Primitive bowfishing and why it's often overlooked...

[Bushman452]

Primitive bowhunting's cool and all but what about bowfishing. I've seen so many footage of Bear Grylls hunting fish with a bow that he himself made. I want to try that too for my first bow.

[hawkbow]

I hunt carp here in Wyoming with my bows... just tie a piece of heavy string( usually nylon) to my leg.. the other end to the arrow and hunt all day.. I learned the hard way not to tie the string to my bow... ended up with a fifteen pound carp dragging the bow out into deep water.. had to go swimming to get the bow and arrow back   heavy hardwood arrows work great.. with broadheads and goose feathers.. happy fishing brother.. Hawk

[Little John]

sounds good, got to try it.    Kenneth

[Bushman452]

Anyone here have some primitive bowfishing photos they like to share.

[huntertrapper]

i went this year with jst an arrow and my selfbow.

[PeteC]

One of my favorite "off season" hunts is going after tilapia with self -equipment.These fish are nothing like bowfishin' roughfish,they make you hunt them,as they are always lookin' around,just like they're lookin' for you.They are great eatin',and we can usually take enough to fill the freezer.I'll take some pics this year of a few of our hunts,which is right around the corner,I might add. Good huntin', and God Bless

[Kegan]

I would all the time if I had somewhere to fish around here. But alas, I'm not so lucky. After highschool maybe...?

[JackCrafty]

When I was in Indiana (on a job) I made myself a primitive carp-fishing set up.  It was a red oak board bow with an arrow made from a  3/8" red oak dowel.  The arrowhead was a 1/8" diameter steel rod (about 10" long) bent into a "J" and pounded flat and sharpened to a point.  I split the end of the dowel about two inches deep, carved a cavity for the rod, flattened the rod at the base so it wouldn't pull out, and wrapped it with wire.  I tied the string to the nock end of the arrow....eliminating the need for fletching....about 10-15 feet of heavy jute twine (other strings seemed to get tangled during the shooting)... and tied the other end to my wrist (bow hand).

I would approach the water's edge slowly, spot a carp, drop the string in front of me, making sure the string was draped over my bow arm, and shoot broadside just below the centerline and just behind the gill.  I would wait for the carp to rise very near the surface of the water before I took a shot....deeper water throws off the perspective and you'll end up shooting too high.

If you miss the vitals and hit muscle, the carp will fight like the devil to get free of the arrow.

Great fun  ....and good eats.

[huntertrapper]

yeah true that perspective thing has led me to miss dozens of carp, i managed to kill one a few years ago, i hit it through the back while wading, i didnt have any rig and was just shooting an arrow, i "tracked" it down and wrestled it out of the water and killed it up on shore.

[JackCrafty]

Dang Hunter!  That's as primitive as it gets.

[huntertrapper]

hate to say it was an old bear whitetail hunter 2 though....but i was hunting as if it was a longbow...that was a few years ago though as i said, no more wheels for me, ever.

[Mechslasher]

i've been thinking for a couple months about carving a barbed point out of antler and attaching it to a cane arrow.  hope i have time to get around to it this spring.  should make for a heck of a hunt.  will keep ya'll updated.

[woodsman1031]

When I was in Indiana (on a job) I made myself a primitive carp-fishing set up.  It was a red oak board bow with an arrow made from a  3/8" red oak dowel.  The arrowhead was a 1/8" diameter steel rod (about 10" long) bent into a "J" and pounded flat and sharpened to a point.  I split the end of the dowel about two inches deep, carved a cavity for the rod, flattened the rod at the base so it wouldn't pull out, and wrapped it with wire.  I tied the string to the nock end of the arrow....eliminating the need for fletching....about 10-15 feet of heavy jute twine (other strings seemed to get tangled during the shooting)... and tied the other end to my wrist (bow hand).

I would approach the water's edge slowly, spot a carp, drop the string in front of me, making sure the string was draped over my bow arm, and shoot broadside just below the centerline and just behind the gill.  I would wait for the carp to rise very near the surface of the water before I took a shot....deeper water throws off the perspective and you'll end up shooting too high.

If you miss the vitals and hit muscle, the carp will fight like the devil to get free of the arrow.

Great fun  ....and good eats.

Jackcrafty,
  Would you please post a picture of the fishing arrowhead?

Tommy

[hedgeapple]

hmmm carp skin backing?  I don't know how it measures up in toughness to sturgon, but it seems prett tough to me.  Anyone tried this.  It's been a few years since I bow fished and it was with a wheelie, but it's a heck of a lot of fun.

[Bushman452]

How's about gar backing cause it's tougher than carp and just as tough as sturgeon. But seriously folks sturgeon, aren't those fish supposed to be protected and stuff.