get a 36"-er to shoot 40#, but I wouldn't count on the bow lasting a lifetime, nor would I count on it being a smooth shooter. It'll probably stack like nobody's business, and take a set like crazy. After awhile, stringing the bow might be a simple matter of looping a string loosely over both ends due to it taking the shape of itself when strung. Could be a fun experiment, but it's a risky (and dangerous) one. An exploding bow has an uncanny ability to aim splinters for the eyes; be careful.

[Elleth]

Wow... that heavy for bun-bun? Hunh, okay.

Time to go talk with the wildlife people I guess.

http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20061101.html


Poo widdle wabbit.

[Mirimaran]

Wow... that heavy for bun-bun? Hunh, okay.

Time to go talk with the wildlife people I guess.

http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20061101.html


Poo widdle wabbit.

It has been my experience that if you carry an extra knife, you can plant it on the rabbit and claim self-defense

Having said that, I have a 48 inch bow that draws maybe 30lbs, just for target practice and carrying to Faire. I agree with Greg, you aren't going to find anything safe to be as small as Strider's bow (maybe 36 inches) and have a full draw. Maybe a steel bow?

[Greg]

Either Rudderbows or Bowstick (I always confuse them...I almost get the feeling it's the same group of folks with how similar their sites and products are...anyway) used to have a 36" "Ranger" version of their Gondorian bow, in the same black/dark brown stain/dye with the gold trees and stars painted on it. It had either a 26" or 24" draw (I'm thinking 24"...26 would be pushoing it.) You might look and see if they still make 'em.

[Elleth]

Thank you all!


Mirimaran - nice! I'll remember that! "I swear ossifer, it was dark - I thought he was a vorpal bunny!!"

Greg - I went looking for the "ranger" one at one point, but they'd been hacked and had malcode on their servers at the time. Bother.

Lastly, I know it is wondering from the "Ranger" thing (sorry 'bout that.. maybe pretend it's from an Easterling? )... but have any of you used the sinew-backed, horn-bellied horsebows? Not the highly recurved Steppe ones, but the more sedately curved (one might say primitive) Lakota/Cheyenne type bows? How do they compare to use, if so?

I can get up to 50-ish on a full size modern fiberglass recurve, but I won't pretend it's easy or 'hours of fun.'

[mcapanelli]

The bow I'm working on is Bamboo-backed Ipe, hoping for 55-60#, and I'm already pushing my luck by trying to get it down to 54" tip-to-tip. I'll be a very lucky ranger if it holds up.

Nice! Where you'd get the materials? I'm shooting an Bamboo backed Ipe flatbow from rudderbows myself right now. It's a wonderful shooting bow and pretty to boot. You should post pics, or a "how to" perhaps.

[mcapanelli]

Either Rudderbows or Bowstick (I always confuse them...I almost get the feeling it's the same group of folks with how similar their sites and products are...anyway) used to have a 36" "Ranger" version of their Gondorian bow, in the same black/dark brown stain/dye with the gold trees and stars painted on it. It had either a 26" or 24" draw (I'm thinking 24"...26 would be pushoing it.) You might look and see if they still make 'em.

I'm pretty sure it was rudderbows because his ranger bow, along with Andy's recommendation, are what drew me to Jim's site. So while I couldn't tell you if bowsticks makes one Jim for sure did at one point. I'm sure if someone wanted one he'd be willing to accommodate.

[Greg]

The bow I'm working on is Bamboo-backed Ipe, hoping for 55-60#, and I'm already pushing my luck by trying to get it down to 54" tip-to-tip. I'll be a very lucky ranger if it holds up.

Nice! Where you'd get the materials? I'm shooting an Bamboo backed Ipe flatbow from rudderbows myself right now. It's a wonderful shooting bow and pretty to boot. You should post pics, or a "how to" perhaps.

There's a gentleman on ebay that sells pre-cut, non-glued blanks for Boo-Backed-Ipe bows with a variety of different version suing different common hardwoods for the riser and tip overlays. I just go with the ones that come with Ipe for the riser and overlays so I can blend the handle into the limbs. I don't like blending different exotic woods on the same piece...just looks...out of place to me. My own current fiberglass bow seen in all my rangering pics on my quiver has a zebrawood/paduak handle, and the brown/black+orange/red just look awkward to me. There's something to be said for wood blending in nice fancy recurve risers and such, but it's not for me in a bush bow.

Those kits I was talking about? Ebay search "Bamboo Backed Ipe Bow" and you'll find 'em. They run about $40 a kit, and don't come with glue, which is a bit of a markup from the materials themselves before being cut for bows, but the guy has to make some money, and it saves me a HUGE amount of time, so the tradeoff's worth it for me.

And yes, I've been talking pictures. I'll be doing a full-length buildalong here on MERF.