I am posting this just to raise awareness of shorter bows, and I am just guessing about the meaning of the photo, but he was one of the most powerful Comanche Chiefs of all time,, so here is where I am guessing and could be totally wrong, but I am thinking he is not sitting there thinking his bow is too short, or doesnt store enough energy,, or is not accurate enough,or the string angle is too much,,, I have a feeling he could be holding any bow he wanted, like I said I could be wrong in my thinking,,
I think Laubin had a good point in his book with he said it takes more skill to shoot a shorter bow,, I agree,,
someone commented on a very nice shorter bow lately,,,, and why was it so short,, and then there was the discussion about power etc,, even though they may not store as much energy on a graph,, they can be powerful enough to kill a buffalo, and the accuracy depends alot on the shooter,,, as stated I like long and short bows,,and have hunted successfully with both, 25 years ago, I started experimenting with shorter bows after Jay Massey hinted a preference to them,, of couse I could hear Tim Baker stating they were not as accurate as longer bow,, but I wondered why the Native Bow seemed to be shorter,, there had to be something to that right,,
so I made a 52 inch sinew backed bow bout 25 years ago,,,,back then I was a pretty good shot anyway, but that bow was accurate out to 30 yards,, well whats accurate, I could shoot 3 arrows in or around a pine cone most the timie at 30 yards, further than I would shoot at a deer, I did shoot a 70 inch bow to compete in 3d,, and couldnt shoot any better with that bow at 30 yards than the shorter bow, well ok, I was learning something,,
I took it deer hunting ok,,4 shots and 4 deer later in one year, I started to understand more about the short bow, than I did just reading about it,, its effective,, and powerful,, no doubt there are bows that are more accurate or more powerful,,, or longer,, but in a given situation, probably not better or more effecient,, Im just saying that a bow does not have to be long to be accurate or powerful,, and if you shoot with no anchor thats ok too, all the deer I killed with that shorter bow,, I was shooting about 25 inces of draw no anchor,, the first two I shot all the way through and the arrows were lying in an x on the ground,,
shooting through a chrono showed me that a power stroke of 24 or 25 inches, will shoot hard,, even when I read about Sioux arrows being 23 inches, I made some bows to see, and they would shoot 180 fps, with an arrow less than 10gpp,, but still hunting weight arrows,,
Im just saying there is a good reason,, the guys using them to make a living, were using them,, or had a preference for some shorter bows,, of course there were longer bows too,, and bows in Jim Hamms book that were over 70# draw weight that he examined in museums,,
I am definitely not saying shorter bows are better,, just that they can be accurate and powerful,, in a specific application,, and not to be underestimated,,,when well designed,, or in the hands of a proficient archer,,
