Congrats to this young man.

https://www.themeateater.com/conser...ar-with-stone-point-for-first-time-since

Yes, quite an achievement. There is a satisfaction that comes from successfully using equipment you crafted.

I have made a few osage selfbows, and flintknapped broadheads. Admittedly, I need more practice on both. I have friends that hunt exclusively with selfbows and have taken moose to javelina with them.

That's bad ass.

I thought so too.

Nice!

Every year at McAlister Ammo Depot in Okla has a traditional archery shoot. It usually last two days and nothing but traditional archery is allowed. Lots of vendors and people knapping arrow heads or building bows. Great fun if your into traditional archery. Then the Holy Grail of draw in hunts is held at McAlister. Its a traditional bow hunt only. If you ever watch Outdoor Oklahoma, most of those big Oklahoma bucks came from there.

That was quite a feat taking a black bear with a home built bow and arrow. One, there isn't that many bears here, two, you buy a tag and hope the limit isn't filled before you get your bear and three, taking it with his equipment is really special. A memory he will never forget. Well done!!!

He posted the video of the hunt on his YouTube account a few days ago. Good watch.

That is fantastic. He was one of our club, Oklahoma Selfbow Jamboree students. Myself and 10 others started that club the Oklahoma Selfbow Society 18 years back. We have run as many as 400 or more students, men, women, kids through our 4 day gathering each year. We have people that bring Osage staves for sale and we teach them from the start of picking a piece of wood, to laying out the bow and using hand tools to shape the bow. We teach making the bows, even other types of wood, making strings, picking different types of finish for the bows, making primitive arrows and we have a lot of flint knappers that are in our group that teach snapping stone.
It is a great thing when we hear of a bow maker that learned from us taking wild game of winning a shoot. Out motto on on all of our shirts, gear and hats is "Passing on the Tradition".
Congratulations Caleb.

Mike

It's the pinnacle of hunting boys. That's not traditional equipment, that's primitive stuff, which makes it that much more bad to the bone. No steel, no carbon, no fiberglass. Natural material. Takes bowhunting to a whole new level.

Mike,
Thank you and the crew that run the program. It is no small undertaking I’m sure. To have a young person get hooked on archery is cool. But to have them take up the full traditional gear and complete a hunt is another level.
I have found a few stone points in the fields of New England. Every time, I am struck by just what that point meant to the person that lost it where I found it. Most we find are thought to be around 1500 to 2000 years old. It is a real tribute to those early hunters to commit to the self bow and a stone point.

That was an awesome story. Thanks for sharing. I might have to buy one of his tabs.