5 Reasons Archery Makes You Better Prepared
If you’re reading this blog, you’re undoubtedly a fan of weapons, it’s all in the website title right? Well when was the last time you picked up a bow and arrow? When was the last time you even considered picking one up? You may be a regular bowhunter in which case this article probably isn’t for you as you already know and love your sport and there won’t be much I can tell you about bows you don’t already know. However, if that isn’t you, please read on, I’ve a few reasons why I think a bow is a great choice when you need to be prepared for any eventuality. For this post I’m going to focus mainly on the bow vs the gun.
The Thrill of the Hunt
So I’m sure you know you can hunt with a bow. There’s a big bowhunting following in some states in the US and an oversubscription in permits, everybody wants to get in on the action. There are also a raft of good hunting bows available, one of the most popular is the Samick Sage.
There’s something primal about hunting and there’s nothing you can’t hunt with a bow. Arrows can be fitted with blunt tips to hunt small game, bullet and field points for larger game and for the biggest takedowns there are tips called broadheads which nowadays are surgically sharp and designed to cause the largest wounds to your prey. There’s nothing you can hunt with a gun that you can’t hunt with a bow, admittedly you just have to be a little closer as a bow doesn’t have the range of a rifle, but nevertheless here’s one thing I don’t think you can do with a gun.
Bows are virtually silent, the won’t scare away your prey and they won’t alert nearby predators to your presence. Unless you have a silenced firearm I’m pretty sure you’re going to be heard.
Did you know you can bowfish? Yep standing in the shallows of fresh or saltwater with a bow and arrow, if you can see prey you can shoot it with an arrow. Anything from fish to sharks, even alligators. Bowfishing reels can be attached to the front of a bow and line and barbed tips attached to arrows to allow you to catch fish easily and reel them in. Now I’m sure you could shoot a fish, but the danger there is once you’ve shot it, you’ve probably lost it downstream and it’s a waste of ammunition, you can try try and try again with a single arrow.
In A Jam
Arrows break, fletches can be torn off by the arrow rest or on the path to a target. If you overdraw a bow you may break the limbs, but that’s as rare an occurrence as any other. Guns can misfire, bullets can be duds, if you don’t maintain your weapon correctly you’ll be in danger of it jamming.
I’ve never heard of a bow jamming.
A Survival Bow?
If you’re in a total survival situation you need something portable and light. Modern day engineering has developed something called the ‘Survival Bow’. These are lightweight (around 2lbs) folding bows that collapse right down into a neat little package which can measure around 21†in length but just 1†thick and are easily carried in a backpack or case. Models such as the SAS Tactical Survival bow are even hollow inside to allow storage of takedown arrows which come in 2 pieces and screw together. They generally require no tools to assemble unlike some modern Recurve bows and are designed to be just the thing to keep stashed in a survival cache or bug-out bag.
Good For The Soul
Shooting a bow and arrow is therapy. There’s something about the joy of hitting the target at distance accounting for wind and trajectory and using the power of your own limbs that gives me more pleasure than pulling a trigger. Archery is just plain good for the soul.
To Close
So off the top of my head, that’s 5 reasons. If you really get into the specifics of a survival situation there’s a reason why the bow and arrow has been around since before 9000 BC. Maybe firearms took over in the last six or seven hundred years, but bows still have a place, when the SHTF and the world isn’t quite as you know it, you may well be thinking I wasn’t that crazy after all. If you’re interested in learning more about archery head over to targetcrazy.com
Dave has loved archery since he was a small child, his parents told him he used to bug them to get me a bow and arrow until they eventually did one day and he has been shooting them in one form or another ever since!