Making a Bow and Arrow

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Simple observation and awareness of surroundings is a large part of wilderness survival. Mix in the natural human urge to tinker and play and you have a powerful combination for discovery. Today was “making a bow and arrow” day.

There is always some kind of adventure to be had in all wilderness travel, even if by wilderness we mean just a few hundred yards from “civilization”. All that is needed is to get out there and mix things up a bit. Walk, wander, and observe. It is amazing what you can find and do.

Fun Wilderness Survival Training

I have always maintained that many if not most of the major discoveries people have made over the millennia have been in a large part due to simple observation and play. The combination of these two great activities leads to the discovery and creation of stuff that has changed the course of human history.

Improvised Bow and Arrow
Improvised Bow and Arrow

A case in point is the bow and arrow. My guess is the discovery of how to make a bow and arrow was made through play.

Bow Staves

Bow Staves

This maple stump shattered as the tree fell during a storm, creating a number of long flat slabs of wood

Making a bow and arrow does not always have to be in the realm of those who practice hard core primitive tool making. Although the primitive tool making experts have the knowledge and experience necessary to make far better bows and arrows than the neophyte, with a little effort anyone can make a toy bow and arrow that is serviceable as a prototype and perhaps good enough for target practice or hunting small game.

Once you know how to make a toy bow and arrow you can move on to making more serious models that require expertise in the selection and processing of woods.

My Discovery of the Bow and Arrow

Last night a foot of fresh snow fell in the northern mountains where I live. And that makes for some excellent snowshoeing in the forest where few other people go, especially this time of year.

Somewhere along today’s hike I came upon the shattered trunk of an eight inch maple tree that had fallen over by the wind. As you can see in the picture the trunk broke so that long flat shards of wood were produced. Bending these shards of wood stored energy within them, so that when let go they would bounce back to their original shape. I immediately thought “bow and arrow”; a ready-made bow stave.

With my tomahawk I cut out three foot length from the most promising piece. Its width tapered from about ½ inch on each end to a maximum width of about 2-1/2 inches and its thickness was an even 1/3 inches.

I then simply cut notches at either end of the wood strip to hold a 550 paracord bow string.

Tying the paracord to one end of the bow stave, I then placed this end on the ground and bent the wood in the opposite direction to its natural curve by using my body weight for leverage. I could feel the force of the wood pushing upward against me as I tied the other end of the 550 paracord to complete the bowstring.

Springy Bow Stave

Springy Bow Stave

The naturally formed bow stave is springy and seems perfect for making an improvised survival bow and arrow

For arrows I cut off another sliver of wood from the shattered trunk, as well as some straight saplings that approximated the dimensions of what I thought an arrow should be. These arrows needed fletching made of feathers or some other material in order to fly straight but that could be done at a later time once I perfected my toy bow and arrow.

Homemade Bow and Arrow

Making the improvised bow and arrow was a learning experience that took all of three or four minutes to complete.

I have plans to make the bow more powerful by adding a second layer of wood to the bow stave, tying the two peices together with more 550 paracord. I could fletch the arrows with feathers or bits of thin material such as plastic or even aluminum foil. Fletching the arrows would improve the accuracy of arrow flight considerably.


Did the bow and arrows work?

Here is the video (the first video I have ever made - crude but it is a start!):

 

 

A picture taken at home of the bow made in just a few minutes from a shattered maple tree stump:

Bow Made in the Field

Bow Made in the Field

The bow quickly made in the field from a shattered maple stump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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travis
florida

Awesome! I'm an archery and hunting fan and this is a great survival web site.

Brad Koch
Lebenon,OH

I made a bow from a 3 to 4 foot piece of pvc pipe and some nylon string with just my hunting knife, now I know you wont find pvc pipe in the bush but it makes good practice as far as shooting with a home made bow and practice for making one goes.

Northern hunter
Northern Alberta Canada

if you got a few pieces of that maple stump you could use a strong pitch to glue them together to make it a bit thicker and then use your knife to carve out a better shape.  That would make a rather nice long lasting bow.

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