# Native American bows



## ruger10x

I think I read one time that the average was 8-12 lbs ?
If that is the case ,its pretty impressive that they took
the game that they did.


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## Redlance123

*Native American Bows*

Ruger01, Yeah, I was pretty sure they didn't exceed 20lbs. Your right, taking a buff with even multiple hits would have been a feat with such a bow. Redlance123


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## WillAdams

A bit more than that.

``They (Plains Indians) can shoot their arrows ... with such force that I have frequently seen them drive a shaft through a full-grown buffalo.'' 
--- Duval, _The Adventures of Bigfoot Wallace_ (Wallace was an early Texas Ranger)

Or a specific number...

``The Pawnee bows that I have examined were fairly short, about 45 to 50" long, made from osage orange, and unusually thick, powerful weapons, pulling 70 pounds or more ... the ones I have seen indicate that the Pawnees were Olympic weightlifters.''
--- Jim Hamm, _Bows & Arrows of the Native Americans_

William


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## Redlance123

*Native American Bows*

Wow, 70lbs! They must have used a sinew or bone backing on their bows to hold that kind of pressure. I can't imagine a selfbow holding that kind of draw weight. Redlance123


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## Stash

There are (and were) so many different nations and cultures that you can't group them all together. There was a wide range of styles and of course draw weights. Most hunting bows, though, seemed to be in the 40-50# draw weight at the draw the bow was designed for. Sometimes that was as short as 22-24".

There's plenty of documentation out there. Just google around for a while and you'll find lots of interesting stuff.


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## jcbays

I have several Native Bows on my website. The flatbows were usually around 5-6 feet and pulled about 40 pounds. These bows were used by the Woodland tribes.

The plains tribes used a shorter bow that was anchored to the chest and pushed away from you. The draw was about 18-20 inches and it pulled in the 40-50 pound range with sinew backing.
Hope this helps
Jeremy Bays
WoodlandArchery.com


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## zionic405

xcvxcv


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## diamondback_mgt

my understanding is the the native americans never learned to recurve the bows so their bows were not ery efficient and i don't think they used posion much so they need quite a bit of weight (more than 35 pounds)

in africa the bows are very small and maybe ten pounds of draw weight, but thats because they posion-tip the points, so they didn't need to kill via blood-letting.


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