Thanks for the link Alan. It will take me a while to go through them. Couple of questions. On Harry Drakes bow, what is all the sheet metal? And the foot bow shots, I'm assuming that's you, is that a paper testing device out front?
No, I am not in the footbow pictures or videos since I am operating the camera. That is young Braylon Pawluk. I’m told that I look a few decades older! Braylon wanted to to give it a try, so I set him up for a round of shots at progressively longer draw lengths. Unfortunately, we were having some trouble with the release mechanism so he never got fully extended, but he ended up being the first junior to have flung an arrow beyond the 1000 yard line. So I think I will call him “1K” from now on.
Most of the footbow shooting this year took place at a separate event at the Smith Creek dry lake bed near Austin, Nevada. The ground at Smith Creek is much harder and keeps the arrows from tunneling below the surface. This is important because it is impossible to measure how far an arrow went if it can’t be found!
Yes, the extension out front is for holding a piece of paper which gives some feedback on how clean the shots are. Otherwise, there is no way to tell if the arrow is coming out straight or sideways. You can’t see anything at release. There’s just a little pop and the arrow disappears.
The Drake bow has a shielded forward handle extension on it. There is also a generous amount of sheet metal for the overdraw. This allows the bow to be drawn back farther than the arrows are long.
Alan
