Everybody should know that the inventor of the bow and arrow lived long before history was written. Ancient, medieval and modern history gives us evidence that the bow and arrow was one deadly and reliable weapon. The ancients used powerful weapons made of composition, such as horn, wood and catgut. The English long bow, like the archers used in France, England, Belgium and the United States are 5′ to 6′ long, made of yew or lemon-wood. Archery has really made a come back today. Many have chosen archery as a means to develop a keen eye and steady nerves.
Some of our American sportsmen use the bow and arrow to kill all sort of various types of game. With the modern compound bows, skilled archers have shot a deer at 100 yards or more with the arrow passing through the deer and dropped yards beyond. A 65 pound bow in the hands of someone who knows how to use it is a very powerful weapon indeed. It will send an arrow through a deer 70 or 80 yards away. A skillful archer armed with a light bow 40 or 50 pounds can knock a rabbit cold or crush the skull of a squirrel. Such a weapon would be effective up to 50 or 60 yards.
My experience with the bow and arrow dates back to the age of 12, wading in the water among the reeds, marsh grass and cat tails. On my first trip into the open field, I carried home a pheasant. When I was older, while hunting small game like rabbits and squirrels I found it to be a sport in it’s own class and a challenge.
The bow and arrow can’t be compared to a high powered rifle that will put a buck on the ground a mile or two away. But a bow and a well-made arrow has proven to be trustworthy many times over, and has one advantage over a gun. It is practically noiseless. The hunter who takes the gun and goes into the woods, brings back the main course is worthy of the name, game hunter. But the man who is armed with bow and arrows, and goes and meets old 12 point buck in his lair and sends an arrow through his heart, such a hunter has proven their skills.
