Hunting with selfbow

[Red Tailed Hawk]

Anybody hunting with all wood (no glass) selfbow. I made one out of oak, it's a longbow 72" 50# @ 28". Although it is reasonably fast it doesnt seem to have the cast of a glass bow. Tried various arrow weights but still lose considerable amount of cast compared to my other glass bows.

[pappy]

That all I have hunted with for years,around 50@26 and about 625/650 grain arrow,10 to 20 yards is about my range and it dose fine for that,and very very quite to boot.
   Pappy

[Red Tailed Hawk]

Pappy I do agree that this bow is a whisper when you shoot it. I do think it will be effective out to 20 yards, But after that it seems to drop out so fast that it will be hard to compensate.

[Pat B]

Selfbows are all I have hunted with for years too. I shoot 600 to 700 gr arrows from a 55#@26" bow and don't have a problem with the speed or cast. .
  If you put as much time and engineering into your selfbow as the glass bowyers put into their glass bows you can achiece the same results as they have.

[Bjorn]

That's what I have found as well............my selfbows are amazingly quiet, some of my glass bows are a tad faster-and some slower.

[Spectre]

Oak isn't the fastest wood for sure, my hickory selfbow is pretty darn fast. Is yours a flatbow or a "D" shape?

[Jack Skinner]

Selbows for years as well. I lost about 5 maybe 10 yds on what I think is a reasonable shot when I went to selbows over fiberglass. But if you are using the same weight arrows for selbow as fiberglass they are close in cast if made and tillered well, all other things being equal. I have made some dogs in my time, but shooting 60lb@27 with 650-700gr arrows I will pass tru antelope and deer. Now at the local club and at shoots I notice my arrows drop a lot faster than fiberglass bows and carbon arrows but most of those guys are shooting really lite weight arrows for speed and cast. I shoot the same thing no matter what target or hunt.

[Pat B]

Red Tail, If you learn the trajectory of your arrows and can place them in the kill zone your oak bow has plenty of umph to do the job.

[Red Tailed Hawk]

Spectre my bow is a flatbow.

[Living_waters]

If some of the chrono speeds posted on here are correct, I am shooting a 62lb oak pyramid style bow this season that will come real close to shooting just as fast.
Oak has got a bad rap, but for a self bow I prefer a white oak bow to any I have found so far. I have made a couple of red oak flat bows and they do seem slower than my pyramid style bows, But perfectly capable of taking a deer.

[smoke]

I'm hunting with several different selfbows this year.  They are not as fast as my glass bows of similar weight but they aren't far off - maybe 10 to 15 fps slower.  I love the darned things and will make a couple of more this winter.

[seabass]

i shoot three selfbows.one osage rawhide backed 50@26,62" osage 59@28 and a winged elm 63" [email protected] shoot pretty fast.the fun part is making and expirmenting with different arrows.try to have fun with it,steve

[todd smith]

I'm hunting with an English style self bow with horn nocks most of the time.  I have some laminated bows too, but would like to take a deer with the ELB this season.

   

 

[getstonedprimitivebowhunt]

First...why compare them.Selfbow and glassbow are two different breeds. I love them both...But...with ether take them to there fullest. Figure what they can do and stick to it. I like a selfbow's feel better. I like to shoot off hand. Not many glass bows that you can shoot off hand. Just have fun with what you pick !!!

[seabass]

i'm with you Jeff.they are just two different animals.i love them both,steve

[Flatstick]

Know your personal "effective"range and learn all you can about the game your after. What you have in your hand won't really matter. Selfbows have been providing meat & antler for a long,,long,,looooooonnng time.  

[Osagetree]

They are two different animals, as said before. But, the all wood selfbow animal has been hunting much, much longer than any glass bow has. So, I would say the all wood bow has taken more game than glass bows over the last 2000 years!


It's been an effective hunter for me more than once,,, I'd rather use the selfbow because of the primitive aspect is appealing to me.

 

I can make a selfbow for no money and some hard work with a hand saw & drawknife. Can't do that with glass!
It's your choice I guess?

[Pat B]

Still waiting for a hero shot with "Flip Flop" Joe!  d;^)

[Stiks-n-Strings]

Well after spending countless hours on the Bowyers bench and searching every thread that I could find here along with many other resources and a ton of help from The Gang I have managed to finish my primitive setup for the upcoming bow season.

 Osage character bow pulling 47# at 28" that I finished about a month ago.

 Tonkin cane shafts with turkey feather and goose feather fletching from birds that I took. Stone heads made by one of our own, Bill Skinner And A nice simple plains style quiver made by me from deer skin.

   

   

   

   

 Wish me luck guys it should be a journey in it's self.

 I will also be hunting with my Striker slapstick but I really hope to get a chance at the big boy I seen last year and have seen this year as well with this rig.

 I have added a floppy one arra quiver and some copperheads to this bow since I last posted these in a thread but here's my setup and she shoot's fast enough and hit's hard.
 
 Can't wait to make some meat with Ol' "One Eye"

 Stiks

[Jack Skinner]

sticks-n-strings
Very sweet looking set up good luck wish we could hunt with stone heads here in WY.