Selfbow harvest pics

[DuckDogDr]

Guys there was a thread on here earlier in support of traditional harvests. I would say let’s take this a step further and for the ones who have ventured into the territory of making their own bows, let’s show some motivation.

Let’s hear details and pics of the bow itself

 

[smoke]

I have a few to share. This is one from 2020. I killed this little buck less than 200 yards from where I cut down the tree to make the bow - osage selfbow. I used a stone head on an ash shaft. The wound you see is the exit and I lost the head . . . hope some bowhunter finds it 200 years from now!

 

[smoke]

 

[smoke]

 

[smoke]

The second one (above) is a native american influenced, sinew-backed hackberry bow. That bow is 56 inches long - poorly tillered but it really spits out an arrow. The last one above I got with an old osage flatbow.

 

[grappling_hook]

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing.

 

[mgmicky]

thats a heck of an accomplishment Smoke-congrats!

 

[SliverShooter]

Well done, congratulations on three fine critters.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I'm calling SliverShooter out on this thread.

 

[SliverShooter]

I’ll play, my first moose, taken with Pigger, a 58# Osage Selfbow, big horn sheep tip overlays, bison leather grip. Kevin Dill and his hunting partner through their writings were the ones who inspired me to resume my Alaskan adventure.

Kevin, thanks again for all the help.

 

[Kylerjay05]

I’ll play, my first moose, taken with Pigger, a 58# Osage Selfbow, big horn sheep tip overlays, bison leather grip. Kevin Dill and his hunting partner through their writings were the ones who inspired me to resume my Alaskan adventure.

Kevin, thanks again for all the help.

.....annnnnd all of us regular earthlings have left the chat

 

[Kevin Dill]

Walt just blew up the selfbow internet!

Great work my friend!

 

[SliverShooter]

Thanks Kevin, much appreciated.
I would like to see pictures of other peoples selfbow kills, not wanting kill this thread I decided to delete all but the first picture.

 

[Te Hopo]

Silvershooter, mate I'm glad I saw those pics as each one of those is a massive achievement

 

[SliverShooter]

Te Hopo

Thank you.

I was looking forward to visiting your part of the world, hunting and fly fishing for a month or two, before they closed borders a couple of years back. Will try again if they open them back up in the next couple of years.

Learn to successfully stalk a huge brown trout on calm water, place the correct fly where it needs to be, you will be able to get into stickbow distance of most critters.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Somewhere I have some pictures from 30 years ago when I hunted with a selfbow. I managed to kill 2 or 3 whitetails one year with it. One of the deer had a fungal skin disease which I contracted and spent months undergoing treatment to eliminate. I still have the scars from various biopsies.

Anyway....I'll post some vintage pictures if I find them.

 

[SwampGhost]

I cut my first Osage tree two years ago on the farm im fortunate to get to hunt in Kansas. It had thin rings, wasn’t the best to start out learning to build with but it’s all I had. I made my first bow out of one of the five staves that I got out of that log. It wasn’t perfect according to many but it shot where I looked. I took it to Nebraska public land early season where I killed 3 deer on that trip.



My next trip was to Missouri public and on the first day after getting the tent setup, I shot it a few times and the lower limb cracked
Killed a couple deer with my longbow.
Went home and started another, finished it in time to go to Kansas to hunt the farm that I cut the tree from. Second morning I shot this big doe with it. Was quite an accomplishment to kill a deer with a bow made from a tree I cut there. Not long after that trip that bow cracked on the lower limb as well. Working on another as I type

 

[Kevin Dill]

A now-deceased friend of mine made a really nice flatbow out of black locust. He shot the heck out of it and was good with it. He had me shooting it one day and I couldn't hit squat. I was afraid to really get it all the way back and anchor it. I was thinking it might break. I didn't want to get hurt. I put another arrow in the dirt and Ralph said, "Pull that thing to your anchor and don't worry. Get into it and really fire an arrow!" Aaannd of course the sob exploded just as I hit full draw. Wood went everywhere and pieces flew past my ear. I about ripped my earlobe off with the shooting glove. Bowstring draped across my left forearm like a dead snake.

I went home and was jumpy for 2 weeks anytime a loud noise happened. I was even a little cockeyed about shooting my own laminated bows for a while. I told myself I'd need to wear a full-face helmet if I ever shot a selfbow again.

 

[SwampGhost]

That’s scary! I’ve never had one blow up yet and hope it never happens

 

[Kevin Dill]

I just want to make it clear that I'm 100% pro selfbow despite the incident above. I saw a laminated longbow blow up in the vendor display area at a big shoot once. Prospective buyer simply gave it a test draw and it failed. Any bow can have an early death.