I got me a bow today...

[Okla-homey]

A longbow to be precise. I've always wanted to learn archery.

http://aycu38.webshots.com/image/6997/2000139941469548405_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000139941469548405)

Weird? Who cares?:D

http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/7351/2000177514649433977_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000177514649433977)

[soonerloyal]

Kewl. Archery is SO much fun!!

[Okla-homey]

I wanna get good at it so I can kill stuff when the rest of the hunters are reading "Field and Stream" cuz the gun season is over.;)

[bri]

I'm so proud of you for going for your merit badge! :D

[Frozen Sooner]

And on the bright side, when you get to Agincourt you're going to totally rule!

[Okla-homey]

And on the bright side, when you get to Agincourt you're going to totally rule!

68" of precision crafted woody goodness.

[Penguin]

I would shell out the gold for the +2 acid arrows.

[Frozen Sooner]

68" of precision crafted woody goodness.

:D

I figured you'd like that.

[Okla-homey]

I would shell out the gold for the +2 acid arrows.

what are these +2 acid arrows of which you speak? I just got three carbons with field tips.

[Okla-homey]

:D

I figured you'd like that.

The archery store d00d tried to sell me a compound bow, but after I explained I wanted to "keep it real," he was down with that. Incidentally, some of those compound jobbies have more cables and pulleys than the USS Constitution.

[bri]

what are these +2 acid arrows of which you speak? I just got three carbons with field tips.

But they DO give +3 damage.

[SicEmBaylor]

And on the bright side, when you get to Agincourt you're going to totally rule!

This is going to be very under appreciated humor.

[Frozen Sooner]

As long as Homey got it, I'm happy.

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

[BoogercountySooner]

Cool Homey become proficient with your bow then come over to Booger county and we will slay the beast!

[Okla-homey]

Cool Homey become proficient with your bow then come over to Booger county and we will slay the beast!

as long as I don't have to wear one of these suits and shoot behind sharpened stakes.

http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/7501/2006371154135342323_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006371154135342323)

[BoogercountySooner]

It' a Deal.

[sanantoniosooner]

I killed my first deer with a cheap Darton compound at 14 years of age.

[BoogercountySooner]

I killed my 1st deer with a 68 Volkswagon bug at 16 years of age!

[Okla-homey]

It' a Deal.

You know, if we could get about a thousand guys in a line, each volley firing three arrows a minute, I bet we could slay the sh-t out of some deer.:D

[SicEmBaylor]

You know, if we could get about a thousand guys in a line, each volley firing three arrows a minute, I bet we could slay the sh-t out of some deer.:D

I care nothing for the deer, but it truly would be exciting to see that at night with flaming arrows.

[Frozen Sooner]

Or some chevalier. Your choice.

[bri]

ROLL TO SEE IF I'M GETTING DRUNK!!!!

[SicEmBaylor]

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way encouraging people to flaunt Gov. Henry's burn bans.

[Penguin]

What's your ThAC0? That's pretty darn important.

[Frozen Sooner]

ROLL TO SEE IF I'M GETTING DRUNK!!!!

OK, you rolled a 16 with a Constitution of 15. Congratulations! You're messed up!

Go ask that lich in the corner out.

[Okla-homey]

Or some chevalier. Your choice.

I wonder if they let the English archers loot the French knights' corpses after the battle? You just know there had to be some valuable accoutrements and assorted valuable booty on their perforated carcasses. That would have been an excellent motivator. That, and the knowledge that if the chevalier made it to your line, they would cleave your English head in twain with their broadswords.

[OCUDad]

http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/12/36121433833.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4360347)
If only Homey were this hawt.

[Frozen Sooner]

I wonder if they let the English archers loot the French knights' corpses after the battle? You just know there had to be some valuable accoutrements and assorted valuable booty on their perforated carcasses. That would have been an excellent motivator. That, and the knowledge that if the chevalier made it to your line, they would cleave your English head in twain with their broadswords.

That's a good question. I do know that at some point for a footman to take arms against a belted knight-even an opposing knight-was considered a capital offense.

[Okla-homey]

http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/12/36121433833.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=4360347)
If only Homey were this hawt.

The guy at the archery store said most ladies have to wear one of those arche-chick tittay guards to keep their bewbage out of the bowstring.

[Frozen Sooner]

Meh. $50 for some fancy guard or $10 for some wood, a lighter, and some Jack Daniels?

They don't make women like they used to.

[SoonerJack]

as long as I don't have to wear one of these suits and shoot behind sharpened stakes.

http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/7501/2006371154135342323_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2006371154135342323)
Those are awesome soots! And sharpened stakes are death the cavalry!

[OCUDad]

Meh. $50 for some fancy guard or $10 for some wood, a lighter, and some Jack Daniels?

They don't make women like they used to.You have to pay $10 to get wood?

[Frozen Sooner]

Well, no, but lighters and JD cost money.

[Tailwind]

The Amazon female warriors had to cut off one of their bewbs to make their archery beter. Or something.

[BudSooner]

One thing about shooting a long bow Homey, your gonna have bigger forearms than Popeye.
Longbows are cool, but for the killin of them thar deers the compound is my favorite weapon of choice...and if you have a problem with the cables don't everrrrrrrrrrr shoot an Oneida Eagle.
http://www.oneidaeaglebows.com/images/CP%20SERIES%20BLACK%20EAGLE.jpg
A friend had one, I believe an Oneida Eagle and had severe problems with stress fractures on the upper limb.
Other good brands if you get the chance and are willing to shoot one are Martin(kinda pricey)PSE(very good and you can find them reasonably priced)and Browning.
If they have it, you might also check out BassPro as i'm thinking they have an indoor archery range where you can shoot several bows to see what is best for you.
Have fun with the bow, and don't shoot an aggy.....at least not on purpose.:D

[BoogercountySooner]

High Country Carbon Lite for me!

[GottaHavePride]

Homey should gheck out Steve Ralph's website. (http://www.steveralphs.com/web2.html) The guy has made bows for almost any movie you can think of recently - apparently he also appeared onscreen as a couple of different archers in the opening scenes of Gladiator. You can buy bows from the guy when he's not on a movie set.

[Ash]

Props for goin' old school Homey.

Once you get the hang of it, you should go native and try stone tips. Make yer own, keep the store bought stuff for extras.

Also, you might want to try the recurved bow (old school style) down the road. Less fuss, decent power compared to the long bow.

[Tiptonsooner]

I shoot strictly traditional archery, if you need some pointers or just have a question, let me know. Been hunting this way for about 15 years now, its a great satisfaction taking game with the stick and string.

I have my bows made by a bowyer in New Mexico and make my own arrows. The arrows will be your next step in progression if you find you enjoy traditional archery. Making your own arrows to match your particular bow let's you get the best accuracy. You will be surprised at how quickly you improve if you shoot instinctively.

Pick a spot and shoot straight ##--------->

[Okla-homey]

I shoot strictly traditional archery, if you need some pointers or just have a question, let me know. Been hunting this way for about 15 years now, its a great satisfaction taking game with the stick and string.

I have my bows made by a bowyer in New Mexico and make my own arrows. The arrows will be your next step in progression if you find you enjoy traditional archery. Making your own arrows to match your particular bow let's you get the best accuracy. You will be surprised at how quickly you improve if you shoot instinctively.

Pick a spot and shoot straight ##--------->

thanks!

I've recently become acquainted with this gentleman and he's teaching me. I also hope to learn how to make bows and arrows per the traditional Muscogean methods. His bows and arrows are absolutely beautiful.


Creek Indian Crafts Longbows: Drawing back on tribal traditionS.E. RUCKMAN World Staff Writer

12/27/2006
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page A9 of News

SCHULTER -- Inside every bois d'arc tree, a longbow is waiting to emerge.

Knowing how to craft one is easy compared with coaxing the bow out of the tree, says Mike Berryhill, a Muscogee (Creek) Indian who has made longbows -- which are used to shoot arrows -- in the tradition of his ancestors for decades.

"A bow has to have heart," he said. "Bois d'arc is a wood with heart."

In the days when the Creek people roamed their Georgia homelands, before their forced removal to Oklahoma, hunters used longbows exclusively for sustenance, Berryhill said.

"This is who we are; it's a part of our culture," he said. "Nowadays, we are taught how to make a living, and that's good, but back then it was survival, pure and simple."

The Creek elder estimates that he has made dozens of Indian longbows in his lifetime. He got acquainted with -- and then consumed by -- longbows at the instruction of his grandfather, Joe Berryhill.

"I was about 8 when we started being around longbows," Mike Berryhill said. "I've been involved with making them ever since."

Many types of bowmakers exist, and they come out of the woodwork for frontier-oriented events, Berryhill said. He usually attends gatherings wearing his tribe's traditional attire.

But bowmaking the Creek way is a dying art form, he said.

"This is something I want to teach young people," he said. "Still, it's hard to get them interested in it because it's such a time-consuming process."


Making a bow

Berryhill must cut and cure the wood before making a longbow. Depending on the wood, weeks or months can pass before a bow can be finished. He has made bows out of locust, elm and hickory, but he prefers bois d'arc.

"I don't see my part in it as any special thing," he said. "The real deal is being out there and listening. I sometimes feel like I can hear when it's time for me to start working on a bow."

First, the right piece of wood must be found. Berryhill has spent many hours tramping through acres of bois d'arc trees to find a potential longbow. The tree is not cut down; only a branch is removed.

"I try to waste nothing when I take a piece of wood," he said.

Once he finds the right tree and branch, timing is everything.

The old-timers theorized that the moon has a say in what time of the month a limb should be removed. If it is cut down when the moon is too full, the wood is apt to be weak. Cold weather is the best time to cut, because the tree's sap has drawn down to its roots. That makes the wood easier to work with, Berryhill said.

"It's the gravitational pull. The moon is very powerful, but we've lost our ability to realize that and use it for our benefit," he said. "Some white bowmakers will say that it doesn't matter when the wood is cut, but I don't agree."

Berryhill calls himself a tree-reader, likening trees to humans. Each has attributes and weaknesses, but appearances can be deceiving, he said.

"We both come from the Earth," he said. "We also have different characters and colors. Like wood, some people are easy to work with, while others are gnarly."

The attributes of a bois d'arc bow are obvious. One of the longbows on his living room wall -- a handsome, richly darkened instrument about 5 feet long -- glows with a soft luster, but it has not been stained.

Berryhill makes arrows, too. He uses river cane, which he says seems made for arrow-making. But river cane is becoming harder to find locally, he said.

His arrows either are fitted with premade ends from kits or he makes the points out of bois d'arc. Turkey feathers adorn the opposite end. He puts his arrows into a quiver that he tanned himself. The quiver smells faintly of smoke and holds more than a half-dozen arrows.


Handing down a craft

About 90 percent of the longbows Berryhill makes are for non-Indians who wish to own a real Indian bow, he said. People have paid him as much as $375 for his bows, but he also has given them away as gifts.

"Sometimes I've made bows that I couldn't part with, maybe because a part of me goes into them," he said.

"If you think about it, almost every culture on Earth at some time or another has used the bow and arrow in their history."

Members of other area tribes also make longbows. The Cherokee Nation has named several of its longbow makers as living art treasures. Archers from that tribe, as with the Creeks, fashion their own bows. Both tribes use them to hunt game, from which they will take meat and native medicine.

Regulations for bowhunters in Oklahoma are the same whether the weapons are crossbows, compound or homemade bows, said Jim Edwards, assistant chief of the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Department's Law Enforcement Division. The season runs through Jan. 15.

The archery specifications include a minimum 40-pound pull for the bow, Edwards said. Homemade bows are popular in the state with Indians and non-Indians, although it is harder to bring down a deer with them, he said.

"The home bow gets back to a more traditional type of archery here in Oklahoma," he said.

Berryhill hopes someday to teach his 7-year-old grandson how to use and make Creek longbows. The youngster has not shown much interest yet, but Berryhill holds out hope.

There's still time, although he laments the passing of tribal elders who take their knowledge, such as bowmaking, with them.

"Bows are a lot like Indians, in my opinion," he said. "They both have resiliency."