March 1943

■Or •S’uhKin An* her WL 14

JiHarrlj, 1943

?«o. n

Archer’s Dream Comes True

By Bill “Jolly” Jeter Sequoia Archers, Oakland, Calif.

On the 29th day of October, 1942, a sign was placed on the door of my hot dog stand to the effect that ‘'Jolly Jeter wishes to thank all of his customers for making his va­ cation possible—closed October 29th —open November 15th.” Those 15 days were to me the most thrilling days of my 34 years.

With our trailers packed with food, tent, and camping equipment, my wife Beatrice, two children Judy and Phyllis, a neighbor girl Janetta Hogue as our guest, and my Dober..man. Pincer dog Punch, we crossed the SariFrancisco Bay Bridge at 5:20 A. M. Sunday morning, October 30th, bound for Mendocino county, the heart of the Redwood country.

By nightfall we had reached our destination, pitched our tent, and had eaten as good a dinner as a 20 cent can opener could produce. Bed­ ded down in our tent we slept like logs. It had been my intention to arise early and hit the timber but the clock’s hand pointed to 8:30 A. M. before I awoke. Spurred to action, I dressed in record time and, hungry as a wolf, I could hardly wait until my wife and Janetta .cooked break­ fast. The combined aroma of coffee, bacon and the redwood trees made me feel like a domesticated Tarzan and I was raring to go. With my quiver full of broadheads and a darn good osage bow backed with rawhide, a 62-27 killer, my dog Punch and I left camp.

We had gone about a mile and one-half when Punch let out a yelp that echoed like thunder; well, maybe it wasn’t quite so loud but to me it sounded like it. He was away—gone on up the canyon and out of hearing in no time. I thought sure I had lost

him, but he was back in about an hour. As I sat waiting for him to return, smoking and pitching pebbles in the small stream below me, I was watching a flock of buzzards circling up ahead about three or four city blocks. I set out to investigate and found the half eaten body of a doe near by. The odor of the darned thing made me change my course home­ ward. I arrived back at camp about 3:30, had a good lunch, and then tried my luck fishing in the stream 100 yards from the camp—good luck, ten trout about eight inches long.

My little girl Judy, helping me clean them, remarked, seeing the gills, “Look, Daddy, this one has seed in it.”

With a good night’s sleep behind us we awakened bright and early and I planned to leave soon after break­ fast. By 8:30 I was 2% miles from camp, following the river bed wind­ ing its way up the canyon. Punch’s feet were a little bit tender from yesterday’s deer chase so he wasn’t leading me very far when all of a sudden he came back to me with a yelp* acting as though something had frightened him. I hissed him on and back he went, and within a split second I heard him bark and he head­ ed down to the river out of my sight.

I had been working my way up the mountainside about 30 yards to avoid wading the stream. I heard him bark furiously as though he had some­ thing bayed. I slipped and crawled ahead about 60 yards through the opening of trees. I could see Punch standing on the opposite sand bar, facing toward me but because of the foliage and trees I couldn’t see what he had. With the sure footedness of an excited heifer, my heart beating

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YE SYLVAN ARCHER

out of my body, I worked up still closer trying to confirm my suspi­ cion. There it was! As pretty a doe as you could ever want to see stand­ ing belly deep in water with her ears pitched forward—frozen stiff from fright, with not the slightest move of her body. I watched the frantic movements of my dog as he lunged to and fro, trying to get the lady to make a dash for freedom, as I stood wondering what to do. At this mo­ ment I heard a limb crack up the mountainside to my left and glancing around with my eyes glued in the general direction of the noise, I saw “The Mr. Buck” coming directly to­ ward me. My heart had stopped beating two minutes before and my throat felt as though water had never touched it. On he came. The slope of the mountain caused him to keep all four feet together as he slid foot by foot with his buttocks almost touching the dirt behind him. I be­ gan to draw slowly as he came closer and closer. By the time he got even with me I had picked my spot and had a full draw. I let drive and bang—or swish—or thud—or something.Thirty feet away his four legs folded up as though they had been completely jerked out of their sockets. Not a sound did he make except that caused by his rolling down the hill about eight feet, where he finally came to a stop lodged against a large shrub. I ran to him with my bow cocked for another killing shot, which was not necessary as he was stone dead. I looked for my arrow but it was gone as completely as if a ghostly hand had spirited it away. Examining the puncture of the broadhead, running through and through, T walked back up the hill and in a line, not more than 20 feet away, my arrow lay completely spent in a pile of brush.

Back to the deer and to the problem of getting him back to camp. 135 pounds was much too large for me to handle alone and the only thing I could do was to get help. T managed to drag him to an uphill position.

There I opened him up and. after re­ lieving him of this weight, I finally got him tWo-thirds clear of the ground, gambled to a tree limb. With his tail as evidence I started back to camp. When I arrived, my wife and kiddies and Janetta were as thrilled as I. They wanted to see

March, 1943

the real thing; the tail wasn’t enough proof. We had a light lunch and back to the deer went we five. They looked him oyer and still doubted me. I cut off” one of his hams and back to the camp we went again.

By this time I was pretty well corked from walking.

About 5 P. M. I got two men who were working in a lumber mill near­ by to help me and we made the final trip deerward. We were back by dusk and had him skinned, washed out and gambled in a nearby tree. I gave most of the meat to the men for their kindness and they were well pleased to have fresh meat in their camp.

Did I eat and sleep that night!

Now that an archer’s dream has come true I hope that other archers might fulfill that same dream.

It will be many vacations before I will have as fine luck for exactly ten days later my dog Punch and I picked on an original “wild boar” long snouter. It was similar to the deer hunt, but this time the boar was out to kill us. I was chased on and off a log a few times and Punch al­ most winded by the hard blows in his stomach as the hog would send him flying over his back. My first shot was high in the spine with no damage done. Number two passed through his lung cavity lodging in his shoulder blade. Number three in his other side behind the shoulder, dropped Mr. Pig. Blood-curdling squeals bellowed forth. I charged him. feeding him two more broad­ heads which went home—and then silence.

Pork on the table—vacation over —homeward bound. Now my restau­ rant is open with much less meat than I got in the mountains. I think I’ll go back where I’m sure of meat —and soon.

(Bill has received his Art Young nin and is very much pleased with it.—Ed.)

Dr. Delmar Pletcher, well known field archer, formerly of Bakersfield, California, is now 1st Lt. Pletcher, Station Hospital Dental Clinic. Rob­ ins Field, Georgia. Since Lt. Pletcher has been in the army Ye Sylvan Archer hasn’t been able to keen up with him but he thinks he will “stay put” for a while now.

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

March, 1943

3

Ideas in Arrowhead Design

By Wesley Blundell, Muskegon, Michigan

There are dozens of broadhead de­ signs on the market, each with a reason for the variation of design.

Some have good points and many have faults. Some will be for big game and some for small game. Per­ haps no one design will incorporate all desirable features.

There seems to be two schools of thought. One perfers the small blade and light shaft for speed and easy bone penetration. The smaller blade requires less feather and less spiral to keep a true flight. The other goes for the large blade and heavy shaft to secure penetration by greater momentum and cause faster bleeding. The wider blades call for

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higher, longer feathers and more spiral. This combination with a heavy bow quite often results in a noisy arrow.

Broadhead design can bring forth as many arguments as can spine and cast. Some argue with trophies to back them up and others merely ex­ press opinions. Archery will never go stale as long as we argue and strive to improve our equipment.

For some time I have been trying to develop a broadhead that had everything. How well I have suc­ ceeded I will leave to those of you who are willing to copy the design and try it out for yourselves.

I have made some crude drawings of the blade. No. 1 blade is a I%x3% spear point type drawn for comparison. No. 4 is my design drawn inside a popular type of the same dimensions. Notice that the same size hole will be made with my blade with about half of the amount of steel and it should be a good bone spliter. There is enough strength in the point to keep it from curling up. This would be a head for 70 pound bows and up. No. 2 head would be for bows 55 pounds and No. 3 for bows up to 55 pounds.

All 3 blades are twice as long as they are wide and require less feather and less spiral than other blades of equal width. I do not claim to be an authority on broadheads, but I offer you the drawings for what they are worth, and urge you to make up a couple, solder them securely, put them on a birch shaft and give them the works. I hope some manufacturer finds the design worthy of his at­ tention and puts them on the market as they are hard to make by hand.

We hear that Kore Duryee has been in the hospital but do not have particulars. Hope it is nothing serious. (Later—Kore had torn the main muscle of his right thigh about two inches from the knee cap. Had it sewed back and will be in the hospital for two weeks. He has it in a plaster cast from right heel to around both hips.)

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

4

Ur #glitan Official Publication of the National Field Archery Association

Published the twentieth of each month at 505 North 11th Street, Corvallis, Oregon.

J. E. Davis........ Editor and Publisher Subscription Price ...... $1.00 per year Foreign Subscription .... $1.25 per yr.

Single Copies ........................... 10 cents Advertising Rates on Application Entered as second - class matter June 25, 1942, at the post office at Corvallis, Oregon, under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Editorial We have recently learned that our bow-maker, violin-maker, wood carv­ er friend, Bill King, is having trouble with an infection in one of his legs and is not able to work much. As one of his friends writes. Bill is a “grand old craftsman.” Bill recently sent us a beautiful wood carving of a bob cat with a wild goose. We are not a connoisseur of art but we can see the wonderfully artistic lines of the carving and the superb technique of the master craftsman. Bill asked, “Do you remember the time you shot a wild goose with bow and arrow on a little lake in Eastern Oregon and when you went into the woods to get your goose a wild cat had beat you to it? If you don’t, you do not have as good an imagination as I think you have.” Under such a stimulus we could imagine even that.

We hope Bill will soon be his old active self.

V. D. McCauley, secretary of the Oregon State Archery Association, is somewhere, serving with the 31st U. S. Naval Construction Bn. Mac says, “There is no archery news to send you from here. If I had shop facilities I would make an arrow box of the local wood. I learned that it is not suitable for bows as it gets too brittle and brackish when well dried. It has been tried with only

March, 1943

mediocre results. Some of it does make nice novelties however. I don’t seem to find time to work much of it though.”

Mrs. Keasey gives us the informatilon that her son Gilman, former national champion and well known to archers everywhere as co-author with Miss Natalie Reichart of “Modern Methods in Archery,” is somewhere in the South Pacific with the Naval Construction Bn. Gilman says he could enjoy basking in the shade of the palm trees if he had time to bask.

Gilman’s address is Gilman Keasey, Navy 8210. Care of Fleet R'ost Office, San Francisco, California. , At the height of the English long­ bow’s fame, continental people used the cross-bow, shooting quarrels or bolts. These cross-bows were power­ ful weapons. The bow was made of steel, requiring a portable hand­ windlass to bend it. Before the present disturbance in Europe, one of the Emperor Maximilian’s cross­ bows was to be seen in Vienna. The steel of this bow was 4 inches wide and % inch thick, and the bow string was 27 inches long. These cross-bows were very clumsily stocked, never­ theless their users made good shoot­ ing with them.—Richard Clapham in Archery News, England.

OHIO ARCHERY MATTERS Since Dick Stutz, secretary and treasurer of the Ohio Federation Archers, has gone to work for Uncle Sam in the Marines, the president, W. T. Lewis, 474 Wilson Road, Columbus, has taken over his duties for the time being and all correspon­ dence should be addressed to Mr. Wilson. He writes the bulletin. “We all want to wish Dick the best of luck in his new adventure and we are sure he will come through with flying colors. We sure miss you Dick, your cheery smile and wonderful ad­ vice. But I guess you are doing your part, so we must try and do ours at home.”

The Bulletin has been designated as official organ for the Archers to present news and announcements as they develop. —Ohio Conservation Bulletin.

March, 1943

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

5

Blunts from the Old Stump By the President The Michigan Archers Association had its annual business meeting at Lansing on March 7th to plan this year’s program. The decision was unanimous against abandoning tourn­ aments for the duration. They figure that if tournaments are held at cen­ tral locations archers will attend.

Four District Field Tournaments and four Target Tournaments will be held this year in addition to the champion­ ship target and field meets. The tournaments held in concentrated areas will assure good local turnout, and out-state archers will also have an opportunity to attend. Mail tourn­ aments will also be held for those who cannot attend district meets.

This is the logical solution to keep archery active in time of restricted transportation due to gas rationing.

Other states can well follow the Michigan example. Local clubs must be active during this war period, and local tournaments sponsored by state associations will help to keep up arch­ ery interest.

The necessity of local clubs keep­ ing up their local activities is im­ perative, because of the increasing interest in archery. The best indica­ tion of this increase is the archery business of tackle manufacturers.

One tackle manufacturer in the cen­ tral states states that they have the biggest volume of business in their entire history. Another manufac­ turer says they are behind on orders for 4000 quivers and 5000 shooting gloves. They can’t make tackle fast enough. Curtailment in other sports is creating a lot of new archery en­ thusiasts. It is up to the local clubs to make their facilities available for these new archers. Give your local club and its activities publicity in your local papers so these new archers can find you.

The NFAA Summer Mail Tourn­ aments will soon start. Each local club should put on an NFAA Field Tournament once a month. You can make the occasion a social gathering as well as a tournament, and use your scores for the ntjonthly mail matches. Why not send in all your

club scores at such a tournament?

We can’t all win, but we can all support the mail matches. It’s a lot of fun and the scores are only second­ ary.

Charles B. Hooper, 1423 25th St., Ogden, Utah, is one of the pioneers of archery in that section. He has hunted with the bow $or thirteen years, and shot squirrels and rabbits in that state when there were very few hunting with the bow.

That there is a real need for authoritative information on archery tackle is shown by a letter from Teddy Lunsford, of Albuquerque, N. M. in which he states, “I saw three beginners come on the field for their first try at field archery. The first had a 4 foot 8 inch bow about 70 pounds at 24 inches and had a set of % inch, 30 inch arrows. The second, a six-footer, had a long heavy bow and 26 inch, 5/16 low grade birch arrows. The third had a 30 pound target bow and light target arrows. The above mentioned tackle was all purchased new.” Be­ ginners do have trouble buying the right tackle. This is largely due to the fact that retail dealers fre­ quently are not archers. Manufac­ turers should instruct dealers who are not familiar with archery of the proper equipment for field hunting and target. It is poor business to sell badly matched equipment, and not suited for the purpose for which it is used nor fitted to the person who will use it. Poorly matched equip­ ment will not only lose a customer, but probably an archer, as well. The Handbook will help beginners to secure proper equipment. When you receive your new 1943 Field Archery Handbook we suggest you give your 1942 book to some beginner who is not a member of the NFAA. It will help him and the NFAA also.

We are pleased to see Alfonso Gonzales of Bakersfield, California, take a second place in the 1942 National Field Tournaments.

He loves the bow and has worked hard to win. We congratulate him on his achievment.

Gonzales uses a 55

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pound bow, 11/32 arrows, 27% inches long, with four feathers.

Kore Duryee shot a score of 635 in the winter indoor mail tournament.

Never missed a target in the 56 tar­ gets. He says, “It really is quite in­ teresting, and I think very good practice.” Have your local clubs plan on shooting in the indoor winter tournament next year. If you have 30 yards outdoors near your home, set up a couple of bales of straw and shoot the regulation indoor field round for practice when you can’t get out to your outdoor range. It’s good fun and good practice.

George R. Robinson, Frankfort, Michigan, is one of our old time field archers. He was a field archer in 1879 and 1880. He says the popular bows then were lemonwood and lancewood, and that Michigan at that time had a number of good clubs.

Robinson has a roving course near his summer resort. If travel restric­ tions this summer permit it will be well worth your while to pay George Robinson a visit.

During the bow season in Watoga State Park, November 30th to De­ cember 5th inclusive, the West Vir­ ginia Bow and Arrow Hunters Club was organized with William H. Har­ mon, 901 Hazelwood Ave., Charleston, W. Va., as president. Harmon says, “There are many field archers in this state but they are not organized in any way. I know that there are more stump shooters than there are target archers in this vicinity .... perhaps field archery will help to sell archery in West Virginia. I personally like target archery very much, but my first love was stump shooting. I see no reason why I cannot enjoy both.”

West Virginia archers interested in organizing should contact Harmon.

You have the nucleus of a good field organization in your state, and your Game Commission is very favorable to our sport.

Earle Stanley Gardner, of Teme­ cula, California, express the senti­ ments of all of us when he wrote to John Yount, the secretary, as follows: “Lots of the best, and con­ gratulations to you for your untiring devotion and loyalty to archery. It’s some of you fellows who keep plug­ ging along that make it possible for a lot of the rest of us to derive a

March, 1943

lot of enjoyment. More power to you.”

“Davy” Davidson, of Springfield, N. J. has been visiting in Southern California. He paid Mr. and Mrs. John Yount, of Redlands, California, a visit, and also Ken Moore, of Los Angeles. He and Ken took about 500 feet of field archery film, and should have some interesting action pictures for the folks in the East.

Mr. McCune and Mr. Simmons, of Ben Pearson Qompany, are pre­ paring some shop kinks for archers which will be published later. This company is making a tremendous amount of archery equipment for the recreational centers in army camps, and will also furnish these army 'camps with many hundred copies of the new Field Archery Handbook.

When the war is over the NFAA will hold annual national tournments where we can all get together, East and West, North and South.

Michigan has already put in the first bid for the first National Tourn­ ament, probably to be held at Battle Creek. How about it?

OLYMPIC BOWMEN LEAGUE Reports are in for the fifth and final match of this year’s Olympic Bowmen League mail tournament.

Team final totals of the ten high men’s team are as follows: Cleveland Archery Club No 1 15586 Madison Archery Club 15566 New York Archers No. 1 15292 Grand Rapids Archery Club 15248 Lancaster Archery Club 15211 Akron Archers 15073 Cleveland Archery Club No. 2 14990 Downtown Y.M.C.A. Club 14696 New York Archers No. 2 14611 York Archers 14516 The five highest Women’s team totals were as follows: University of Connecticut 15024 Cleveland Archery Club 14538 York Archers 13168 Kohler Archery Club 12410 University of Washington 11972 (These ^scores may not be exactly correct as our copy was not clear.—Ed.) High, individual scores for men _____ 4-1, „ -r;— — shooting the five matches: Per. G. Ave. John Schwoegler 46 416 796.4 Frank Tenn 30 387 784.4

March, 1943

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

Earl Taylor 30 383 783.2 Fred Schweitzer 31 386 782.

Bill Haynes 27 378 780.8 Charles Burton 28 380 779.6 Bill Boden 20 374 779.2 Rudy Unseld 21 367 776.8 17 346 768.4 Herb Krohmann Russ Reynolds 14 344 764.

High _ individual scores for women shooting the five matches: Mrs. Robert Leaman 59 434 803.6 Dorothy Stone 18 362 770.8 Bernice Bamforth 13 331 762.4 Eleanor Moczadlo 12 306 748.8 Helen Kinsey 2 300 745.6 Martha Fath 5 279 737.2 Kathleen Wheeler 2 268 729.2 Maria Krohmann 2 250 718.4 Helen Timko 5 247 713.6 Ruth Knisley 1 234 710.8 Only two records were broken this year:The individual high average of Mrs. S. Robert Leaman of 803.6 which bettered the 1940 record of 785.2 held by Mrs. Belvia Carter, and Mrs. Leaman’s individual high single match score of 806, two points better than Mrs. Leaman’s 1942 rec­ ord. For the first time a woman holds the record over the men for both the individual high average and individual high single match. Mrs. Leaman shot 59 perfects for the five matches as compared with Mrs. Carter’s 67 for ten matches in 1940, and 434 golds as compared with Mrs. Carter’s 778 golds, also in 1940.

Kore Duryee’s final comments on the tournament are as follows: “Again we have finished another year’s competition of the Olympic Bowmen League. Many are happy at the scores they made, and many are sadly disappointed.

“For the men’s teams, the last match shows Madison, Cleveland, and New York in order. For the whole contest the same teams remained in the same positions, It was a very close race between Cleveland and Madison.

“Individually, the men stand as fvilV«TU JLVX , UUV UVIltU • VV4.H follows for. the JLAViC five Hit. matches: John Schwoegler of Madison. Frank Tenn of Cleveland, and Earl' Taylor 4’ of Rockville.

“We are glad to get three more team reports from Dunedin, New Zealand, and had hoped the last vfould get here. Their 2nd match was shot the last week in November,

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and the 3rd and 4th the 1st and 2nd weeks in December. The letter was air mailed and we received it last week, nearly three months later.

“For the women, the last match showed University of Connecticut first, Cleveland second, ax and York third. For the five match*ics these teams are in the same order.

“Individually, Mrs. S. Robert Leaman made a record that will stand for some time—803.6. That is better than Keasey’s record for the men of 802.4 made in 1938. It is a shame that we were not shooting 10 matches this year as I am sure that Mrs. Leaman would have kept it up and might have made that possible 810.

“The Lancaster team was Mr. and Mrs. S. Robert Leaman and Vernon and Helen Kinsey. Do not know if the latter are husband and wife but if they are, I will bet there is not another club in the country that has two couples that could beat them.

“This report was made up in the Seattle General Hospital. Had torn, the main muscle of my right thigh two inches from the knee cap. Had it sewed back two days ago. Am now, and will be for two weeks, in a plaster cast from my right heel to clear around both hips. Tired of it already.”

“Some rich fellers (in gas) are still doing a little shooting but me doing war work with an ‘A’ card don’t have much time to get off the home lot; but I am doing work that builds up my muscle and I hope the Miks will build up my eyes for some day I may get out of the lower brackets, ‘I hope!’—Geo. F. Miles, Los Angeles.

South Seattle archers are organ­ izing a new field archery club and have a new 14 target roving course about finished. The site of the course is heavily wooded with a deep ravine and creek running through the center of it. All shots are typical of those encountered in hunting deer in the Washington deer country. Up and down hill shots predominate. Bert Wallis and Kore Duryee are on the inspection committee. It is expected that the last round of the winter tournament will be shot on the new course.

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March, 1943

1943 Indoor NF A A Tournament

By Karl E. Palmatier 56 Target Score

Han- Han­ di­ dicap cap Score

169-635 157-573 146-536 129-470 142-548 137-521 114-422 135-531 118-460 117-447 132-496

320 330 340 400 320 320 390 270 300 290 200 300

955 903 876 870 868 841 812 801 760 737 696 557

20 150 90

493 491 469

101-399 123-465 90-298 74-284

130 60 180 130

529 525 478 414

47-171 49-173

99-371 94-330

180 160

551 490

33-125

75-283

28 Target Score

28 Target Score

71-273 71-253 64-232 75-297 70-268

86-300 75-283 65-241 67-251 67-253

67-265 71-269 53-213

68-266 47-191 64-234

65-257 67-251 54-198

58-230 47-181

125-480 101-379

60-226

67-247

46-168 51-185

53-211 47-169

127-473 93-341 99-379 98-354

53-203 55-193

51-193

104-396

52-200 61-235 49-161 41-165

49-199 62-230 41-137 33-119

52-200 45-157

Elaine Mentzer, Ft. Wayne, Ind

42-158

The Indoor Mail Tournament championship standing report of the NFAA for 1943 will appear in the next issue.

The championship standing is based on an average of the best three scores. Actual score is used.

The ribbons for the last three out­ door mail tournaments for 1942 have been mailed along with the cham­ pionship standing ribbons.

Some questions have been asked concerning the handicap to start

with. This is how it was worked out.

The actual average of the outdoor mail tournament scores for 1942 were used if you shot in them. An archer may have been in the Expert Bow­ man Class at the end of the season but his average may have been within the Bowman Class limits. He was thus classed in the Bowman Class for the first Indoor Mail Tournament.

New archers were not handicaped

EXPERT BOWMAN CLASS—

Kore T. Duryee,Seattle James Dundas, Flint, Mich. ..

Lewis Richardson, Flint, Mich.

Tracy Stalker, Flint, Mich Leo Hoffmeyer, Flint, Mich. ..

C. Buck, Flint, Mich A. T. Wallis, Seattle, Wash. ..

Art Coe, Ft. Wayne, Ind Ken Furry, Ft. Wayne, Ind. ..

A. J. Michelson, Flint, Mich. ..

W. R. Wallis, Seattle, Wash. ..

Van Stover, Ft. Wayne, Ind. ..

Noel Spore, Ft. Wayne, Ind. ..

Harry Sargent, Flint, Mich. ..

BOWMAN CLASS— G. S. Wagner, Flint, Mich .............

Chester Babcock, Seattle, Wash Harold Houser, Ft. Wayne. Ind E. H. Willsher, Flint, Mich.......... i.

NOVICE CLASS— Ray Lepper, Ft. Wayne, Ind 33. Bredimus, Seattle, Wash EXPERT BOWMAN CLASS—

Rosemary Furry, Ft. Wayne, Ind Lulu Stalker, Flint, Mich. .

Betty Richardson, Flint, Mich Bertha Hoffmeyer, Flint, Mich

BOWMAN CLASS— Mabie Meade, Flint, Mich.

Donna Diehl, Flint, Mich.

NOVICE CLASS—

March, 1943

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

until four twenty-eight target scores had been received.

Because of the few meets the rib­ bons for all tournaments will be ordered at one time.

What are your club plans for 1943?

Michigan is to have four district field archery tournaments and a statewide tournament.

Karl E. Palmatier, Tournament Secretary

Field Archery In New Jersey

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By F. F. Theobald Field Archery has decidedly taken a foot-hold in New Jersey. The 1942 New Jersey State Field Meet held at Weasel Brook Park in Clifton, N. J., was the most outstanding meet yet held in this part of the country. The shoot was sponsored by the WO-PENO Archers who are members of the New Jersey Archery Association.

At a recent meeting of the New Jersey Archery Association’s board of governors, president William Jackson of Newark, N. J., appointed the following members to the associa­ tion’s Field Archery Committee: Ray Laizure of Clifton, N. J., chairman; Larry Heath of Mountainside, N. J.; T. C. Davidson of Springfield, N. J.; and John McIlwain of Paterson, N. J. Reports indicate that this commit­ tee is planning both a spring and fall Field Meet. Dates have not as yet been set for these tournaments which will be sponsored by the New Jersey Archery Association. Many target archers attended last year’s State Field Meet and have expressed the desire to compete with the field arch­ ers again this year.

It is hoped that the committee will again be able to hold the meets at Weasel Brook Park where a standard 28 target course was laid out to give shots from 20 to 80 yards. This course provided two long shots over water hazards which proved interesting and made some archers wish to equip their arrows with water wings.

Interest in archery throughout the state has increased during the past year, and is expected to reach a new all time high during 1943. The New Jersey Archery Association will re­ main very active and plans to carry on the excellent work it has done in the past. Plans are being formulated to hold both the annual spring and

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fall target tournaments at Rahway, New Jersey. The spring tournament is scheduled for Sunday, May 16, and preliminary surveys indicate a good turnout of archers for this tourna­ ment. Plans for these tournaments are in the hands of George Armour of Rahway, N. J., chairman; Stewart Hegeman of Glen Ridge, N. J.; and Ann Weber of Bloomfield, N. J.; and George Funke of Garfield, N. J. Interest in the use of the bow and arrow for hunting has shown a defi­ nite increase and the New Jersey Archery Asociation has provided a hunting committee consisting of Frank Humphreys of Camden, N. J. as chairman; Roswell Hait of Whippany, N. J.; and Dr. Uel Reynolds of New Brunswick, N. J. It is hoped that this committee might aid the archers in obtaining special seasons and restricted areas in which to do their hunting.

During the era of the great Sho­ gun families, the long-bow was the national weapon (of Japan). In its construction, however, it differed considerably from our own yew bow.

The Japanese bow was made of mul­ berry, and on either side of it was laid a strip of fire toughened bam­ boo, the whole being then bound to­ gether by thin withes of rattan, which were finished off at the tips with a covering of laquered shark­ skin. Then the whole bow was paint­ ed with many coats of polished lac­ quer which protected it from the weather. Such a bow was practically everlasting, light and elastic. The arrows were made of cane or bamboo, feathered in the usual way. For the purpose of war an arrow was about 3 feet long. Arrow heads varied in design. They were made of wrought steel, well tempered, and sometimes inlaid or engraved. According to their design so were they given names such as “Armour-piercer,” “Bowel­ raker,” etc. The Japanese were great steel workers, an art with which they are equally familiar today.— Richard Clapham in Archery News, England.

10

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

March, 1943

Forms of Savage Bows

By C. J. Longman, in “Badminton Archery” The single stave wooden bow is widely distributed iover the world.

Except in the island of Java, no other is used throughout the Pacific, south of the Tropic of Cancer; and, with certain trifling exceptions, the same may be said of the entire African continent. It occupies almost the whole of South America, and is found mixed with other forms in North America up to the regions inhabited by the Eskimo. It is also largely found in Southern Asia.

Rarely, however, save in Western Europe, do we find it the weapon of a warlike and powerful race.

Throughout these regions the weapon is a feeble one, as compared with the European yew bow, or the powerful and highly finished composite bow of Asia. It is serviceable for hunting, and no doubt was still more so be­ fore the game had been rendered wild by firearms. It is valuable for tribal wars, especially for fighting in the protection of forests, where a body of savages can harass an enemy with silent arrows, which hardly give any indication of the whereabouts of the archers; while in many regions poison is smeared on the points, of so deadly a character that a scratch would prove fatal. But the weapon is too feeble to cope with the spear and the sword in the open field, and we find it more in use among the weaker than the dominant races. In Africa, for instance, we find that the Arabs of the Soudan, the Masai of East Africa, and the Zulus and their cousins, the Matabele of the South, fight with the spear; with what vigor and bravery many a British regi­ ment can tell. But white men have seldom found any vigorous resistance from natives armed with the bow.

The feebler Hottentots, the diminu­ tive Bushmen, the hunting tribes of Central Africa, and many .others have often harassed the white men’s caravan on the march through the dense forest, but they have never emulated the deeds of Fuzzy Wuzzy, who, as we well know, with his spear charged and “broke a British square.”

Herr Ratzel bears -witness to the

inferiority of the African bow to the spear. He says, “In the basin of the Congo the bow has retired before the spear.”

The typical African form has per­ sisted from time i m memorial.

The bow that was made over 2000 years ago might easily be mistaken for those which were made probably within the last twenty or thirty years.

This form varies considerably among different tribes, and probably even with the different bows from the same tribe. Thus some bows are long­ er and others shorter, some are care­ fully finished, others are rougher, and even are left with the bark on.

Some tribes use animal sinews for their strings, others rattan, or fibers from other plants. In some cases a spare length of string is wound round the bow and in others the bow is wholly or partially wrapped with snake or lizard skin or even iron rings. These wrappings are in some cases, no doubt, ornamental, and in others they help to preserve the bow, especially from longitudinal splits or “shakes.” It does not seem possible that any transverse wrappings can be put on with the idea of reinforcing the power of the bow, though Herr Ratzel suggests that this may be the case. One feature appears to be al­ most universal, namely, that the string is permanently fixed at both ends. The stave is saturated with oil and bent to the required shape over a fire. The string is then finally fixed.

The practice of keeping the bow permanently strung is, in fact, very detrimental to the cast of the bow.

To fix a string comparatively loosely to a stave which has been molded into the shape of a strung bow by the method above described, might at first appear to be less harmful than keeping a straight stave always strung, as little or no tension would exist. The latter system is, however, in reality the worse of the two, as the mischief is already done by warping the stave permanently out of its original shape. In its natural shape

11 YE SYLVAN ARCHER all over, pushing the tusk from him it would possess sufficient energy to as he works. recover its orginial form when the string is loosed, and part of this When the surface of the bow has elasticity is wasted when the fibres been smoothed, it is ornamented with are softened and moulded so as to dog-tooth patterns, the edge of the retain permanently a bent form. In Cyrena shell being artificially ser­ the same way, an English self-yew rated for the purpose. When finished bow, after much work, will begin to the bow is waxed all over. Should the “follow the string”—that is to say, bow be some time in the making, the it remains permanently somewhat worker occasionally leaves the wood bent when unstrung. When this soaking in water for a few hours occurs a bow is often softer and to soften it and make it easier to pleasanter to shoot with than it is work. A bow does not ordinarily take in the first vigor of its youth, all more than four days to make. Finally jar having disappeared. But part of each end is wound round for about its elasticity is gone, never to return. two inches with fine twine, to make Many varities of the single stave a projection on which the bowstring wooden bow exist in the islands of the is to rest. As the bows, are not made Indian Ocean and the Pacific, one of seasoned wood, they do not last of the most peculiar of which is long, but soon split, and, indeed, used by the natives of the Andaman their shape is not one which is likely Islands. to stand much work.

The Andaman bow presents some­ The next thing is the string, which what the appearance of a two-bladed is made of yolba fibre (Anadendron paddle, the limbs each consisting of panicid^tuvi), which is spun by being a thin blade tapering to a point at rolled on the thigh. The string is the upper and lower ends respective­ then carefully waxed with beeswax, ly, and being merged into a round and finished with a whipping of handle in the center. twine and a knot where the arrow Two forms of this bow exist, viz., is held. The string is first slipped on the North Andaman bow, in which to the upper or bent end of the bow the upper limb is much more bent which is then reversed and placed than the lower; and the South An­ on the ground against a stone, or in daman, in which the limbs are nearly a nick, and the lower end is pulled even, buti are somewhat S-shaped down. The stringing and unstringing when unstrung. are done at the lower or straight Several different woods are used end of the South Andaman bow. for bow making, the important point The shafts of the arrows are made being that the piece of wood selected from bamboo, with a foreshaft of should be nearly the same shape as hardwood, as is commonly the case the finished weapon; that is to say, in the Pacific Islands. The butt of bent in the case of the Northern, and the arrow is often scored with Cyrena straight in the case of the Southern shell, though not invariably. This bow. would depend upon the particular Having selected a suitable tree release practiced by the artificer. If and barked it, the native then cuts he used the primary release from it down with his adze and proceeds between the forefinger and thumb to rough out his bow with the same the scoring would give a better hold. weapon. By degrees the bow begins The largest game pursued with to assume its peculiar paddle shape, the bow in the Andamans is the wild the ends are pointed, and the “waist” pig, and for this purpose heavier and is cut out for the handle. stronger arrows are needed; they are The bow is now ready for finishing. made from branches of trees and are straightened by hand and tested by The bowyer sits on the ground, and takes hold of the end of the bow be­ eye—a rough test in use two thou­ tween the first and second toes of sand years ago by the ancient Greeks, his left foot.He discards his adze, as their coins testify. When moder­ ately straight they are stuck into takes the tusk of . a boar, which has been sharpened with a Cyrena the ground round a low fire to dry shell, in his right hand, and steady­ slowly. The English archers’ test of straightness by spinning an arrow ing the bow with his left, smooths it

March, 1943

12

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

with the right hand on the nails of the left is probably not known, and even if it were, it is to be feared few Andaman arrows would go through the ordeal successfully.

It is hard to say how this peculiar form of bow arose. The broad flat shape of the limbs must offer more resistance to the air than the same amount of wood in a cylindrical form, and, in fact, the bow is not a good one. A somewhat similar shape is occasionally found among the Oregon Indians and also among the com­ posite bows of the Eskimos. The Es­ kimo cannot command the use of live wood, but depend upon drift wood; and if this came to them in form of a thin plank, the requisite strength could only be obtained by making the limbs broad.

It is, however, important to note that both the Oregon bow and rhe Andaman bow are reflex when strung —that is to say, they are drawn in the reverse direction to the curve which the bow assumes when un­ strung. If the wood were thick, un­ less the wood were of wonderfully elastic and compressible character, this must result in fracture; it would, therefore, be a necessity to make the blade thin, and the only way to get the requisite strength would be to broaden it. Given, therefore, the in­ tention to make a reflex bow, the paddle shape is probably the best form for a single stave bow. Both in the case of the Oregon Indians and in that of the Andaman Islanders true composite bows, which are al­ ways reflex, are to be found in suf­ ficient proximity to make it possible that these bows, both in their recurving and in their flatten­ ed limbs, are, in fact, a reminiscence of the composite bow.

(The Editor of Ye Sylvan Archer has a short bow made by an octogen­ arian who said he learned bow mak­ ing from the Oregon Indians when he played with Indian children as a boy. The bow is of the paddle type, constructed of Oregon white oak, Quercus garryana.)

The upper limb of the South An­ daman bow, which is much more bent than the lower limb, recalls a similar form in various parts of the world.

It occurs in greater or less degree in Africa, in New Guinea, in the

March, 1943

New Hebrides, and also in Japan. In the Japanese bow the upper limb is far weaker than the lower, the handle or centre of resistance being about one-third the way up. In the New Hebrides bow the weak upper limb is also associated with the Sshaped curved lower limb, which is found in the North Andaman. All these examples, however, suggest our old friend the primitive “gardeners” bow made from a growing stick weak­ er above than below, and it is pos­ sible that they represent an acciden­ tal peculiarity of shape which has survived from the days when bows were made after the gardener’s fashion, and has been reproduced with no conscious reason after the methods of manufacture have been improved.

A very widely distributed peculiar­ ity of the single-stave wooden bow, and one which is somewhat difficult of explanation, is a longitudal groove or furrow sometimes running down the back, and sometimes the belly, of the bow. Major von Wissmann found this groove in some of the bows of tribes south of the Congo, and says it is characteristic of the Ba Kuba. Herr Ratzel in this fact sees evidence in favour of his theory of common descent between the Afri­ can negroes and the Melanesians.

The peculiarity is, however, too wide­ ly spread to afford much support to this theory. The most marked ex­ ample is in the Tongan bow, in the back of which is cut a deep furrow in which an arrow is carried. This practice cannot be favourable to the straightness of the arrow, but as it is only used for shooting rats at very close quarters that may be immate­ rial. It also exists in the bamboo bows of New Guinea (not in those made of palm-wood), in the Fiji bow, in the New Hebrides bow and in the Friend­ ly Islands. In the Pitt Rivers collec­ tion at Oxford is a Beddah bow with the same groove, and it is a common feature in the hard-wood bows of South America. There is also in the Berlin Ethnographical Muesum a Bhil bow with a groove down the back, and in the Dresden Museum is a South American bow, in which a plaited fibre cord is tightly bound in­ to the groove down the back, evident­ ly to reinforce the spring of the

March, 1943

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

bow after the fashion of the compos­ ite form. In the Solomon Islands bows are frequently decorated with two parallel grooves down the belly, filled with black resin.

General Pitt Rivers sugests that the object of the grooves is to carry a spare arrow. In the case of the Tongan bow it undoubtedly is used to carry an arrow, which is tied into the furrow while the bow is not in use. This practice, however, does not seem to obtain elsewhere, and only in the Tongan case and in the South American above quoted is the groove of any practical value, while in all cases where a furrow is artificially cut it must weaken the bow.

The simplest explanation of a phe­ nomenon which has been much dis­ cussed, and aparently the only one which covers all instances, will be found by going back to natural causes. The earliest form of the bow, as we have seen, is a growing stem of suitable size. The first improve­ ment would be to take a thicker stem and split it in two; in the centre where the pith runs up we would at once have a natural furrow, and this is, in fact, the furrow still observed in the bamboo bows, interrupted at intervals by the joints of the cane.

In the case of bows made from wood in which no natural joints occur the furrow would be continuous. When the bowyer’s craft advanced beyond the method of splitting a stave in two, and men learnt how to fashion bows from thick trunks of trees, the furrow was often continued for dec­ orative purposes, and in the two cases we have mentioned it was turned to practical account.

There can be no doubt that the single-stave wooden bow was the or­ iginal form throughout the contin­ ent of Asia, as in other parts of the world. It has, however, been driven out by the composite bow, which is superior to tbe wooden bow, except in its highest form, in Western Eu­ rope. It still lingers among the ab­ original tribes of India and Ceylon.

Those tribes, however, which relied on the inferior weapon were doomed to defeat. Their descendents still live among the hills—the Bhils, the Sourahs, the Veddahs, and so forth— a lowly and probably a degenerate race, still using the bow of their fore*

13

fathers, which is their ancient titledeed to the soil. Another remnant is to be found of the aboriginal inhabi­ tants of Asia in the Ainus of Sak­ halin and of Yesso.

Hundreds of years before the Jap­ anese landed in Yesso the Ainus were there, armed like their kinsmen of Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands with the old single-stave wooden bow. It availed them little against the supe­ rior weapons of their enemies, and they too are already degraded, and are doomed to extinction.

It is the races which can adapt themselves to new conditions which survive; those which were not suffi­ ciently versatile to live with the times and invent improved bows and arrows or adopt the inventions of others in old days went under, as do those races nowadays who endeavour to meet lead and villainous saltpetre with the bow and the arrow and the spear.

HEAVY vs. LIGHT ARROWS

By Damon Howatt, Yakima, Wash.

My hunting pardner, Ted Donelson, and I have often discussed the relative merits of the heavy versus the light hunting arrow. Ted shoots a 25 inch arrow whereas I shoot a 28 inch arrow. On Tuesday, Febru­ ary 23, at a local processing plant, a horse weighing about 1000 pounds was killed, skinned and hung up.

Seven arrows were shot from 60 to 70 pound bows. The shots were broadside through the heart and lungs. The bows were yew recurved and sinew backed. The results were as follows: 65 lb. bow, 700 grain arrow, through the body with considerable speed left.

60 lb. bow, 600 grain arrow, through all but the feathers.

60 lb. bow, 475 grain arrow, through all but the feathers.

70 lb. bow, 500 grain arrow, :___i. through and one-half inch into the wall.

Arrows were of lodge pole pine.

The test was not conclusive be­ cause the horse was skinned and the range was close; also three ribs were shot through and we do not know which arrows did it. However, I was surprised at the performance of the light arrows, speed being the equiva­ lent of weight in this case at least.

14

March, 1943

YE SYLVAN ARCHER

It was very interesting (in spite of the smell.)

Please mention Ye Sylvan Archer when writing advertisers.

We are pleased to enter the sub­ scription of Mr. George Scott, Sydney, N. S W., Australia as a gift of Damon Howatt of Yakima, Washington.

Paul H. Gordon Author of “The New Archery Producing

SUBSCRIBERS PLEASE NOTICE A cross appearing in this space means that your sub­ scription has expired and we would appreciate your prompt renewal so that your name may be kept on our mailing list.

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