H H Longbow

[Bish Wheeler]

Good day to all.  I just found and joined the "gang".  Looks like a good place to visit.  I live on my boat in the Harbor at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in WA state. Lots of places to shoot around here and there is an active club with a very nice 36 target walking range. I seem to be the only one with trad equipment so getting answers can be met with lot's of "I dunno's".

I shoot my old 55# Bear Grizzly which I have had since 1967 and it is as smooth as cream cheeze and very quick. but I have always had an interest in getting a long bow. Since I can thank Howard Hill for my interest in archery way back when,  I ordered a "Big Five" 70" 55# Long Bow from the company.

I have had it now for a while and while it is fun to shoot, it is not very comfortable to shoot.  By that I mean it liereraly bruises my bow hand after about 50 pulls.  It seems I can shoot the Bear recurve until I can't pull it any more and come away with my bow hand in tack. The long bow is quite jarring at release. So I guess I'm asking if there is a technique that I don't know about that will gentle this thing out, or is that the price you pay to be medieval?

Looking forward to meeting and chatting with you

Bish

[Butkus]

Hi Bish,
1. Make sure you have some heel into your grip. Do not shoot it like a recurve.
2. Try some heavier shafts to absorb the shock. Our Hills do not have as much riser mass as most of these recurves and hybrids.

[zetabow]

As Butkus said and make sure you have a firm grip (but dont strangle it) and balanced 50/50 push/pull at anchor, when you have a good balance like this the bow tends not to kick so much and hurt your hand.

Good luck.