Anyone here interested in primitive and/or traditional archery?

Professor
Posts
2,327
Likes
2,541
S.H. S.H.
Thinking that you will live off the land with a bow and arrows sure is fun in theory but a cabbage patch or any well tended garden is more practical IMHO.
Until the critters raid your garden.
How long does it take to plant and bring in a crop compared to nailing a few critters?
No one expects to survive on meat alone, it's been proven that people have nearly died of malnutrition when they had all the rabbit meat and trout they could consume.
Look up "Pemmican" some time, the reason the Indians developed it and why entire towns were devoted to manufacturing it during the pioneer days.
Grow all the veggies you like, there is no vitamin B14 in any of them.
 
STANDY
Posts
16,853
Likes
47,844
Professor Professor
Until the critters raid your garden.
How long does it take to plant and bring in a crop compared to nailing a few critters?
No one expects to survive on meat alone, it's been proven that people have nearly died of malnutrition when they had all the rabbit meat and trout they could consume.
Look up "Pemmican" some time, the reason the Indians developed it and why entire towns were devoted to manufacturing it during the pioneer days.
Grow all the veggies you like, there is no vitamin B14 in any of them.

What if your Vegan
 
S.H.
Posts
1,615
Likes
3,854
Professor Professor
Grow all the veggies you like, there is no vitamin B14 in any of them.

You are thinking survival/apocalypse, and then worry about nutrition and vitamin intake? If what you think will happen do happen sub-par nutrition will be the very last of your priorities. You will probably say goodbye to a meat based diet...

I must admit, specific planning for these things don't make much sense to me, way too many variables for me to properly compute. Best laid plans never survive first contact with reality anyway. Stay fit, buy some gold and live a little. That is what I practice.
 
Professor
Posts
2,327
Likes
2,541
Vegetarians use some non meat foods processed to act as a culture for microbes that create small amounts of the necessary vitamins not normally found in vegetation.
One may learn how to process these foods at home, if they have a permanent base with good temperature control.
S.H. S.H.
Stay fit, buy some gold and live a little. That is what I practice.
No one stays fit when malnourished. You can't eat gold, and believe or not few people would trade you a five year old can of Pumpkin pie filling for a Krugerrand if they had very little food left.

"You will probably say goodbye to a meat based diet...''
My diet is not meat based as it is. Meat is a supplement to a largely grain and vegetable based diet.
 
SkunkPrince
Posts
5,636
Likes
5,800
Professor Professor
Meat is a supplement to a largely grain and vegetable based diet.
The Paleo Diet people have one thing right... earlier humans ate a lot wider variety of foods than we do.
 
Professor
Posts
2,327
Likes
2,541
SkunkPrince SkunkPrince
The Paleo Diet people have one thing right... earlier humans ate a lot wider variety of foods than we do.
You can see the same sort of highly varied primitive diet among the few modern day primitive tribes that continue to live as their ancestors did.

One thing I found interesting was the revelation that among the least modernized tribes in Africa they actually consumed far more calories than you or I are likely to. The reason they can still remain slender and even skinny on such a diet is the plants they depend on are simply too fibrous and hard to digest properly.
Modern studies on the Human Appendix, long believed to be a completely useless vestigial organ, have determined that it in fact does serve a purpose, though one that seldom comes into play among modern populations. It acted as a reservoir of beneficial bacteria that allowed primitive man to digest uncooked foliage , tree bark, plant stems, etc.
Years ago a company from Finland marketed a processed tree bark to add to ground meat. Unfortunately they found that only the Finns could digest it.

Native Americans recognized that one can not survive on meat alone. When no edible plants were available American Indian hunters would consume the partly digested plant material found in the intestines of deer and other plant eaters they killed.
Native hunters also followed a code. A successful hunter must give up half his kill including the best cuts of meat to the first unsuccessful hunter that came along and asked for it. If another hunter came along the successful hunter had to give up half of what he had left. This was repeated until he had only the skin and intestines left to him, and even then he had to hold onto the skin with his teeth to show he would not give it up. Not very fair, but better than an arrow in the back and nothing to show for his efforts.
A Local tradition had it that Black Bear were only to be killed with a club, and the hunter had to apologize to the bear before killing it. Around here Black Bear are typically only half the size of those found in northern states and far less aggressive.
 
Fallout Boy
Posts
2,803
Likes
5,889
bought today: 1967 ? black widow x 99 rosewood with bengtson sight and lots of parts from an old man

Bogen Ab groß.webp Bogen Ba groß.webp Bogen Ca groß.webp Bogen Da groß.webp Bogen Ea groß.webp Bogen F groß.webp
any infos apprechiated 👍
 
M
Posts
261
Likes
750
Only own a compound bow, but went to a range and tried recurve bow for the first time in probably 25 years. Respect to all that are accurate with them, because I am not 😵‍💫
 
Archer
Posts
29,115
Likes
75,242
M Mediocre
Only own a compound bow, but went to a range and tried recurve bow for the first time in probably 25 years. Respect to all that are accurate with them, because I am not 😵‍💫
Much steeper learning curve with a recurve bow.

It's kind of like compound is pickleball and recurve is tennis type difference.
 
sheepdoll
Posts
2,646
Likes
4,219
There are some interesting threads here.

Archery was the one sport I liked at summer camp. I tend to like a light blow as I am not intending to kill anything. My goal was to hit the target. Never really got in the center much.

Surprisingly a while back the costume group did a robin hood thing in golden gate park. I came in second. Which surprised me. So I guess part of it is like bicycling.

History states that the longbow archers had to practice every day. I think to keep the muscles toned. I think the goals were different.

We have a 20 meter bocci court in the back yard. I used to use it for a short range with a toy bow. Keep thinking I should get a bow and practice again. Most of the arrows were used to support bean stocks in the garden.

Out walking with a neighbor group one of the members pointed out a nearby range.

The neighborhood has turkeys and deer. Plus all sorts of critters. It is a 200 foot straight drop to the creek from the back yard. Almost vertical in places. Used to be artisan springs in the hill, but AGW and shifts in the water table dried them up. There were cisterns on this hill till they were built over. The city cistern now used mostly as a cell tower. Probably should get some rain barrels but one of the things one does not ever really bother to do. Maintaining the Koi pond is enough.

Doubt I would want to hunt the local game. Much easier to set snares or gin traps. Doubt I would want to go after a wild turkey unless absolutely necessary.

Quite fond of Roman history. Especially the Hollywood history of rome genera. Have the 10 books on architecture and others. So learned about balistas and slings. The security company I sometimes work for is called Praetorian. 40 years with renaissance related events, I have seen at how people tend to act and fantises in seemingly low tech environs. Crossbows are probably the most effective wepon. The real secret though is having or making a lathe, which is also controlled by a bow. Good for drilling and starting fires too.

My dad was a master gardener. So most of my time I do spend or should spend in maintaining the gardens. Sort of dropped the ball (arrow?) playing with the watches when I should have put the winter broccoli and cabbage in a month ago. Still getting some late tomatos and cucumbers. The peppers are coming along nicely. And a bumper crop of basil all summer.
 
S
Posts
114
Likes
1,014
Shooting from time to time - the one on the picture is a Big Tradition 40lbs recurve.
bogen.webp
 
Dsloan
Posts
3,556
Likes
24,018
My kids almost old enough to start target archery classes. My wife and I haven't shot much in that last 5 years and I'm really hoping we can make time to get back into the sport next year.

Might have to pull from the watch collecting budget to splurge on a new riser...
 
Sign up or log in to reply...