Off the knucle?

[John Malone]

Hello Guys, been hanging out over on the bowyers bench. I have made my first self bow in the eastern woodland style. It seems to be a great shooter. My issue is its my first bend in the handle bow and its 1 1/4 wide by 3/4 thick. Totally different than a big ole glass recurve. If I take 12 arrows I get tuned in after three or so but once I put it down then pick it back up I have to start over. So I need some consistency. I don't want a floppy rest or anything this bow is just fun. I'm going to make a proper glove for my bow hand. I'm looking for links or info on shooting this style bow mostly grip. A high wrist grip seems to work best with the bow just in the web of my hand. Any one have any pointers on this style of shooting. Also Native Americans often shot while holding arrows with their bow hand while shooting.

Thanks guys.

[McDave]

Paul Comstock has two books out on the subject:  The Bent Stick, and Hit the Mark!, which are both about self bows.  Both seem to be available at 3 Rivers.

[John Malone]

Thanks McDave, I will check those out.

[reddogge]

Here's how old Ben Pearson handled the problem in the 40s, an arrow locator on the bow. Very easy to put the arrow on the string and grip the bow so the arrow rests against it.

 

[reddogge]

test

 

[YosemiteSam]

Just because some Native Americans didn't use a floppy rest doesn't mean that it isn't useful or superior in some ways for what you are using it for.  It could just be that by the time us Euro-Americans started paying attention, rate of fire on horseback was more important than pinpoint accuracy from the ground.  This, after all, is the main reason to hold multiple arrows in the hand -- combat, not hunting (unless you're charging bison from horseback).  It's hard to tease these things out -- especially being so far away from the bow's practical use.

Here's my thought, which you can take or leave.
 If firearms are the more recent progression of projectile weapons (starting with rocks, javelins, atlatls, etc.), then it makes sense that bows would be used in as diverse ways as firearms are used today.  A Glock is different than a 300 Win Mag but both have their purpose.  Just because you don't usually find a scope on a Glock doesn't mean that it isn't a useful addition if you want a single, well-placed shot from your G20.  Shooting arrows off your knuckle is cool but its usefulness really shines in rapid-fire archery or even wing shooting.  Less so with precision archery.  A floppy rest is a small change that can make a big difference in consistency -- at least for me.  But maybe that's just me.  I'm no expert with the bow so maybe I just need that little bit of help.

You may want to take a look at some different styles of archery from the east.  Granted, they're often shooting off the other side of the bow so they can rest the arrow on their thumbs or index finger (bow hand).  But there's still a lot to learn there.  Much of that is still combat archery.  But there's a good, rich tradition of target archery among traditional archers in Korea, Mongolia, China, Turkey, Hungary, etc.  Even in combat, a bow was used in many different ways (horseback, marksman, volley, etc.).  So much to learn, so little time.

[Sam McMichael]

My ELB shoots off the knuckle and has an arrow locator. As long as I grip the bow so that the arrow lines up with this indicator, it is not really different from a bow with a shelf. No big deal, except that I do have to specifically look at this alignment. But, once the shot sequence begins, it is not different from my ASL's.