Saxton Pope - Yahi Archery.pdf - Primitiv-bogen.de

1918J Pope: Yahi Archery 125Ishi s greatest flight shot was 185 yards.No doubt had he preparedhimself for distance shooting he could have surpassed this ;but usinghis 40-pound hunting bow and the lightest arrow in his quiver, this washis extreme length. After Ishi s death, I shot his bow, with an especially light arrow with a closely cropped feather, a distance of 200yards. The greatest modern shot was that done by Ingo Simon, at LaToquet, France, in 3914, of 459 yards, with a very old Turkish composite bow. The greatest recorded flight shot with the English longbow was made by John Rawlins in 1794, a distance of 360 yards.The best American flight shot is 290 yards, done by L. "W. Maxson, in3891. Shooting a six-foot yew bow weighing 75 pounds with a flightarrow, my own best shot is 275 yards.To ascertain the casting power of what Ishi considered an ideal bow,I had him select one that he considered the best, from the entire number in the Museum. This was a Yurok bow of yew heavily backed withsinew and corresponded closely in proportions to those of his own make.After warming it carefully and bracing it, Ishi shot a number of lightflight arrows. His greatest cast was only 175 yards. Its weight wasless than. 40 pounds.Besides the fact that Ishi, in common with all savages, failed tounderstand the optics and ballistics of archery, his arrows were ofsuch unequal weight and dissimilar shape and size, that it is not surprising that his markmanship was erratic. A difference of ten grainsin the weight of a shaft, or a slight difference in the height of thefeathers, will cause an arrow shot sixty yards to fly several feet higheror lower than its predecessor.The length of time required for Ishi s hunting shafts to fly 100yards was 4 seconds. The angle of trajection was 30 degrees. Theweight of these arrows was 1 ounce ;their power of penetration wassufficient to pierce our target, which consisted of a piece of oil cloth, 2gunny sacks, and 4 inches of straw target, entirely traversing thesebodies. A steel hunting point, shot from 40 yards, readily penetratedan inch into pine. On striking a tree, the entire point and an inch ofthe shaft were often buried in the trunk.The angle of elevation necessary for his arrow to fly one hundredyards is much greater than that needed for our target arrows.Shooting a 48-pound bow with a five-shilling, or one-ounce arrow, my elevation is 15 degrees, while under the same conditions with a 65-poundbow it is as low as 10 degrees. The time required for a 100-yard flightof this latter is 2% seconds. The average velocity of an arrow isreckoned at 120 feet a second.