Iodo wrote: ↑Fri Mar 18, 2022 7:43 am
Not wishing to argue or anything, but I think quite a lot of the members on this forum have carried a bow for a few more than just several hours in the wilderness, there is absolutely something to be said for not having large items on your back when trekking through forests
Yes. and yes. One can swap the bow from hand to hand as needed, can rest it on one's foot on a stop, can brace it with nocked arrow across one's body in tension (hard to explain, easy to figure out*), can even (with a short and deep enough bow) hang it over one's shoulder for a short time. But hanging a longbow from a nail like that would be a nightmare in the woods - it looks much more the brainchild of a video game inventory system than actual forest time.
edit/update: I can't speak for proper warbows, but my own ~45-50 pound
yew woods-bow is so light it can rest on my open fingertips. I have literally forgotten it's in my hands, and I'm not the picture of fitness.
In our own history, selfbows will eventually take a set, and generally it seems when one is not expecting to use them medieval bows were carried unstrung**. And if one
was expecting to use the bow - for hunting or war - it was carried in one's hand.
I've seen a number of modern illustrations and reenactors using a linen bow bag which is I
assume period-correct, but (fair warning) I can't recall ever seeing a find report or period illustration documenting them. (I've love to see the pointer if anyone has it!)
- merf-bow-bag-peel-affinity.jpg (61.05 KiB) Viewed 7907 times
(Photo from La Belle Compagnie's "The Peel Affinity")
Eurasian steppe archers had cases for strung bows, but that's outside my realm of expertise: I imagine those fall out mostly from it being a pain to string a short heavy horn bow while mounted. Hrm... though American plains horse archers had quiver/bow cases for an
unstrung bow, so maybe that's not the case. I know we've a couple horse archery fans here - anyone know for certain?
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* For a person who shoots with the bow in one's left and the string in one's right: 1. nock an arrow. 2. drop your bow hand such that the bow is across your body, the back of your left hand faces out ahead of you, and the arrow is still between the fingers of your right hand. 3. Just walk like that a while, and shift things around as your muscles tire. You'll find in time a place where the weight of the bow is partly borne on your middle section, and partly held in tension between the pull of the string and the weight of the bow. Your right hand rests against your middle. It's not something you'll hold for days, but it's surprisingly comfortable for long stretches, and you can have the bow up in an eyeblink.
** In at least the later medieval era (less relevant to our "period") there were also game laws to worry about. I've a vague memory - I think in Ohler's
The Medieval Traveller that carrying a strung bow along the road near royal woods could get one in serious trouble. But then, so could sleeping out. Merry Olde England was not exactly Eriador.
Persona: Aerlinneth, Dúnedain of Amon Lendel c. TA 3010.