Trails Across The Prairies
Traditional Archery from a Technical Aspect
I know I'm repeating myself when I tell you that I have been involved in archery for going on 40 years.
Over that time I've owned and shot with recurve bows in the beginning, then moving on to compound bows, and having come full circle, I'm now in love with the longbow.
So your asking yourself what I have to say that may relate to you and my going afield equipped with a longbow.
In actuality I'm thinking about the day those of you that shoot with compounds may want to take up a recurve or a longbow as pictured here.
When it comes to those of us that embrace traditional archery, in most cases we are also using a traditional back quiver as pictured here.
Now if you were to look at the options available when it comes to back quivers, you might be attracted to the beautiful formed style of backquivers that maybe have a pleasing shape that runs from oval shaped to round, but that would be a mistake.
That's because although pleasing to look at, and while your on the stalk, the arrows rattle around in the quiver alerting wildlife to your presence. The other problem with that type of quiver is the fact that if you bend forward, all the arrows come tumbling out of the quiver.
The quiver shown here that I carry while out and about does not have these problems, as its made from soft leather that allows the quiver to conform to the shape of your back, keeping the arrows from rattling around as they are trapped in place.
This also keeps the arrows from falling out when you bend forward, as the arrows are kept trapped in place due to the quiver conforming to your back.
So although the soft quiver may not be as pleasing appearance wise, it is a far more desirable quiver to carry.
In fact, if you do your research on first nations people going back to another time, you will find that they also used a soft quiver that kept the arrows in place while stalking wildlife, or hunting plains bison while on horseback, the arrows securely held in place for the reasons stated.
Now also of interest in this photo, and also in the insert photo is how I carry arrows while in the field possibly hunting.
Although I have a selection of various tipped arrows in my back quiver, I like to carry a couple of arrows in my bow hand where they are more readily available for snap shooting.
You will note in the photo that you see an arrow equipped with a broadhead that is razor sharp and is carried with the broadhead protected by the one-arrow leather quiver attached to the upper limb of the longbow.
This arrow equipped with the broadhead is held trapped in my hand that holds the bow, and allows for shooting the bow with my normally judo point equipped arrows that can easily take down small animals or gamebirds when in season.
If for whatever reason I have the need for an arrow equipped with the broadhead, its as easy as pulling the one held in my bowhand from its one-arrow quiver, and I'm good to go.
Now there are many archers who practice traditional archery that use a bow-quiver that attaches to the upper and lower limbs of either a recurve or a longbow and is mounted offset to one side of the bow, the most common bow-quiver allowing for three arrows to be carried at ready.
I prefer not to use a bow-quiver, as I feel it adds weight to the bow, and takes away from the pleasure of using a ultra-light bow not encumbered with the extra weight of a bow quiver.
I also feel that a side mounted quiver throws the bow off balance, although other traditional archers may disagree with me.
I've been asked about the bushcraft knife seen in the photo by one of the visitors to my website, and it is one that I made for myself recently as described here......
https://www.jerryclement.ca/MachineShop/Machine-Shop/i-v98V5kT
Expand the photo for a closer look......
