Bowmanship Thread

[ForgeCorvus]

Cut-off or modified trousers are a big no-no mate.........Let me do some digging and I'll see if I can find you a simple pattern

Crecy Archer, nice choice

[Winston Smith]

I'm just excited because now LEGO has a compound bow for mini figures.

Or hawk eye in avengers

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[KnightoftheRoc]

...

I suggest you get a pair of thick woolen tights for your hose, rather than try and modify modern trousers. Though skinny jeans could do in a pinch. Also, shoes are a nice touch. Leather plimsoles or such like, if you can get them.

Velour, or stretch velour, works, and is generally accepted at American ren-faires. Wool is not only bloody uncomfortable for US summers (Faire season here), but also pretty tough to get hold of. The merino wool tights sold online are not historically accurate, or so I'm told, but aside from being machine made, I honestly have no idea what the difference would be.

A cheap, and acceptable substitute would be a set of lycra lights like dancers wear- I've used them, and never had the "period police" stop to point at them disdainfully.

ETA: Avoid black tights. Black is reserved for the knighthood- blue is for nobles, and purple for the royalty. some faires can be really picky about this stuff.

[Shiloh]

Cut-off or modified trousers are a big no-no mate.........Let me do some digging and I'll see if I can find you a simple pattern

Crecy Archer, nice choice

Thanks, I appreciate it. If all else fails I've seen some good deals online for some really simple natural-colored cotton pants that would probably fit the bill.

It's sort of strange, though. I've found I'm more interested in Crecy than Agincourt, even though Agincourt seems to be the more prevelant conflict. It seems to me like one of those situations where at the end of it all, some English longbowman just looked around at the thousands of French dead, fields littered with dead horses and noblemen, and went, "The f**k just happened?"

[KnightoftheRoc]

Thanks, I appreciate it. If all else fails I've seen some good deals online for some really simple natural-colored cotton pants that would probably fit the bill.

It's sort of strange, though. I've found I'm more interested in Crecy than Agincourt, even though Agincourt seems to be the more prevelant conflict. It seems to me like one of those situations where at the end of it all, some English longbowman just looked around at the thousands of French dead, fields littered with dead horses and noblemen, and went, "The f**k just happened?"

You'd be amazed at how often that IS the reaction after a battle. During it, those fighting are "living in the moment", and have other things on their minds besides introspection or philosophy- that stuff comes later. It's probably more prevalent in cases where a small group holds out against a much larger force, which would be understandable.

Since we touched on the Avengers movie earlier, Hawkeye in particular, I don't feel it's any kind of spoiler to mention the hi-tech bow and quiver he uses. While it's pretty cool, (and yes, I want one, lol) I don't see it being very useful in the real world- anyone who's seen it care to offer opinions? I think it may push a few fence sitters into archery, which is good, but how many of them will be looking to buy a rig like that? How do you explain all the fail points to a novice?

[Winston Smith]

Anyone in the CT area who's interested, there's a FREE bowhunters safety course in Torrington 5/9. Doesn't get much better than that! PM me for info


Misspellings courtesy of iPhone, so sue me. Go ahead, take away my birthday!

[Red_Snow]

Ad'lan, appreciate the vid, helped me get some things figured out. Elbow doesn't hurt anymore. Here is a pic of my shitty form shooting with my work FR's still on:



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[Ad'lan]

Ad'lan, appreciate the vid, helped me get some things figured out. Elbow doesn't hurt anymore. Here is a pic of my shitty form shooting with my work FR's still on:

Is that the new form or the old form that hurt?

[Red_Snow]

New. Like I said, shitty.

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[Winston Smith]

Ad'lan, appreciate the vid, helped me get some things figured out. Elbow doesn't hurt anymore. Here is a pic of my shitty form shooting with my work FR's still on:



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I'm just getting started and am no expert, but it looks like your nock is too high, you should be shooting about level for short shots. Just letting the draw weight down a little bit can get you from miserable to comfortable.

[Red_Snow]

Target in that picture is below waist level, almost knee level. If you draw a line from the arrow it would be damn near straight to the target.

Just finished shooting, muscles gave out before the elbow did, so definitely on the right road to correcting how I shoot.

[ForgeCorvus]

Ah, you didn't say you weren't using your fingers.

Draw-force line seems straight, so your form can't be to bad.....Now anyway

[ForgeCorvus]

Just thought I'd share
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

[Shiloh]

Quick question: I've noticed lately that there seems to be quite a bit of string/finger pinch with my red oak longbow. Is this my technique, or a fault of the bow's? I shoot split finger, with my index on top of the arrow and middle+ring finger on the bottom. Most of the pinch seems to be focused on my ring finger.

[Ad'lan]

Quick question: I've noticed lately that there seems to be quite a bit of string/finger pinch with my red oak longbow. Is this my technique, or a fault of the bow's? I shoot split finger, with my index on top of the arrow and middle+ring finger on the bottom. Most of the pinch seems to be focused on my ring finger.

Is this a new problem? Have you changed anything else? Are you shooting for longer amounts of time? Longer arrows? Changed your knock point or anything like that? Does the bow seem to have changed in any way? New string or change in feel of the bow?

And have you changed technique?

My best guess is maybe you are shooting more or less, and so your fingers arn't quite upto it as much as they used to be, and so you are feeling it more.

Do you shoot with a glove or tab? Have you considered a spacer?

[Shiloh]

The only major changes I've made are a new string (16 strand vs the old 14 strand) and slightly longer arrows, which are just about 28 inches from nock to back of the point. And I did start shooting with a glove, which seemed to help a little bit.

[Ad'lan]

That slight change in thickness of string and draw length, might be enough to mean you are using your fingers in slightly different ways, but that should quickly change back to feeling normal.

See if it goes away soon. If it's a bother, maybe try a Glove or Tab with a Spacer?

[Shiloh]

Thanks very much! I'll just shoot a bit more and see if it changes. I've got to get ready for whitetail season this October, after all.

[Shiloh]

Update: You were right on the money Ad'lan. I spent a good hour shooting today and the string pinch dissapated to almost nothing in just a few minutes. But now I've got a new problem. My arrows are consistently hitting high and right, probably a good 10 inches of each at approximately 20 yards. I don't think it's spine weight, because I shot a bow with the same poundage as mine (40#) and using 45-50 spine arrows, and that one was shooting dead-on. I'm in a standard archer's T stance, but I still don't know how good the rest of my form is. What should I look at in my technique to try and fix this?

[Ad'lan]

Update: You were right on the money Ad'lan. I spent a good hour shooting today and the string pinch dissapated to almost nothing in just a few minutes. But now I've got a new problem. My arrows are consistently hitting high and right, probably a good 10 inches of each at approximately 20 yards. I don't think it's spine weight, because I shot a bow with the same poundage as mine (40#) and using 45-50 spine arrows, and that one was shooting dead-on. I'm in a standard archer's T stance, but I still don't know how good the rest of my form is. What should I look at in my technique to try and fix this?

Arrow spine isn't fixed for each arrow, the Arrows length and weight distribution can also affect the spine. From the sound of it, I'd say your slightly longer draw weight is making your arrows slightly underspined, what weight head are you using on them?

When you say hitting high? are the arrows entering the target at an angle? So that when they stop they aren't straight but slanted against the target face? That might require moving your nock point a little.

http://www.bowhunting.net/artman/publish/Zan_Christensen/Tuning_Your_Bow.shtml is a really good guide to fine tuning a traditional bow.

When it comes to improving your technique, see if you can get us some photo's or videos if you want everyone in the thread to correct your stance. I'd say be sure you are keeping your positions consistent, but if you are getting precise inaccuracy, this doesn't seem to be the issue.

[Shiloh]

Thanks very much Ad'lan. I'm using 145 grain field points, so they're on the heavier end of the scale. And by hitting high I just mean my impact point is always high and right, the arrows are actually hitting at a good angle, it's just their location on the target.

I'll try and get some video soon, now that school's out. Thanks again for all the help!

[Ad'lan]

Try a 125gr field point on the arrow, that might do the trick.

Or if it's a wood arrow, an extra few coats of varnish or oil on the wood would stiffen it up.

[Shiloh]

Try a 125gr field point on the arrow, that might do the trick.

Or if it's a wood arrow, an extra few coats of varnish or oil on the wood would stiffen it up.

That might help. As of now I only have a coat of sealant on the shaft, so I'll try some oil or stain on the next one.

[Ad'lan]

Try a 125gr field point on the arrow, that might do the trick.

Or if it's a wood arrow, an extra few coats of varnish or oil on the wood would stiffen it up.

That might help. As of now I only have a coat of sealant on the shaft, so I'll try some oil or stain on the next one.

What kind of sealent is it? You could add some more coats over that, see if it does the trick.