Bow was made for me. Short bows require short draw lengths. Good rule is to draw a selfbow half it's length, so a 45" bow should draw 22.5". So I adjust my anchor when shooting short bows. Instead of anchoring at the corner of my mouth, I anchor at the rear knuckle of my right thumb. My normal draw length is 27/28 inches, so shooting a bow this short adjustments have to be made.
You can't compare the draw on the tillering tree to me drawing the bow. First, the darn thing is pretty heavy, well real heavy. I had to hurry the wife to finish taking the pic as I could only keep it at my full draw for a few seconds. And the weight will only go up.
I have found that if I use 4 layers of sinew, then wrap the limbs, then re-tiller, I can make these osage bows bendy. Not so much with elm, but osage is awsome. As far as hand shock, there is none. I have however, if you noticed, braced the bow a little more than normal. I do this because I hate hitting my arm.
Also, my draw will vary depending on how far away the target is. I've shot the bow out to 20 yards with the anchor you see. If I go out to 30 yards for a 3D shoot, I'll just sneak the draw back a little bit.
