I know Colby. He shoots at the Hefley Creek R&G club every year - at the 10 day Rendezvous BC shoots.(about 14Km form Kamloops, BC)

Clarisholm, Alberta was Taylor and my first Long Bow Safari. We stayed in his 20feet lodge, the only teepee there. That was a spectacular event - especially the elephant target by the swamp and the cougar in the cave. That was an arrow buster.

For those who don't know about "The North American Long Bow Safari", you must use a long bow, and must use wooden shafts, feather fletches & be pointed with broadheads. The point of one of Taylor's arrows actually went through the 1/4" plate used on the panther target that had a 5" hole stuffed with foam for the kill zone. 5 pts or nothing. He got nothing, but his fir shaft didn't break. The point of the HH broadhead actually stuck out the other side about 1/6". He wiggled the shaft back and forth, breaking off the tip, which stayed wedged into the steel plate. With the tip broken off, he used that arrow for the rest of the day - his lucky arrow.

I was shooting an 82 pound (@28") 'Harvestor' longbow made in Chilliwak BC - kicked like a mule. That is where I bought my newer, High Powered Howard, a much lighter drawing, 74 pound bow. It is a small world we live in, Master Jack (Bob)
I have some of those split-pine shafts (unless I gave them to my bro for a birthday or something) as do quite a number of lads here. Vanderhoof is only a 50 minute drive from my home.

Rigby Master, I was under the impression that the war bows brought up from the mud of the Thames, had conical ends, ground that way to fit normal horn nocks. The writeup I read suggested the horn nocks had been eaten up by bacteria or some other bug. This of course, might have been an error - I do not know.

My current yew bow, a bit of a character bow (snakey) was made by a fellow who lives in BC here who has been making quite a number of different designed bows for a while. The picture of me drawing a longbow (72" between nocks)in the other archery thread, was one of his - "D" section bows, but in Hickory, with small horn nocks.

Taylor was given an Osage branch by a friend many years ago - it would be in the mid 90's IIRC. He split it, keeping the naturally reflexed side, and giving me the other side that was bent the wrong way. I heated and re-bent in a bit of reflex, then made a small, 52 pound flat bow with it.

Around 98 or 99, Taylor sold it for me, to a man at Rendezvous BC, at Hefley Creek. That was a time of deep despair, my back so bad I couldn't walk, let alone draw a bow or shoot a rifle. I sold off a lot of toys, then.

I have been trying to get that little Osage bow back ever since, no luck- HA! The man, Dave from Vancouver Island, is still shooting it at rendezvous and says he shoots it once a month at least. I keep telling him a self bow only has so many shots then it will break. He's not concerned. He does very well with it indeed. Nice little bow and still only following the string about 7/8" - same as when I first made it. Ahhhhh - the memories. There are at least 3 other self-bows I made, still being used here in P.G., the most surprising is a spliced-handle hickory flat-bow made from sledge-hammer handles. Still going strong after over 20years of use. The fellow keeps it (unbraced) at the back door for fox or coyotes - I do not know if he's ever shot one with it- HA! He knows to exercise it a few short draws after stringing - one of the rare fellows who listens to advice on self-bows.