Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Shaun on March 06, 2012, 01:55:19 pm
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I have a friend who grew up in SA and is back on the Dark Continent visiting. He sent me this wonderful photo of a Hadza tribesman with hunting gear from Tanzania.
I have included part of Dean's e-mail description of this part of his journey:
We enjoyed walks with the hadza men, hunting, exploring ancient rock paintings and collecting two different kinds of honey. We watched and joined the men roasting and eating a Hyrax which Makarra shot with his bow. The liver and tongue were actually quite tasty. We watched as the young men made arrows and arrowheads then took part in shooting the bows. We were not in the ballpark when it came to matching skills with the Hadza. We visited a new hadza camp and went out with the women to dig for tubers and roots for the evening meal. Their echo-location for roots was amazing and there was ample food for all to eat.
As Daudi said this morning, "The Hadza experience true freedom in the way that they live." They are dependent only on themselves as opposed to our total dependence on our speciallized society.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/shaunw/hadza_day2_360.jpg)
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Beautiful picture I'd love to try one of their bows and a bit of BBQ Hyrax.
Del
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That's awesome. Ahhh the good old days ;)
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Excellent photo and great work on that bow. Thanks for sharing!
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Very nice. Is it just me or does that bow look exactly like an ELB?
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Very nice. Is it just me or does that bow look exactly like an ELB?
Too short for an ELB...
Del
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I didn't know hyrax were that big. It really blends in with his cloths, hanging there from his belt.
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I am impressed with the 'piecemaker' against his shoulder.
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Looks fun ! ' Frank
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Interesting tackle. I'm still unsure how that style of bracing a bow works... ???
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I would like to know what kind of wood he used for his very well tillered bow? Yum...rodent!!
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Great picture..
Onwas himself, though he's scarcely ventured beyond the periphery of the bush, senses that profound changes are coming. This does not appear to bother him. Onwas, as he repeatedly told me, doesn't worry about the future. He doesn't worry about anything. No Hadza I met, in fact, seemed prone to worry. It was a mind-set that astounded me, for the Hadza, to my way of thinking, have very legitimate worries. Will I eat tomorrow? Will something eat me tomorrow? Yet they live a remarkably present-tense existence.
This may be one reason farming has never appealed to the Hadza—growing crops requires planning; seeds are sown now for plants that won't be edible for months. Domestic animals must be fed and protected long before they're ready to butcher. To a Hadza, this makes no sense. Why grow food or rear animals when it's being done for you, naturally, in the bush? When they want berries, they walk to a berry shrub. When they desire baobab fruit, they visit a baobab tree. Honey waits for them in wild hives. And they keep their meat in the biggest storehouse in the world—their land. All that's required is a bit of stalking and a well-shot arrow.
National Geographic... Hadza
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that is an awesome picture! would love to see that at full draw.
Very nice. Is it just me or does that bow look exactly like an ELB?
Too short for an ELB...
Del
it is as tall as he is
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He is the closest thing to a primitive archer now a days. Always loved african archery. Not only do they make capable weapons but they are in the bush with animals that would make most of us wet our pants! I wish I could really call myself a primitive archer but until you live off your bow day after day I do not think that it if fair to men like that! In the mean time I will dream.
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Thanks for posting this!! I would love some more information on Hadzabe bows. Anyone got some info to share? Links aren't allowed so maybe someone could pm me??? I'd greatly appreciate it
Jalen
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Beautiful picture. I like that club and archery set a lot..
Cipriano
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that is an awesome picture! would love to see that at full draw.
Very nice. Is it just me or does that bow look exactly like an ELB?
Too short for an ELB...
Del
it is as tall as he is
When I measure it on my monitor and then measure against him, it reaches from the top of his head down to mid calf.
That make it about 10-12 inches shorter than him if we assume he's 6' for the sake of argument.
Maybe one of us has a monitor which is distorting the horizontal or vertical?
Del
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Awesome pic and info, thanks for sharing
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Men tend to make long bows, about six feet in length, which are exceptionally powerful and heavy to pull. By testing several Hadza bows in the field using a spring balance, Woodburn determined that more than 100 pounds of force were required to draw an average bow fully. He concluded that Hadza hunters prefer powerful bows to accurate ones, which matched his observation that the Hadza hunt from very close range, 25 to 50 yards to shoot impala, zebra, eland or giraffe. Some Hadza also eat predators, including lion, leopard, and other wild cats, or perhaps scavengers like jackal, hyena and vulture, but they draw the line at reptiles like monitors, snakes and lizards. They use poisoned arrow tips to hunt large animals. Once a beast has been wounded, the hunter waits a few hours for the poison to act and then tracks the wounded animal until it dies.
by
The Hadza Tribe of Tanzania
Millett, Katherine
2001
I like this guys idea of close range :) "very close range, 25 to 50 yards" I'd say they used pretty accurate bows if he actually witnessed the hunts?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMIHXPa5bBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sY3XQZBx2w&feature=related
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Excellent picture
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Shaun thanks for sharing; great photo, its always nice to see a "primitive" weapon.
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100 pounds?? ???
What about construction of their bows? Any info on that? From the video posted and your picture, looks like the back is rounded and the belly slightly rounded as well so it resembles a tillered stick. I would doubt they would fell large diameter trees especially since they live in a savannah so the use of 2 inch and under diameter saplings would probably be used? Could i be correct?
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Soooo Cooool!
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Soooo Cooool!
Ditto
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Nice pic. Very cool. I wish I were a Hadza. Nice vids Loki. Refereing to the second video...interesting their fletch glue was made by chewing various plant materials.
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Some of the last remaining free people left on this planet, Localized democracy, autonomy and best of all no taxes. I would give up all this fancy technology and living a long time for 40 short years of living off the land with my family and clansmen any day of the week. I was born in the wrong place or time.