Most of us think of firearms, when we think of weapons. That makes sense, as the gun is the weapon of our time. Perhaps that will change sometime in the future, either through the government infringing on our rights or through something better being invented. But for now, guns are it.
Problems with guns
Guns aren’t perfect. Besides needing ammunition, one of the biggest problems with them is that they are noisy. That’s not an issue under some circumstances; but it can be, if you don’t want to attract attention. If you’ve bugged out after a collapse of society, the last thing you’ll want to do is let people know where you are, by making a lot of noise.
That bug out is probably going to mean something else too. That is, regardless of how much ammunition you have stockpiled at home, you’re probably only going to have a limited amount of ammo for your guns. Ammo is heavy, so we won’t be able to take a whole lot with us.
Why use bow as a survival tool?
That leaves us looking for an alternative, something that can augment our firearm arsenal, be readily portable, and have the ability to be used at range, rather than just close up. It would be nice if we could make our own ammunition for this weapon as well.
The answer to that, is of course the bow. We really don’t know how far back primitive man started using the bow, but archeologists believe it goes back some 50,000 years. Other than the rock, stick and knife, that’s the longest continuous use of any weapon in existence. While bows have changed through many iterations, they still remain bows and have been used in many cultures around the world. Better than that, they are still in use today.
Granted, the bow really isn’t considered to be a weapon by most Americans. That’s their problem. You can still hunt with them and enough hunters do so that there’s a special hunting season set aside for them. If a bow and arrow can take down a deer, they can take down someone who’s trying to attack you as well.
Not only that, but they can do so silently.
Not only that, but you can make arrows for your bow yourself, even in the wild.
What sort of bow should you have
The question then becomes, what sort of bow should you have? This is about like the question of which gun is the best. Everyone has their own opinion. Some like crossbows, other compound bows and still others something simpler, like a longbow. Personally, I’ve got a Mongolian bow.
I used to have a crossbow and still like them as a weapon. But as far as I’m concerned, the crossbow has two major drawbacks. First, it’s heavy and bulky to carry around and secondly, it takes too long to reload. Unless you’re strong enough to draw and lock the string by hand, they’re basically a one-shot weapon.
Compound bows are great. But if you’re going to use one for survival, you need to make sure that you have the capability of restringing it. Few people do, so when their string eventually breaks, they’re going to be without a bow.
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You can find videos on YouTube, where people talk about making their own bow, usually out of something unusual, like PVC pipe. But by and large, those don’t have a whole lot of draw weight. So they don’t have a high velocity either. That makes them marginal for either hunting of self-defense.
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