in need of council

[Ariel]

#4112

hello everyone! my name is Ariel, im from Israel (there it is a man’s name:) )im 23 years old.. you see im not living in the US, and in israel there is litraly nothing on this subject!, i am a beginner at bow hunting as you probably can tell, i have made two longbows so far,and hopefuly will continue to create, but my experience is little, so i want to establish myself first as practitioner before continuing to make, make sence dosent it? toke me a wile to figure it out.. so, i am in need of council ,its allways beginings that are hard…i want to start, but dont know where is the opening to my path.
i will cross the ocean if i need to ,do you teamup at times to go hunting? and one can learn?

if you think you can shed some light on this matter, it will be much apriciated.
and please forgive my speling..

good shooting to all,
and best wishes

Ariel.

[Frank V]

#27125

Ariel, I’d like to welcome you to the forum! I am not a bow builder so I probably can not help you with your question but I do want to welcome you. Frank

[Killdeer]

#27243

Welcome, Ariel!
I am curious about your bows, and how you are practicing in Israel. How heavy are your bows (draw weight)? What kind of target(s) do you shoot?

My next questions are; What can you hunt in your country? Are there any bow seasons there?

People do team up to go hunting. While I have hunted a few times with other people, I am primarily a solo hunter. I enjoy being alone with the wild, and dealing with conditions and wildlife one-on-one. It is a spiritual quest for me. Others are more pragmatic, I guess, or they enjoy the camaraderie and working together more. Hunting has many facets, and people are all different, and gravitate toward the aspects that they enjoy most.

I look forward to your teaching me something about what it is like to be an archer in your country, and helping you with what I know about hunting. I admire the skill and determination that led you to create your own bows.

Killdeer

[Ariel]

#27976

thank you frank & killdeer , for replying and making me feel welcomed.

being perfectly honest ,i have no idea what is the draw weight of my bows ,the first one i made is from olive (and is named “little tiger” ) and is a small bow ,though very strong, about 1.5 meters ,from a single peice of wood.
the secound is about 1.75 meters and is from “pacific Yew” that i gathered in oregon, also a single peice of wood.
(she is called “haste”). both are made as traditional native american livebow,being from one peice of wood and worked with the ringes of the tree.
she was very strong and gracful, but to my pain did not survive being in a plane’s belly .
i peactice shooting on a bail of hey with arrows with flint heads and simple practice arrows.

in Israel there is no hunting season of any kind.
probably becouse there is not suficient game to allow it, and the fact that there is no game is due to over hunting from English and turkish reign .

but if one would, he could hunt rabit ,rock hyrax, wild boar, deer & wild goat(though rare and protected.)as well as some reptiles.

ironicaly, finding this web site and witnessing a live community of people that share this wonderful passion, has made me feel much more at ease, and i feel much less anxious about finding teaching ,for if there is a community to support i can learn by myself and be supported by the community when i choose .

trying to be an archer in israel is a little like being a potter in antarctica. 🙂

whould love to hear more from any of you, as for how is it like to practice this in your surroundings!

i would love to know how does one mesure the draw weight??
and are bow seasones seperet for specific game?

good medecine to all.

Ariel

[Frank V]

#28014

Ariel, Good to hear back from you, keep after your dream I’m sorry I can not be of more help in building bows. I am just not gifted enough to build my own. I’d like you to know my Wife & I have a heart for Israel & pray for your Country each night.
In our bow season here we are able to hunt Elk,Deer,Sheep,Moose with a very unlikely chance to draw tags,& several species of small game. We can hunt during gun season with a bow if we choose.
I like to go into the mountains & shoot at stumps, bushes etc with my bow. Now and then we have a 3-D shoot.
I’m hoping someone else will jump in & give you some more information. Wishing you well. Frank

[Killdeer]

#28318

Well, Ariel, it seems for now that you are in the perfect spot to practice and get your equipment ready for when you will be able to travel to where you can hunt. What seems a hardship or setback is really a blessing, if you look at it through the right lens.

First is to see what your bow draws. This need not cost a cent. You must find out what your draw length is. To do this, get a really long arrow, and a friend. Put the arrow on the string, and draw it back to where you usually draw it and anchor. No stretching!! You do not get extra points for a longer draw length!

Have your friend mark the arrow at the back of the bow with a felt marker. Do this several times for a fair reading. Now we know how far to draw the string to measure the draw weight.

I will put in some pics here of a crude homemade draw weight checker. It involves a bathroom scale and a long stick. Use a sturdy stick, maybe an old broom handle or the like. Put a notch at one end to hold the bowstring. Measuring from the bottom of the notch, mark the distance at your draw length. If you might use this for other draw lengths, mark them as well.

Put the other end of the stick on the bathroom scale. If you are really picky, tare the scale with the weight of the stick on it. Put the bowstring in the notch and pull until the bow is drawn to your draw length. What does the scale read? And there you have it.

Verrrry crude! Hopefully, this is the crudest picture ever posted on this site!:lol:

And the graduations, and the scale…

So, this will get you in the ballpark so that you can get a starting point on properly spined arrows. I am surprised that you are shooting stone points. They are expensive and somewhat difficult to get, and most folks work “up” to shooting them here. I am assuming that your selfbow will take shafts somewhat weaker spined than the draw weight would suggest, as it is not cut to center, forcing the arrows to bend more as they pass by the riser. What kind of shafts are you using now?

Killdeer

[Clay Hayes]

#28329

Well Ariel, if you ever find yourself in SE Idaho in the fall, we’ll go huntin.

What is it that you want to know? Are you looking for advice on building bows or how to get started hunting?

ch

[Ariel]

#29175

thanks alot guys, I took your method for draw length and weight for the little bow and: it’s 57 cm-length ,15 kilos-weight (30.8 pounds)! great to know how to mesure this! and so easy.
the reason i shoot some flint head arrows is becous i make them, good to know though that their expensive in the US,could be useful 😀

there is no archery equipment in israel to get (it’s not all sand,deuns and camels…we got chery garcia and everything)
but still no archery gear ,this is realy nice becous it chalenges me to make is myself!
all the best to you all!

Ariel

[crittergitter]

#31954

ariel i have some bad news,in order to kill more than small game you will need a 40 pound bow.here in the us we usually use bows from 45 to 65 pounds most often,i think it is amasing that you found archery in israel without any form of archery equipment there what got you started.can you legally hunt with your bow in israel at all.also i think iremember reading somewhere stone arrowheads sale for something like 18 dollars in us currency.i really must know whate do you use for fletching on your arrows whate kind of bird did they come from,unless you bought them here in us,

[Ariel]

#37092

crittergitter , the 30 pound bow i made is small yes ,its more a boy’s bow .but it was very teaching to make it. i have made one in the US after that one, from pacific yew and that was stronger and much bigger, but i broke it… 🙂 well more the plane ride then me…it couldent handel the climat diferences and cureved , and i tryed to take it back with not enugh patience. you see i am allways trying diferent things ,and becous there is no archery equipment here i try diferent things. to make the arrow heads i do flint knapping from local flint and a tool of copper. the fletching i made , one arrow from goose, and some from paliken. (and one from a rooster :)) .
let me know if you got eny edvice .

[Buckhorn73]

#52270

Hi, Ariel, welcome to this site. I have been eavesdropping and gaining a valuable insight into your archery endeavours. I’m from Canada – Ontario to be exact. Traditional and primitive archery exists here but it is considered a bit of an oddity, unfortunately. There are sign it may be picking up but, if it is, it is happening very slowly.
Hunting seasons via the bow are very liberal in my part of the world, particularly, the whitetail deer. Moose, bear, turkeys, small game, wildfowl seasons exist in most zones within this Province.
You will gain very good advice from this forum, the site and Traditional Bowhunter – the paper copy and the e-mag. My neighbours to the South in USA deserve all the credit for fighting the good battle to keep archery and bowhunting alive. If your Country can be influenced in any way to encourage bowhunting in the future, chances are it will be influenced by the efforts within USA.
After a way too many years to admit, this bowhunting is still a learning experience and always will be. You have already surpassed many individuals here with your knowledge of making points and your equipment – knapping. and as you mentioned that certainly will come in handy.
Is it difficult to send bowhunting material, magazines, books, etc. to your location?

[Ariel]

#52344

dear Buckhorn , thank you for your interest and words ,i welcome and apriciate all the advice and dialog i can get on this subjust, sending equipment from abrowd to Israel is problamatice mainly becouse its realy expensive ,and books i try to bring from the US, even though i dident find one about traditional bow hunting! ,only on compound bow’s. and those have no art to them.
i have decided to go to the US in a few months (when i have some money)to learn and practice and i was thinkin of washington state ,is there eny other places you would recomend ?
it is a little frustrating not having eny equipment here and now, that i know i can preduce what i need , i need beter to know what i need 🙂 and how to apply it.
is it easy to find archery equipment in the US or Canada?and where would i find it?

[Buckhorn73]

#52582

Ariel. Archery equipment is available in Canada,and USA. It can be very expensive and one can be very economical in purchases and pick up some very good used equipment. I would strongly recommend if you are coming to USA, you attend a weekend 3D shoot or rendezvous. All your dreams can be realized when you shoot 3D ranges continually and view the booths always available by vendors. You will have trading value with your knapped points more readily at these locations as well.

[Ariel]

#53060

what is 3D shoot ranges?? and rendezvous? is it a gathering?

[Carl]

#56128

hello ariel! welcome! i love to hear from and talk to people from other counties. i would love to go to isreal someday – what history! i live in a town called yakima in wa. state and if you ever come here i would love to hunt with you. we have some decent hunting here for deer, elk, bear, cougar, turkey, mountain goats, and bighorn sheep but some other states are better i think – idaho, montana, colorado to name a few. there are many places to buy archery gear in the states, some spendy some not depending on what your after. as for making bows i have no experience but did buy the supplies to build a longbow press and will start that project in the near future. good luck in your endeavers – you might want to subscribe to traditional bowhunter magazine – lots of info on archery suppliers and interesting articles – shoot straight and have fun!

[MontanaFord]

#56472

Ariel,

Your accomplishments under such circumstances is impressive indeed. Hunting here in Montana is pretty liberal, with longer seasons, and, for most areas, not as many regulations as other states seem to have. In answer to your question, what is a 3d range, it is a series of 3 dimensional targets mimicking deer, elk and other animals set up in (typically) realistic hunting situations. It is extremely good practice for the hunting archer, as well as a blast for anybody that just wants to shoot. Depending on the people that set up the target course, shots may range anywhere from 10 or 15 yards out to 30+ yards. And yes, a rendezvous is a gathering of people of similar interests. Trappers in U.S. history held rendezvous in order to sell the furs that they spent the previous years’ time trapping. 3-d shoots are similar to these rendezvous in that archers come from all over to compete for score as well as play various archery games, etc. and buy, sell or trade items that they have. Good luck setting yourself up with a hunting bow. And again, congratulations on all you’ve already accomplished with little or no archery-related resources.

Michael

[Ariel]

#56731

thanks carl ,its really nice getting the support from all you archery brothers and sisters. i am geting ready for my trip to the states and am geting way too exaited , i am flying in five days! this trip has too goals in it one is money and the other is practicing archery. thanks alot for the invitation iam planing on going to WA somtime during these next months if indeed ill arive ill send you a word.

best wishes and good life

-Ariel

[Ariel]

#56737

thanks michael on the good feedback!
good shooting
-ariel

[andy*]

#56983

Hey Ariel,
I live in Northwest Washington state, about 2 hours from Seattle. If you are close on your visit, I would love to show you our shooting club. Good luck in your archery adventures. andy

[Carl]

#57167

hey ariel – fly in 5 days you say? allright! dont know where your flying to, but if you do wind up in wash. st. email or call – my wife and i would love to meet you – carl and veta 509-965-6264

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