Practical Tips On How To Craft The Perfect Survival Bow

November 17, 2016November 20, 2016 James Burnette

Practical Tips On How To Craft The Perfect Survival Bow

Today I have a guest post on Practical Tips On How To Craft The Perfect Survival Bow. Making a survival bow is something I have been meaning to do for a while. This post has several grerat tips to get me building. Enjoy -James.

Adding the Bow Cord

One thing that nobody prepares you for is an emergency situation. You only realize that you were not ready when it is too late to save the day. In everyday life, there are some skills that you would deem irrelevant. For instance, on an average day, where would you require to start a fire without the use of a lighter? Another such skill would be how to make a survival bow. In the event you find yourself in a position which requires you to utilize some of your caveman skills, this article clearly elucidates how to go about making a perfect survival bow.

One thing you need to get clear is that a survival bow is nothing like the modern day compound bow and crossbow. It is a quickie bow that is designed with a single thought in mind; convenient assembly for immediate use.

When you are in the wild, one thing is for sure; you have limited time and resources. When it comes to fashioning a bow, you are lucky because nature is on your side. The primary resource which is wood is most likely in abundance.

Below are some quick and easy tips for creating a Survival bow which you can use for hunting game and self-defense if the need arises.

Choosing the right wood

(Via: survivalmastery.com)

The first step is picking out the right kind of wood. This is like the backbone of your bow. So that you know not any wood can be used to make a bow. You want to go for hardwood. This includes the likes of ash, yew, black locust, oak, hickory, beech, and maple. It is possible that you may not know the identity of your trees and if that is the case, here is how you can test if the wood is good enough for a bow.

Take a twig the size of your pinky finger and bend it slightly. Allow it to snap back. Observe whether it responds quickly or sluggishly. Next, bend it into a c-shape, does it stay intact? Lastly, break the twig. If it breaks easily into two, it is a wrong candidate. If it refuses to break, but it kinks and forms a fibrous fracture, you’ve got yourself a match.

Shaping the Bow

(Via: bushcraftdays.com)

Now that you’ve got the right wood, you will need an excellent piece of it to make the best bow. A good bow stave should meet the following criteria;

· A length of 5-6 feet

· A thickness of 1.5-2 inches

· Minimal to no twists or knots

· Have a steady taper from one end to the other

· No cracks

The next thing to having the perfect stave is to find its back, belly, and handle. Here is how you do it;

· Set the bow upright on the ground with one hand holding the top

· Push on the center lightly and allow the stave to rotate revealing the part that is slightly curved

· The inside part of the curve is the belly

· The outside part of the curve is the back

Now to find the handhold, determine the center of the branch and mark out three inches from either side of the center. The gap in between is your handle. Next, you need to ensure that your stave achieves a perfect bend. To do this, first, you need to curve the stave to see how the limbs bend. Some areas of the limb bend more easily than others.

Now, whittle away wood from the belly until both limbs are bending equally. The result should assume the shape of a parabolic curve. However, it is prudent to take your time when doing so because too much of it will spoil the branch and you may have to start from scratch. Also, do not remove anything from the back because it can easily break as it endures a lot of tension.

The next bit is modifying the limbs so that the strings sit easily without sliding off the tips. Cut two knocks on either side of each limb to form a 45-degree angle facing the handle just deep enough for the string to rest and make sure not to touch the back.

Adding the Bow Cord

Adding The Cord Survival Bow — Adding The Cord

Some materials you can use for bowstring include;

· Rawhide

· Twine

· Sinew

· Nylon rope

· Milkweed

· Nettle

· Dogbane

· Yucca

Point to note is that you can use any synthetic cord of a small diameter, the stiffer, the better. Elasticity messes up with the bows snap power. Now you can string your bow but just make sure that the cord is -6 inches from the bow’s handhold. One final process and you can begin using your bow.

Tillering your bow

(Via: popularmechanics.com)

This is one of the most crucial processes of shaping your bow. You need to find a piece of scrap wood or use a branch to hang your bow up horizontally by the handle. Pull the string down a few inches to see how the limbs bend. Both limbs should bend evenly throughout, and each bend should be a complete replica of the other. You have nothing to worry about if you did a good job shaping the bow.

At this stage, if you are equipped with some bow hunting tips, you are ready to hunt. Take caution to never fire the bow without an arrow as it can break the bow. If you are not in life and death situation and would probably like to do some finishing, you can sand the belly to make it smooth and also apply some light oil to prevent it from drying out fast.

Get yourself some arrows, shoot your bow frequently, oil it and tiller it when necessary. Now that is what a pro hunter does.

If you are just at home and would like to take on this fun and creative learning process, you can do it out of materials that are probably available in your backyard within a very short time. Why not give it a try? You will carry on the skill forever, and it may come in handy one day when you need it.

Author Bio:

Kevin Steffey is an avid hunter and freelance writer. He loves spending time in the field with his rifle more than almost anything else, and occupies his off-time discussing deer and their habits online. He is a founder at www.deerhuntingfield.com

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Archery Series: Getting Practice

July 28, 2014July 28, 2014 James Burnette 1 Comment

Hopefully you have enjoyed and learned something new from my previous two articles, so we can move on and get you out in the field on the next step…… The first thing you need to do after you purchase whatever equipment you have determined would best suit you, is practice!

When you start, if you haven’t ever shot a bow, you probably should begin at an archery range, with someone that has a significant amount of experience. Beginning at a 5 yard distance is ideal, you should be comfortable with short yardage before you move to longer yardage. After you get comfortable with shooting your bow, start moving and shooting from different angles, side to side and up and down. You need to practice shooting from all angles because you never completely know where your game is going to come from.

There are a multitude of possibilities, whether it be uphill or down hill and you need to be confident when you let your arrow go. Try if you can to practice with a friend and create distractions for each other (my wife and I do this and have a pretty good time). When you get your concentration down, work on your strength. Start at a closer range and start holding your bow drawn back for 30 seconds before you shoot and work your way to holding your draw at farther distances, then try it again holding for 45 seconds and so on. The longer you can hold your bow back before you shoot, the better.

I have been in a situation where I had to hold my bow back for over a minute before I let my arrow fly and to be honest I was shaking so bad, lost some control and I missed because nobody ever told me that I might have to do this. I was very disappointed in myself that day, so I stepped my practice and strength training up, now I can hold for 90 seconds without waver. I cannot stress the importance of practice enough, it will be the difference between a quick and painless kill shot and a painful wounding that you will have to track down.

When you practice in your backyard or in an archery range, you need to have the mindset that you are hunting and it is the real deal. If you have your quiver on your bow, make sure it’s full of arrows when you practice, because that slight amount of weight will make you shoot different if you don’t practice with it. If you are going to use a back quiver hunting, practice with it on your back full of arrows. If you might have to shoot with a pack on your back, practice with a pack on your back.

Practice shooting from a sitting position, from a kneeling position, as well as leaning over. Practice shooting your bow every way you possibly can, so you are confident to make the shot you are given every time.

If you are wanting to set something up in your backyard or elsewhere, you will soon find out that targets are expensive, so I will share a couple ways to make your own target that can save you some money.

Take any empty garbage can, put a plastic liner in it. Use a couple cans of spray foam insulation and spray them in the liner. Take the liner and fold over the top of the foam and put a heavy book on top of it in the garbage can. Give it a few hours to cure and pull it out of the can, then peel the plastic off and you have a foam block you can paint on to make your target.

The next way is to get a card board box and stuff it full of equal size pieces of card board and when I say stuff, that’s exactly what I mean. Stuff it so full there is no way you could get another piece in it, the tighter you get it the better it will stop your arrow. I have used both of these DIY targets and they work great!

If you practice like me you will be making a new target once a month, but it’s rewards are well worth it when you take down your first big game animal. I would also recommend taking it easy your first week of practice and work into strengthening those new muscles you will discover you have.

I hope this helps you in your adventure!!!

Robert

Find Robert at Rice Family Creations

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Bow Hunting Part II: Picking Out Equipment

July 1, 2014June 29, 2014 James Burnette 1 Comment

Today I present to you the second part in Roberts Bow Hunting series. I am loving this series and learning so much. Let’s just get right to it then. -James

Picking Out Equipment

The first thing you have to consider, when picking out equipment, is your budget. You can easily find really nice used equipment for 1/3 the price of brand new equipment. When I decided to try out archery hunting I found a good used cross bow, I paid $200 with bolts and it was already sighted in, so it was ready to hunt. In Wyoming it is legal to hunt with a crossbow, in some states it is not, so check your laws before buying one. The next thing to consider is what type of bow you want to shoot. Your choices are, “traditional” recurve and long bow or “new age” compound and crossbow, there are traditional style crossbows, but I am speaking of crossbows with cams.

Traditional bows are built with a certain draw length and draw weight such as a Bear Grizzly

or a Turkish long bow.

These style bows are very simple and very trust worthy. You can get a couple extra strings and a dozen arrows and you will be set up for years to come. They make recurve backpack (takedown) bows, which are very good to add to your preps because of how small you can break them down and how light they are. They are very versatile and you can take all sorts of game with them .

Archery Hunting: New Age With An Old Twist

June 17, 2014June 17, 2014 James Burnette 4 Comments

Today I have a guest post from friend Robert Rice on archery hunting. It’s a subject I’m very interested in and have no had a chance to do yet. You can find more of Roberts work on his Facebook page Here and his website Here. So lets all go learn about it. -James

Archery Hunting :

New Age with an old age twist

Well the first thing I should tell you is I’m from Wyoming, I’m 30 years old and have been archery hunting for 8 years now, but I have been hunting since I was 4. I remember one of the keys to hunting, at least when I was a kid, is to always think ahead of your game. Whatever you might be hunting you have to be thinking ahead of him thinking about where he is going not where he is, thinking about what he is going to do not what he is doing.

Now that being said there are some components out there today that can make your day in the field a lot more productive than the days of old. First thing is if you have a bow made in the 5 years you have quite an advantage over an older bow, because the bows they make now are built almost entirely for speed, and if you practice right you can take advantage of that speed by not having to get as close and not having to think as far ahead of him, and make not as true shots and still do just as much damage.

You can still buy bows that are made for more kinetic energy but they are few and far between anymore, but they are out there. My biggest piece of advice to any archery hunter is ….. You need to know the animal you are hunting, Im not talking about the type simply I am talking about the specific animal, you need to learn his habits, his patterns where he sleeps, eats, where he hangs out with the boys, where he goes chasing women. All of that will make you more aware of what he is going to do next, and more able to make the shot you have been working towards.

This post will be broken into 3 more parts because this subject is very broad hopefully I can hit the main points and help you guys out on your adventure.

Picking out equipment: In this part I will go through some tips and ideas for you to get the most bang for your buck. Equipment is expensive so making your dollar go as far as you can is important.

Practice : In this section we will go through a variety ways you can practice. I will even include a couple ideas you might like for making your own archery target.

Scouting : In this section we will visit some reasons why you cant beat a weeks worth of scouting when archery hunting. We will also visit how learning how to archery hunt could be one of your most vital preps!

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