Comanche archery 101

This site has four videos made by the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center. I found it to be very interesting and informative, since I have a love for archery and all things American Indian. The four videos on the site cover the bow, arrows, quiver, and finally, aiming and shooting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Comanche Archery 101

a reply to: Skid Mark

Cool stuff man/woman!

a reply to: Shamrock6

I'm a man and thanks for the comment. I'm glad you liked it.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Absolutely man thanks for posting. I love pretty much all things history, and stuff like this is a pretty rare treat on here. Very cool, all the more so since I can't shoot a bow to save my life lol

a reply to: Skid Mark

The American Indian's skill with his small bow and field-made arrows is vastly underplayed in about all aspects of American history. Before repeated firearms, the Indian held his own in battles with the invaders and their single-shot muzzle-loaders.

The link below is of a Danish archer and I guarantee you will not want to believe his abilities. I put this on ATS recently on a thread, but it deserves to be shown again. Couple this guy's feats with the bow with a super expertise of horsemanship by the plains Indian and you can understand why these Indians did not go quietly into the dark.

www.wimp.com...

a reply to: Skid Mark

Thanks for the link, OPer.

My journey into archery is making me ever more traditional in my hunting practices. I have found that the less gear I carry, the more profitable the hunting is. I've climbed out of the stand, gotten rid of the pulleys, the sights, the scentless clothing, and finally even the quiver. I look forward to exploring the sight in depth. (Right now I'm supposed to be in bed--I have to work in the morning!)

Thank you very much

a reply to: Aliensun
That's pretty cool. Thanks for posting it.

a reply to: tovenar

Archery is fun. I haven't hunted with my bow yet but I'm looking forward to it. I have a longbow made of hickory. All I need are arrows. The only ones I can find around here are the type with plastic fletching. I need the traditional feather kind. By the way, If you don't use a quiver, how do you carry your arrows?

a reply to: Skid Mark

1. Arrows
You can buy the components for arrows and assemble them yourself. I shoot aluminum arrows with feather fletchings I apply myself. Just like in the world of firearms, the ammo you make yourself is always superior to anything produced in a factory.

You could certainly order wooden shafts online or check the youtubes for making your own. I use aluminum because they are sturdy and hollow. Hollow matters to me because I can insert a seat for whatever point I use; a target point (rounded so it won't pass through the target!) or a razor-sharp broadhead for when I go hunting. They sell the heads at specific weights, so your hunting arrow has the exact flight characteristics (in theory) that it had in practice.

2. No Quiver
I hunt by stalking. When I am closing in on my quarry, I carry one arrow nocked on the string, and the 2nd arrow in my bow hand, holding it along a groove on the outside (and palm-of-hand side) of my bow, pointed downward. You only get two shots in my experience. The second is for if you hit the deer but it is able to escape for a short distance, and you need to make a follow-on/coup-de-grace shot.

I tried a quiver bolted to the bow; but it catches the wind, snags on grass and branches, etc. Worse, it changes the weight and wind resistance of your bow-hand after each shot. For consistency's sake, you need your bow to weigh the same and shoot the same shot after shot.

I tried hip quivers, and even made one over my back, like a knapsack for arrows. They all clinck and clank at the worst possible moment. I saw drawings done by native americans (Black Elk?) and they showed archers carrying arrows(s) in the bow hand while shooting. I tried it and it worked for me.

EDIT TO ADD:
I cannot find the artwork by Black Elk online, but the Anglo artist George Catlin shows arrows held point up along the bow in paintings like Buffalo Bull, A Grand Pawnee Warior

a reply to: Skid Mark

I like this a lot, you know that perhaps the most powerful one man portable bow ever was the English Ash and Yew long bow able to drive a bodkin arrow head through plate armor that was designed resist a sword or mace blow but perhaps the best bow ever created before the modern period was the Mongolian composite recurve bow en.wikipedia.org...

How about 11 arrows in the air at the same time.


Make's you wonder just how good those ancient archer's really were, by the time the European invaders met the native American's they had forgotten the skill's and time honoured practice of the archer but the native people still lived by the use of the bow so at that time were probably the greatest remaining archer's in the world.

I wonder how long ago Barrel shaped arrow's first appeared with fletching becoming a specialized art in itself in most settled warrior culture's.

www.coldsiberia.org...

An extract from this page on Wikipedia is enlightening.
en.wikipedia.org...
An inscription on a stone stele was found near Nerchinsk in Siberia: "While Chinggis (Genghis) Khan was holding an assembly of Mongolian dignitaries, after his conquest of Sartaul (Khwarezm), Yesüngge (the son of Chinggis Khan's brother) shot a target at 335 alds (536 m)."[citation needed]

In the historical novel "Khökh Sudar" Injinashi, the Mongolian philosopher, historian and writer, imagines the competition amongst all Mongolian men in about 1194-1195: five archers each hit the target three times from a distance of 500 bows (1 bow = at least 1 metre).[citation needed]

This is worth a read, though these long bow's were at the end of the Tudor period and among the last bow's used before gun powder totally removed them they where literally huge, though not saying it here and probably beyond the skill and strength of a human being a machine test of an exact replica was able to suggest they could fire up to a mile
www.archers-review.com...

The long bow was not the elegant object the mongol war bow was though nor as beautiful.

a reply to: tovenar

I found some here but at the moment can't afford them. I also saw a video about diy arrows on youtube. It's a bit cheaper but I never seem to have the extra money. Was the artwork you were talking about in Black Elk Speaks?

Here's the video if you're interested. He has a lot of other cool stuff on his page.

a reply to: Skid Mark

The flex but cane arrow's are a cheap but inaccurate short term solution, if you have a lathe though and a lot of patience making your own may be worth while, then there are DIY kit's like suggested here www.archers-review.com...

As you know modern competition arrow's are barrel shaped, it is extremely slight but stop's the arrow flexing under the tension of the bow and ensures a much more accurate flight from the bow but a well made arrow will likely flex only a little anyway.

If you want them for hunting or survivalist reason's though then yes Aluminium or more expensive titanium arrow's offer much longer life and reusability with this advantage a bow has over a gun as well as not scaring the game in a wide area like a gun shot will.

Best of luck.

a reply to: LABTECH767

Thanks for the videos. They were cool and showed real talent. I'll check the link out.