2012 will be the first time I make a pretty serious attempt at seeing what kind of distances I can get out of a foot bow. But, I do have a couple half-hearted prior attempts that I can learn from. I also have George Alevekiu's foot bows from the mid to late 1960's in my possession which may have surpassed the mile mark a year or two prior to Harry Drake's record breaking shots.
Version 1.0: In 2005, I played around with a unique double bow design which showed great promise and almost limitless speed. But, it was far too difficult to string and tune. One string is difficult enough to deal with, but this one used three! In addition, there was no adjustment built into the fixing of the limbs. If one of the strings was a little off in length, it required dis-assembly of the entire bow to adjust the string length and restring the bow. This took a lot of time and was very stressful.
The second issue is that I was attempting to shoot this in the "Conventional Foot Bow" class which disallows a mechanical release and mechanical components on the bow. The hook-type release I devised contacted the arrow nock and I quickly realized that it could torque the arrow during drawing to the point it easily would jump from the arrow rest. Or, the arrow would fall free from the string leading to an ultra-violent dry-fire. Not a good thing. One such dry-fire sent bow limbs and strings flying in all directions. String and bow limbs flew every direction and it almost looked like some kind of confetti bomb went off. It was so jarring that I had to double check I had all fingers and toes afterward. The arrow flew about 1 inch.
The third issue was my overdraw and arrow rest. The intent of this overdraw was to allow me to shoot an arrow that is shorter than the distance it is drawn back. It had a draw lock feature built into it that held the bow at partial draw so I could nock the short carbon arrow. As soon as I began drawing the arrow back, the draw lock automatically folded out of the way while I drew the arrow all the way back. In 2007, I was getting ready to shoot this contraption at the US Nationals and realized that the arrow rest needed to be adjusted. I had the arrow on the bow held at partial draw with this draw lock feature and as I was getting ready to set the bow down, the string popped off the hook. At the same time, the arrow popped off the rest and the bow fired. I felt a hard thump as if someone hit me on the foot with a hammer. I looked at my foot and saw the arrow sticking clean through it. My first thought was "I just ruined my new running shoes". My second thought was "MY FOOT IS IN THERE!" I quickly grabbed the arrow and yanked it free from my foot. Of course, the arrow was covered with the alkali salt from the Bonneville Salt Flats and it burned like nothing I've felt below.
So here I was, with a very fast bow that was hard to adjust and not very user friendly. One of the better jokes I remember from the doctors that treated me:
Question: "How far did I shoot this time?"
Answer: "About a foot" Hahahaha. Ugh.
What did I learn from this?
1. Don't do this again without good foot protection.
2. A fast bow is of no use if it isn't easy to shoot and tune.
Version 1.0: In 2005, I played around with a unique double bow design which showed great promise and almost limitless speed. But, it was far too difficult to string and tune. One string is difficult enough to deal with, but this one used three! In addition, there was no adjustment built into the fixing of the limbs. If one of the strings was a little off in length, it required dis-assembly of the entire bow to adjust the string length and restring the bow. This took a lot of time and was very stressful.
The second issue is that I was attempting to shoot this in the "Conventional Foot Bow" class which disallows a mechanical release and mechanical components on the bow. The hook-type release I devised contacted the arrow nock and I quickly realized that it could torque the arrow during drawing to the point it easily would jump from the arrow rest. Or, the arrow would fall free from the string leading to an ultra-violent dry-fire. Not a good thing. One such dry-fire sent bow limbs and strings flying in all directions. String and bow limbs flew every direction and it almost looked like some kind of confetti bomb went off. It was so jarring that I had to double check I had all fingers and toes afterward. The arrow flew about 1 inch.
The third issue was my overdraw and arrow rest. The intent of this overdraw was to allow me to shoot an arrow that is shorter than the distance it is drawn back. It had a draw lock feature built into it that held the bow at partial draw so I could nock the short carbon arrow. As soon as I began drawing the arrow back, the draw lock automatically folded out of the way while I drew the arrow all the way back. In 2007, I was getting ready to shoot this contraption at the US Nationals and realized that the arrow rest needed to be adjusted. I had the arrow on the bow held at partial draw with this draw lock feature and as I was getting ready to set the bow down, the string popped off the hook. At the same time, the arrow popped off the rest and the bow fired. I felt a hard thump as if someone hit me on the foot with a hammer. I looked at my foot and saw the arrow sticking clean through it. My first thought was "I just ruined my new running shoes". My second thought was "MY FOOT IS IN THERE!" I quickly grabbed the arrow and yanked it free from my foot. Of course, the arrow was covered with the alkali salt from the Bonneville Salt Flats and it burned like nothing I've felt below.
So here I was, with a very fast bow that was hard to adjust and not very user friendly. One of the better jokes I remember from the doctors that treated me:
Question: "How far did I shoot this time?"
Answer: "About a foot" Hahahaha. Ugh.
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| Attempt 1, Double Bow Design |
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| "Shot about a Foot..." |
What did I learn from this?
1. Don't do this again without good foot protection.
2. A fast bow is of no use if it isn't easy to shoot and tune.
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