Trad Gang

just woundering how many of you shoot self bows and whats the attraction for you to shoot them what kind of arrows do you use wanting to take this path any info much appreciated thanks schnitz

I shoot self bows because thats what I make. I like the idea of reverse technology. My arrows are made from sourwood, dogwood, salt cedar and other hardwood shoots or a few different cane species.  Pat

I shoot selfbows with cane/boo, hand planed wood, or shoot arrows. Lots of good info here from some seasoned veterans. Well seasoned veterans! I mean there's some guys on here that were around before wood was invented.  ;)  jk

If you wanna get started in selfbows then you could check out the TBB (traditional bowyers bible) series, "Hunting The Osage Bow" by Dean Torges, "The Bent Stick" by Paul Comstock, or etc...

Or maybe there is someone close to you that could help you get started. Anyway if you do "take this path" you're in for the time of your life!

Salt cedar.   :thumbsup:   I used to be able to go down to the Pease river and cut more than I could carry, along with river cane.

I shoot everything from compounds to selfbows,,,, I'll always shoot selfbows because I consider them to be the purest form of traditional archery I can find,,its the biggest/toughest challenge and has the biggest rewards mentally.

I'll admit I don't currently make them because I have nowhere to do it (condo)  but I have made 5 that have all broke (whitewoods)  but I trade for and buy alot of selfbows mostly osage from many people. my Joe Mattingly selfbows are my prized possesions when it comes to my archery..
I shoot all kinds of woods arrows with australian silver woods and cedar being my favorites tipped with  STOS & Zwickey 90% of the time.

Let's see....... do I want to spent up to $1200 on a custom bow or a buck-fifty(string, rest, glue, finish, etc) and a little time for a great shooting, simple, easily replaceable, very effective bow. Yep, I shoot selfbows.

:archer:

I hunt with my selfbows about 90% of the time, and glass bows the other 10%.

Walt Francis

I make them and I hunt with them.  :bigsmyl:

I hunt with my glass longbow, but I also have a selfbow, and plan on making a better one soon to hunt with.

I hunt with wood bows. My arrows are usually river or switch cane but i have hunted with shoot shafts as well, I use hand stripped turkey feathers, real sinew and either trade points I make myself or flint heads I get in trades with others.

There is a certain pride in hunting with a bow and arrows you've made yourself BTW this applies whether they are wood or fiberglass, and rivercane or poc's. Your personal involvement in their construction makes them more meaningful (rather than just writing a check)

The challenge of both construction and hunting with them and their utter simplicity appeals to me.

I shoot self bows that I make myself.  I make them mostly from white woods as they're easiest to find in my area.  I've worked on a couple osage staves when they came into my hands, but wouldn't pay money for one.  

I generally buy cedar shafts and tip them with either a two-bladed broad head, trade point or a stone point.  My arrows are always fletched with hand-shaped wild turkey or wild goose feathers.  

I choose self bows because I like working with my hands and developing my artistic and creative skill.  By making my own bows I get to experiment, learn what works best for me, and occasionally make money when I'm called on to sell a bow.  And it's fun!  You learn a lot about yourself while splitting and drawing down a log!

All the best,

-ELG

I started making red oak selfbows this year the first one was for my son,I,ll be trying diffrent woods soon.

A selfbow is an undiluted statement of simplicity and function. Although the skill to make a fine selfbow may be a complex and an evolutionary process, the end result is a bow as close to primordial and pristine as can be imagined. Just carrying one through the woods brings me that much closer to the natural rhythms of the Earth.

Another meaningful factor for me is the relationships that I have formed with the bowyers/friends who have made my bows. Carrying a bow that was made by a friend and masterful bowyer is talismanic, and brings additional depth and meaning to a bow.

Friendship and traditional archery just go together, and carrying a fine back quiver filled with cedar arrows and a great selfbow all made by my friends is powerful.

I've killed deer with glass bows and flint heads and I've killed deer with self bows and steel heads.  This year my goal is to kill a deer with self bow and a knapped head.  Marty Horn "Billet Head" supplied the heads and I just finished a couple new osage bows.  About another month till deer season.  The flint heads are mounted on river cane shafts.

I hunt with a self made wooden bow.  I plan to make some cane arrows and some trad points this winter.  I likr selfbows for it's purity.   keith

Self bows will ruin your life!!! Some guys I know, that's all they do, eat sleep and play with selfbows, they are just sick I tell ya.  

I shoot selfbows but not very well. Does that count? I have a hickory bow I made years ago that is way over my limit and have a beautiful hackberry bow that Jason Baker built for me but I still stuggle to shoot or find the right shafts for. it is part of the continue challenge I put before myself in archery.

I guess that I am one of those "sicko's" Dano just mentioned. I will try to make a bow out of just about any wood. Been shooting self arrows, but just started in with rivercane and knapping points. There is just no end to all the natural materials out there to try out...Terry

If  I could verbally explain the feeling it gives me when I successfully complete a useful selfbow & set of cane arrows, I would do so. But I guess I just don't have the kind of written talent to explain "why I hunt with a selfbow".

       Please don't take this to be "boastful" or "ego building" but this picture of a selfbow, cane arrow with trade point, and a successful harvest all completed by one set of hands says more then words could. The only thing missing in this explanation is the big smile on the other side of the camera.  

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/Flatstick/Deer%20Season%202004/Dandy8pt6-04.jpg)

I started shooting a selfbow early last year that was built by a friend . Ended up killing a couple small deer with it and plan on hunting with it this year. I am trying to build one my own self, but have not had very good success yet but it's fun and I think I will get it done (maybe not for this year but next)I use cedar arrows that I build tipped with Eclipse or Zwickey Eskimo.   :D    :D    :D

I like a stick and string better than an artificial stick and string. I make my bows from ash, black locust or osage and I make my arrows from white spruce. I cut the trees too, except the osage, which doesn't grow in Maine.

Flatstick, that is just pure poetry. Beautiful.

One of my good friends is a seasoned pro when it comes to selfbows,I test shoot everyone of his creations right & left. I can tell you there is somthing special about them. I am in the learning process now, and hope someday to hunt with a bow of my own making. Mike

I have just begun in selfbows, I have built 2 and plan on hunting this year with another I'm working on now!!!

Flatstick, that is awesome!  Do you feel like you have reached your "peak"?
Dan

thanks guys for all the in put i shot my brothers quillian wood self bow today very sweet just something diiferent about an all wood bow im hopefully getting one later in the week from a fellow trad member then ill have to make some of them trade point and a new set of arrows and flat stick thats some pic thats the way it supose to be done nice job

OconeeDan,,Nope no where near the peak yet! There's alot more different bow designs and types of arrows to build and I Know there are bigger bucks roaming around too! Been building bows for alot of years now, but still feel like the adventure has just begun  :)  .

I Hope To Experience the Self-Bow and ALL of the Cool Things it brings, Very Soon!!   :readit:    :banghead:    :archer:

Well said Flatsick!
I would use one if I had one, If I was smart enough to make one I would. A homemade selfbow and cane arrow, that would be the ultimate hunting rig!

Eric

I hunt almost exclusively with my selfbows...but you know I dabble in glass bows too!   But make no mistake, a selfbow has a soul that glass bows lack, and I love to carry that into the woods with me.   I've been building them and hunting with them 15 years or so and every year is a new challenge, every bow a new surprise.   That's keeping it fresh, boys and girls, the secret to enjoying the trad challenge is always having new ones...

I will only shoot wood, cane, hand-planed shafts or shoots from my selfbows.   Gotta match the best with the best.

I'm hoping to use my selfbow ( board bow, self made )red oak going by Ferret's website...

I saw some really nice ones at the Whittingham Archery shoot (Aug 18 & 19, 2007) Wish I had the money to get one of them.

man i always wanted to shoot a well made selfbow!!! hunting with one will almost be a dream  for me!!

Another selfbow fanatic here.  I make them mostly from osage.  I only shoot wooden arrows.  I love to try different shafting, but I've been hooked on ash for many years.  I just get alot of enjoyment and satisfaction out of making using my own stuff.  Here's some of what's currently in my arsenal...   :archer:  

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/AKinPA/Armory008b.jpg)

Arsenal is right!!!!!!!

Nice looking bows

I love the Simplicity, Beauty and each one has its own Characteristics. I have a couple glass bows also but my first love is these. Whether they are made by yourself or a friend there is that special feeling when holding or hunting with them. The far right one is "Hopeful" cause I really didn't think she would make it but she did. I just made up my first cane arrows just for her. There not beauties either but I hope one of them finds the mark in October. Other than the comments above and a million others, I have no idea why someone would want to shoot or build one. I totally agree with what Dano said.
(http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q271/bowmac_photos/SelfbowsCanearrows8-20-07002.jpg)

Good gawd Adam, you are a man after my own heart.

Now scuse me while I clean the drool from the keyboard   :goldtooth:

Adam,, I would like a close up of the one with the big hole in the limb.

man adam them are some nice bows

My wife thinks I have alot of bows,I think I will show her the picture of Adams.Nice collection there.  :)  
Oh yeah,I almost forgot I hunt with self bows too.

Tracy

That is most definitely an awesome collection you got there Adam!    :notworthy:  

KS Trapper, you might be on to somethin. I'll have to remember that pic when my wife (whom I love dearly) complains about the time I spend on bowz-n-arrers.    :D

I shoot a Lemonwood Selfbow and I love it to death...I'm looking for more,(addiction..lol..) but the first one being this one is in  a special place in my heart. i guess that means it's time to let someone else enjoy her now though...once it's in your heart, it'll always be there anyway!
I've always believed that if I have something, I have to give it up in the end, because I've already had it, so may as well let someone else have it..I don't know..I'm weird that way..

Ogopogoman, that's not weird.There's a lot to be gained by from giving(which I believe you already know).   :thumbsup:

I'm one of them guys Dano,I eat sleep and shoot selfbows,Thats all I make so thats all I shoot.
  Pappy

I shoot and hunt with my own selfbows. Ash shafts are my favorite. I am learning to turn my own dowels and what not. All I have left is learning gut strings and trade points (stone is illegal in WY). Then all will be built by my own hands.

I have one and shoot it for fun, and will be using it for bunnys.

Me- I do. Selfbows and self arwos are all I shoot. Jawge

I've started hunting with a selfbow this year. It's an osage 60#@26, rivercane arrows, southeastern 2 fletch, stone points. Going to break it in on pigs, and see if we can't get a shot at a deer as well. There is a connection when you make all your own equipment. It makes you appreciate the outdoors a lot more.
Ken

I'm shooting them - and trying my best to get better with them. Better enough to try them on a deer some time this season.

I also make and shoot selfbows.

kstrapper - we e-mailed off the Kansas website.  I am set for October wunth with a couple of osage bows.  One for me and a back-up.  Where and when are you hunting this year.  I'd love to see a pic of your self-bow(s).  Mine are ugly but they fling an arrow.