Why are Western Indian bows so short?

[David Long]

I would think they might be more like eastern Indian bows- long with good accuracy. Were the western bows used in canoes, blinds, mainly for war, or what? They were not used from horseback much, correct? (At least not like Plains Indian bows) Any thoughts on this? Suppose they were used much for big game hunting?
Dave

[El Destructo]

West Coast Indian Bows are just another example of superior technology from a primitive society..... Pit River.... Hupa.....Modoc to name a few used wide limbs and a slightly working (bending) handle to make a powerful bow.....which could be made much shorter ....and are ideal for hunting in thick brush and from ground cover...these are my Favorite styles of Bows.......

[David Long]

I hear what you are saying El Destructo, but still, why wouldn't Eastern tribes use these short sinewed bows as opposed to the generally longer ones they preferred? They too had opportunities to hunt in brush at close range I would imagine. Too wet for sinew backs maybe? Dave

[xin]

What's wetter than the coast of N. California, Oregon, and Washington?   I wonder how much hunting these people actually did .  I think their main source of food was the ocean and rivers and streams.  I'm sure they did some hunting and it was probably ambush type hunting at water holes and salt licks.

[shamus]

easier to shoot from a boat?

[Gordon]

If you tried to navigate your way through some of our coastal rain forests (more like jungles) you might appreciate why a shorter bow would be advantageous.

[El Destructo]

Westies were short and sinewed and mainly used to stalk Game in dense areas where a longer Bow wood be useless...where as the East Coast Bows were longer....unbacked and mainly used for Hunting in the Forests and Warfare where hunted and fought on foot..it's really hard to determine since there are so few Bows from the Eastcoast tribes to look at ....except for the Southeast Tribes....the Tribes fro the North and Central East Coast were either wiped out or pushed out so that there aren't any Relics to look at....I know that the Indians from Upper Michigan didn't use the Long Bows like the Tribes of the Southeast did....their Bows were normally only 50 inches long....and the Pawnee Bows were also very Short and strong Bows....compared to some that were 70 inches in length by other East Coast Tribes...The reasons that these Tribes didn't use Sinew and he Westies did....I haven't a clue...but I suppose that since they didn't use Sinew...that is why the Bows are longer....to get the Poundage from unbacked wood....JMO

[Justin Snyder]

Probably like it is today.  Wood available and hunting conditions.   

[YewArcher]

Just so Justin. They had yew and juniper and they really learned how to utilize that combination well. No need for a longer bow then what they used with elastic woods and sinew. 44" of yew and sinew will yiled you a 24-25" draw easily. 40" of sinew will get ya 22-24" draws. Some other self bows are known from these areas and are longer.

The west coast indians were really ingenious people. Looking at other artifacts from these people you could never ever in a million years imagine them shooting straight long self bows. They were just to higly artistic and genious to do anything that simple. They made a lot of complex items aside from bows.

Steve

[David Long]

Very interesting you guys. Stalking SMALL game, in pretty thick cover, I find the accuracy of a longer bow preferable. Not so with BIG game in thick cover, where I'm crouched etc. This is one of the reasons I've been thinking about this. Justin's point is a good one for sure. Dave

[YewArcher]

David, A longer bow is not more acurate its just easier to shoot. You can get pretty good with a short bow, it just takes a lot more time and dedication. I have stopped shooting everything except west coast indian bows and plains bows to master the style. Its painfull at first but possiable.

Steve

[Traxx]

Aside from reasons previously mentioned,It was the best lengths used in a small rock and brush blind.West coast people rarely hunted as people do today.What i mean by that is singularly.They hunted in tribal hunts most often.This was done by drives,that funneled the game to a location,where archers were crouched in small rock blinds.As the game was driven by them,they popped up just high enough to clear these small blinds,to take the shot.A longer bow would be a hinderance in these situations.Shure,they maybe could have made a larger blind,but that wouldnt be so inconspicuos,and a longer bow would intail larger movement,to clear the blind.They also would flag in Pronghorn.My Grandfather showed me this when i was very young,useing an ancient Pit river blind system to do it.You have 1 chance and 1 chance only,to get a shot off.The archer would want all the advantages he could muster,and in this case,the shorter bow is just the ticket.

[JackCrafty]

The design of a bow depends on a lot of things.  Things that have been mentioned so far are type of prey, style of hunting, ease of use, artistic skill, bowyer skill, and accuracy.

All of the above will certainly affect the way a bow is made, but there's one thing that doesn't usually get mentioned in a discussion like this: If you look at the size of the dwellings of the various tribes you might notice that the larger the dwelling, the larger the bow (or vice versa).  Maybe I'm looking at this in a way that's too simple...or too obvious....but I think it's mainly a matter of space.  Small house, small bow......large house, large bow.

As far as west coast designs being short...I think you will find quite a variety of lengths.  And not all west coast bows were "paddle" bows.

I read somewhere that stated that the average bow length, regardless of tribe or geography, was about 50".  I agree with this observation.  This is pretty "short" by our modern standards.

[sumpitan]

Having hauled 60-inch bows through the woods for years, and now sub-50-inch bows for the past two years in the snowy, messy thickets game animals here hide, I never again wonder why many aboriginal peoples used short bows. A short bow is just as deadly as a longer one when the person doing the shooting is a short bow shooter, having learned to shoot the short bow from early childhood. In short-range hunting, being accurate per se isn't the biggest deal, as long as you are just accurate enough to hit the vitals of a game animal (six-inch groups at 30 feet can be shot with any bow). Being quick and maneuverable often is. There are situations where a long bow cannot be shot at all but a 45" bow has no trouble performing. Yet even some peoples living in wide-open semi-desert or steppe lands opted for sub-four-foot bows.

From the bowyer's point of view, short bows offer nothing but advantages. Finding clean 50" staves is infinitely easier than finding good 70" ones. Cutting, hauling, storing, working small-dimension wood is quicker and less energy-costly than utilizing big, long wood. If people find out they can feed their family with a 50-incher, they have no incentive to start making more ungainly weapons. And vice versa, if a longbow-wielding people have no trouble handling their bows in the local woods, and long bow-wood abounds, they have no incentive to start shortening their bows. As a rule, people stick to what has always worked and don't especially like change. Momentum at work.

Tuukka

[jamie]

not sure about the conditions of the woods out west before contact with europeons but the eastern woods were quite open. fields were abundant the hardwoods were regularly burned to keep underbrush controlled . dead trees were constantly gathered for fire wood. the woods of today are much tougher to hunt today compared to pre contact periods. also the long bow of the eastern woodlands to me is sort of a myth. most of the bows ive seen and handled from this area although not as short as the western bows were below 60". we base this 66" 2" wide bow from the sudbury bow and the majority of them were more like short elbs. nothing against the bowyers bibles but the designs we have drilled in our head from these books werent used that much. peace