I get a number of emails from folks wanting to know about the use of traditional bows (longbows and recurves) and arrows for survival. As in, if society collapses or the government goes out of business. So, to be quite honest, let me give you a quick primer on survival bows:

First, the advantage of them is they are quiet. As in, there won’t be a gunshot to attract hungry folks from hearing distance. The price you pay for that is this is not a skill you can learn in a day, a week, a month, or a year. It is a meditation, an art, and a discipline. It takes diligent, constant, and skilful practice to gain proficiency. Yes, you can run out and buy a compound bow and avoid this. However, it is a machine you better hope never breaks down because you won’t find parts in a collapsed society. The other thing is that it takes factory-made arrows. The traditional bow can use arrows made from bamboo garden stakes you can get at any home improvement store. Whaaaat???!!! Yes, I have made a lot of arrows from bamboo tomato stakes. I’ve also made them from various reeds, cane, and shoots growing naturally and harvested. When the ready-made arrow building supplies run out, functional arrows can be made with bamboo, cane, shoots, and so on and fletched with feathers from various birds. Broadheads can be cut from available steel which will be all over the place. And shaped and sharpened with a file. That’s what the Plains tribes did with wagon wheel rims.

Second, traditional archery, as I said, takes a commitment to the practice. The time to learn and become skilful is not when you are starving. There is no “best bow” out there which will shave time off of the practice. For that matter, there isn’t a “best bow”, either. The best bow is the one you shoot well. He who owns 1,000 bows might not be a bowman, but he who owns one bow and shoots it well can be called one. You have to handle a few bows and what I will say next will cause many to marvel. You have to handle a few bows and find the one that speaks to your inner voice. That is, the one that you just intuitively KNOW is the one that feels right. Then you must practice with it. Again and again and again.

Third, you need to learn how to make your own arrows. Period. Having people make arrows for you is a dangerous habit to get into if you’re thinking of your bow as a tool for survival in a very food-scarce society. You also need to KNOW what arrow is right for your bow and no one will know that better than you if you’ve done your homework. Running out of arrows and not knowing how to make them is a recipe for failure. Look, it isn’t that difficult once you master it. It takes time. But look at the tools we’ve got! My gosh, folks, they were making arrows with flint tools and sandstone and staying alive. And we’ve got steel tools and we need someone to make arrows for us?! No, I’m sorry, but if you’re getting into this discipline, you need to learn how to make your own arrows. The reason I don’t make arrows for sale is because the margin is too low. People can’t believe a quality set of arrows costs over $100 but that’s the labor I’ve got into them. Therefore, if you want a set of arrows half that price or even less, you need to make them yourself. And, really, you should be making them yourself anyway if you call yourself a bowman.

Fourth, it isn’t gear that makes a bowman. There’s tons of crap for sale out there and you don’t need most of it. I make arrows with a tiny hand saw, a hand-powered taper tool, a thumb plane, and sandpaper. I use sandpaper until it’s just paper because I don’t waste anything. Losing that, I can use blocks of sandstone I find. It isn’t overly complicated. Yes, some people spine their shafts and spend a C note and more on that tool called a spine tester. I suppose that’s fine if you’re into that. I’ve never used one and that makes me a heretic in the world of traditional archery. But I spine my shafts by feel with my hands. Once you get to the intuitive process of knowing, you can do this also. I don’t have power tools, either. What, the electricity will be on when the government takes a massive dump and Wall Street is a ghost town? Money does not buy skill. Skill costs sweat and time. And time is not money, so get over thinking that it is.  In fact, stop thinking. Just shoot.

More to come in the future.

——–“Walking Jack” Perry

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