Billy,
I havent had the oportunity to read the article as of yet,but have enjoyed your articles in the past,and expect i will enjoy this one as well.Based on feedback from this thread,as well as a thread on another site,i assume ,you had favorable results.This is no surprise to me,as it just verifies what a vast amount of early Native hunters,had known,for some time.Ishi,used a 40 lb bow,with a 25" draw,and What would be considered Bird Points.I know this contradicts what most have seen of Ishis points,that he Knapped while at the university.I have personally seen and held points made by Ishi,that he knapped pre civilization,and they are indeed smaller than anything i have seen Post civilization.The fact that they were used by Ishi,as well as countless other early Native hunters,tells me of their merit.I trust in these hunters judgement,as they hunted for a liveing.
As for the theories,that NDN people werent as concerned about Quick clean Kills,i have my doubts.True,they didnt have the ethics police or ARA's to contend with,as we do now,But,i feel they may have had other reasons for wanting a quick clean kill,as possible,as we do today.Native people,didnt have the luxuries that we do today.They wounded and lost game,they didnt eat.No trips to the grocery store for them,if game wasnt procured.I believe that it has been agreed upon by most on these sites,that early Primitive Humans,took the least physical path when possible,to save energy time and materials.Tracking wounded animals for lengthy periods would use up valuable energy as well as possible loss of time and hard earned and worked arrow material.Lets also consider,the issue of predators,finding and stealing said game,before the hunter.There were generally more numbers of predators in those days.In Ishis time alone,their were still Grizzly in California.Also,hunting,was generally not carried out as we do today.It was usually a combined Tribal effort,at certain times.This was to Minimize pressure on Game and to procure enough game for all in the band.To have individuals constantly out scouring for individuall game,would put tremendous pressure on game causeing game movement,and consequently more tribal movement.More time energy and resources used.When they did hunt,they did it in as a efficient manner as possible,to get what they needed when they needed it.To do so,I believe they would have used as efficient methods and materials as they could.If folks could see the old Deer and Pronghorn Runs of the early people,you could see how efficient and well thougfht out their methods were.It is just Awesome to me.
